The next trip to Kyoto will be greatly deepened, Naoki Prize author Hitomi Sawada's historical essay "How to Walk in Kyoto" is released

Naoki Prize winner Hitomiko Sawada, known for her historical novels set in Kyoto, released her latest book, "How to Walk in Kyoto: 50 Perspectives of a Historical Novelist" (list price 1,760 yen), on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, from Shinchosha.

Sawada, who aspired to become a historian at Doshisha Graduate School, still lives in Kyoto, where he continues to live a unique life, working part-time in the university's laboratory and serving as a visiting professor.

In this book, Mr. Sawada, who travels the streets of Kyoto by bicycle on a daily basis, delves into the things of Kyoto that everyone knows, such as the surprising eating habits of Murasaki Shikibu and the origin of the famous Yatsuhashi, from the perspective of a historical novelist, and introduces them in 50 episodes. Even locals are surprisingly unaware of the new charm of Kyoto.

At the time of publication, Mr. Sawada touched on the importance of knowing the historical background that led to Kyoto's current state, saying, "Asking what Kyoto is leads to the question of what history is, and by extension, what we are.