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November 24, 2011 - Yoshiminedera and Southwest Kyoto
Hearing reports that it was prime time for autumn foliage in Kyoto, I decided to go to Kyoto's Oharano area in the southwest to see Yoshimine-dera, a temple famous for its autumn leaves.
From JR Mukomachi Station, I took Bus 66 to the terminus (Yoshimine-dera) just below the temple. Looking around the area from the bus, I thought I may have come too early and the pathway leading from the bus stop to the temple also had me worried as it was quite green however, upon reaching the top I realized that my timing was perfect: colored leaves, mostly red, were scattered all about the temple, as well as on the distant mountainside!
Yoshimine-dera is a huge temple complex extending upward into the mountain from the Hondo (main hall), which is the first structure you see after entering through the gate. In spite of all the buses that people were piling out of to see the temple, it didn't feel crowded. The size of the temple and the pace of each visitor as they ascended, took photos, and rested seemed to have dispersed everyone enough that no part of the temple was particularly congested. At every level of the complex there were new and different trees with new scenes full of color: No doubt everyone there felt themselves an amateur photographer, trying to get that perfect, unique shot of tree and temple!
It took nearly 2 hours to fully explore all of the buildings, gardens, and sites of Yoshimine-dera, with many stops along the way for photos and to simply take in the beauty of it all.
After leaving Yoshimine-dera, I walked down to Jurinji Temple, which was also said to be a good place to see autumn foliage. Although it is much smaller than Yoshimine-dera, Jurinji did not disappoint! There were plenty of leaves throughout its well-manicured temple grounds. In particular, a large tree full of bright yellow leaves stood out.
Although the leaves were great, they did not end up being the best part of Jurinji. I was unaware when I decided to go there that the day of my visit (Nov. 23) was a ceremonial day at the temple and I was lucky enough to walk in just before it started, so I took advantage of the opportunity and went to watch the salt-burning ceremony. The purpose of the ceremony was to recreate the same effect as the poet Narihira who once served here and burned salt in order to see and smell its smoke.
The priests chanted and played instruments as they lit the leaves and salt in a stone oven placed in the center of a large depression on a hill behind the temple. The wind blew the smoke in all directions, allowing everyone there a chance to smell the smoke, which seemed to smell just slightly different from typical smoke. Then they had a select number of spectators participate by taking them down around the oven and having them each spread petals and sprinkle salt atop the oven. Chanting continued until the fire and smoke had mostly faded. I was definitely fortunate to have stumbled upon such an event!
From Jurinji, I walked on into the next town, Nagaoka-kyo, which was briefly the former capital of Japan prior to its move to Kyoto. The bamboo forests along the way made the walk enjoyable. There, I visited Komyoji Temple, yet another famous momiji spot. Komyoji was extremely crowded and although there were some colorful leaves scattered about, most of the trees along the scenic pathway to and from the temple were still green.
Before heading to the station, I made one last stop at Nagaoka Tenmangu Shrine. The shrine is not a particularly good place for leaf peeping, but it is one of the town's historic sites and the lakes and park just outside the shrine were still quite beautiful.
It was well worth it to make the trip out to the far southwestern Oharano area of Kyoto to see the leaves. For those considering a visit, it should still be worth it through the weekend and perhaps even early next week at Yoshimine-dera and Jurinji. Komyoji should improve and likely reach its peak sometime next week.
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