Nishijin-ori symbolizes the ancient capital's elegance and luxury. The obi-weaving process is divided into detailed tasks, such as mon-template design and yarn dying. Each artisan has a specialist role. With a deep sense of responsibility and a mutual trust, they strive for higher levels of perfection. Noh costumes have unsurpassable beauty. Some artisans weave with their fingernails. This magnificent textile meshes the city's 1,200 year-old history and the fervor of artisans through the ages.

The ancient capital has many shinise, or established businesses, with unbroken histories. Kyoto Prefecture classes a firm founded at least a century ago as shinise. Over generations, more than 1,100 Kyoto shinise have maintained imperial court culture and life; and provided for temples, shrines, samurai clans and the common people. Through the ups and downs, they have upheld their trade, reputations and family mottos; and kept the Kyoto entrepreneurial spirit of status and trust alive.

The changing leaves vividly color Kyoto, which lies in a basin and has marked temperature differences. For more than a millennium, people have delighted in their beauty and picnicked under the trees. Today, the changing leaves continue to enchant Kyotoites, who live within the changing seasons. The exquisite leaves adorn traditional kaiseki cuisine dishes, and the trees lit up at night are a magical sight. Some are so captured by their magnificence they express it in Waka poetry and the arts.