Colors of Autumn

November 22, 2014

This past Saturday has been one of the most beautiful weekends I've had in Japan. Of course all of my adventures and weekends in Japan have been a blessing but this past Saturday was extra special. So I'm from Houston and we don't really have four seasons like there is in Japan. I've never got to experience fresh snow falling, flowers in full bloom, or the wonders of Autumn. Luckily for me, this Autumn season I'm living in a place where the changing leaves are in full swing! I knew I wanted to go to Kyoto to see the leaves change colors because earlier in the year I had a friend tell me that Kyoto is most beautiful during this time of year. With this weekend being a three day weekend, I figured it would be perfect to spend a day in Kyoto. I was originally planning to go by myself but luckily for me, Norie and Issei were planning to go to Kyoto as well!

Since this time of year Kyoto gets crazy packed, Norie suggest that we start the day early. So we met at Kyoto Station at 9am but even then, on a Saturday, the station was crazy packed! Our first destination was Tofuku-Ji Temple, one of the best spots for kouyo, which is the word in Japanese for "viewing Autumn leaves." When we got to the station, there were tons of people on the train headed to the same place as us. I was so shocked, even getting out of the station there were police men and orange cones creating a walk way to the temple. It was like there was a festival going on! The short walk to the temple was nice though. Despite the hoard of people, you could see trees in reds and yellows lining the streets.

When we got to Tofuku-ji Temple I was blown away. Literally all the trees were shades of red, yellow, orange, and green. It was amazing. We spent a few hours walking around the grounds of Tofuku-ji taking in all the sites and taking a million photos. It was hard to relax and meditate in a place that would be perfect for it because there were so many other people and lines, but the temple grounds were truly so beautiful. All the trees looked like paintings and I just couldn't believe the intensity of the colors. Japan is truly lucky to have these sites once a year and I was truly blessed to be able to be a part of it this year.

After we walked through Tofuku-ji grounds, we headed to our next destination, Nanzen-ji Temple. Nanzen-ji had some awesome sites too but I think we started with the best place so we kind of took it easy with the photo ops at Nanzen-ji. One thing that was pretty cool about Nanzen-ji was this old water way. It didn't look very Japanese but Norie explained to me that it actually use to work. Now, because of its old look, Norie said that many Japanese drama's are shot here. She also told me that many photographers come here to shoot photos because it is very editorial looking. This place was also swarming with people.

We still had sunlight left so we headed to our last kouyo destination, Eikando Zenrin-Ji Temple. Here the leaves were also a sight to see. The place was really packed and we had to wait in a small line to get in. The entrance fee was 1,000 yen (like $10) which was a bit much but we paid anyways. Within Eikando Zenrin-Ji's grounds there was this museum like place you could enter that had relaxing gardens where you could sit and look at the pond or rock garden. I really enjoyed the deep red leaves here. We didn't see the complete grounds of Eikando Zenrin-Ji because after a full day of walking from place to place and fighting crowds, we were all a bit tired and running low of energy. Also, the sun was setting and personally I don't think nature looks that good without the sun. There was, though, a night viewing option where the grounds are illuminated. When we were leaving, we saw many people in line for that. I thought that was kind of silly because leaves would look better in the sun, not with artificial lighting! But I guess it's all part of the attraction.

We finished off the day with walking and doing some light shopping in Kyoto. The day was long but it was so incredibly beautiful. After seeing things like this, I can see how so many people have drawn inspiration from this beautiful country through out the decades. Truly Japan is a special place and I'm so thankful to God that I'm blessed with such a life. So I hope you guys enjoyed these photos and the video that will soon be posted as well. Come see Japan during the Fall! It's amazing!!

xx
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