please can you tell me which cities are beautiful in Asia?

One of the most beautiful cities in Asia is Kyoto. Until very recently in Japanese history, Kyoto was the home of the Emperor. Additionally, Kyoto was the home a very influential Buddhist sect. A Chinese Buddhist priest, known as Saicho to the Japanese, established a Buddhist temple near Kyoto on Mount Hiei near the end of the eight century. Prior to the foundation of the temple, Kyoto had been an unimportant little town, and the surrounding area in the province of Oumi was swampy and undeveloped. Ironically, the Emperor Kammu, who detested Buddhists, moved the capital from Nara to Kyoto, to get away from the Buddhists. The combination of the Buddhist temple, which attracted a great many followers, and the establishment of the new capital at Kyoto, lead to the swamps being controlled by drainage and controlled irrigation, making Oumi a very rich and prosperous province. In the center of Oumi is Lake Biwa, the largest lake in the Japanese islands. With good drainage and irrigation, the region became an important rice-producing area. Additionally, the emphasis on scholarship by the Tendai, the Buddhists at Mount Hiei (they are Mahayana Buddhists) lead them to take an interest in the government of Japan. Soon, the monks began to set up temples all over Kyoto, and particularly in the Muromachi district. Because they were well-educated and literate, they became powerful in the government. The period of roughly 250 years during which the Tendai monks were prominent in government is known as the Muromachi period in Japanese history, because so many influential bureaucrats in government lived in the Miromachi district of the city. But the temple at Mount Hiei did not try to control the Tendai monks, so that even though they were not responsible, the temple became the focus of resentment over the growing power of the Tendai sect. Additionally, because there was no central control, many Tendai monks became warrior monks, the Sohei. At the beginning of the Warring States period of the mid- and late-sixteenth century, Oda Nobunaga made the destruction of warrior monks an important goal in his attempt to take over Japan (he was assassinated before he succeeded in conquering Japan, however). He fought the powerful and warlike Ikko-Ikki sect with their base in Kaga province at Honganji temple, and he destroyed the Mount Hiei temple near Kyoto. After the death of Nobunaga, and the final conquest and unifictation of Japan by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the temple on Mount Hiei was rebuilt, and it remains to this day the center of the Tendai Buddhist sect.



This is one of the many small, beautiful temples built by the Tendai--this one is near the railway station in Kyoto.



This is an image of the garden at the Moss Temple, Kokedera, in Kyoto.



This is the Golden Pagoda Temple, which i believe is on the shores of Lake Biwa.

Lake Biwa is deep and wide at the northern end, but it is shallow and narrow at the southern end--images from the north compared to the south would make one think they were two different lakes.



This is a painting of Lake Biwa done by an Englishman, Alfred East, in 1891.



This is one of the Emperor's villas near Kyoto.



This is a Hosso Buddhist temple, built a few years after the Emperor moved the capital to Kyoto--the Emperor moved to Kyoto to try to get away from the Hosso Buddhists.



The ancient architectural traditions of Kyoto have influenced the modern architects, as this image of a restaurant shows.



This is a hotel built for visitors to the ancient temple on Mount Hiei.

Thanks!!
Setanta:
I can't thank you enough! I can't begin to tell you how much I excited when I see those pictures! Thank you ,Thank you!

You are welcome, Whitesnow, i hope this helps you.

wow!
Fantastic!!!

very calming very peaceful - thanks for sharing it