Iwatayama Monkey Park, park in Kyoto
Iwatayama Monkey Park is a park on the slope of Mount Arashiyama in Nishikyō, Kyoto, at an elevation of 160 metres. About 120 wild Japanese macaques roam freely around an open dirt enclosure with a low wooden railing and chain, benches, and a planted slope with a pool. An information board shows the mountain range and Kyoto Tower.
The park was established in the late 1950s to let visitors encounter wild macaques that had lived in this mountain region for centuries. Over the decades, it developed into a center for watching natural monkey behavior outside cages.
The park's official name, Arashiyama Monkī Pāku, is written in Japanese as 嵐山モンキーパーク, while the mountain is called Iwatayama after the Iwata family who owned the land. The kyōgen play Saru-muko, from the Muromachi period, was modeled on the Arashiyama monkey troop; in it a monkey from Yoshino marries into the Arashiyama troop and performs a three-part dance at the banquet. The play is also inserted as an aikyōgen in the Noh play Arashiyama.
The climb from the entrance to the viewing platform takes about 20 minutes along a steep path that can become slippery in rain. Anyone wanting to feed the animals enters a small hut where food is available for a fee, while the macaques remain outside.
The animals move freely among visitors and show little fear, allowing encounters from just a few meters away. Some macaques sit on railings or rocks right next to people and groom each other without appearing disturbed.
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