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Autumn Color Report 2010
by japan-guide.com

This is the official japan-guide.com autumn color report for 2010. Please visit also our guide to autumn leaves for more general information and our schedule of upcoming reports.

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2010/11/18 - Nara Report
by scott

Today I took another side trip from Kyoto and headed down south to check out some of the sights in Nara Prefecture. After arriving at Kintetsu Nara Station, I immediately picked up a rental car and headed out of the city to Hasedera Temple in the mountains east of Asuka.

Hasedera, the head temple of the Bunzan School of Shingon Buddhism, is made up of a few dozen temple buildings situated along the side of a mountain. An attractive covered corridor of over 400 steps leads to the temple's main building which has a large balcony from where you can look out over the maple and cherry trees planted throughout the temple grounds. While lots of red and yellow trees can be viewed from the balcony, overall it looked like most of the trees are still just beginning to color. Most of the trees were still predominantly green when viewed from below suggesting that it will probably be another week or so before Hasedera peaks.

South of Hasedera is Tanzan Shrine, another famous koyo spot in the region. Tanzan Shrine actually has its origins as a temple, and its architecture and pagoda are strong reminders of that time. Plenty of maple trees are planted around the shrine grounds that attract bus loads of leaf viewers. Just like at Hasedera, the trees are beginning to show lots of yellow and red but are still very green. Here too I would expect it to be around a week or so before it peaks.

Travelling around this region always seems to take so much time, and after a drive that took way longer than it should have (thanks to a major road with slow trucks and no passing lanes), I arrived back in Nara with far less time than I had planned for. So I quickly ran over to check out Yoshikien and Isuien gardens near Todaiji before I had to catch my train back to Kyoto.

Yoshikien Garden is a Japanese landscape garden built on the former priest's residence of nearby Kofukuji Temple. The maples around the pond near the entrance are bright orange red and appear to be approaching their peak. The trees around the moss garden, however, were only beginning to change color and their peak is probably still at least a week away.

Next I quickly headed over to see the larger Isuien Garden next door. Overall the trees seemed farther along than neighboring Yoshikien Garden, with a larger percentage of the maples and bushes around the grounds already nice bright shades of orange and red. There were still plenty of maple varieties around the garden that are only just starting to color, though, so overall it would seem that the peak is still at least a few days if not a week off in the future.

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List of Posts:
2010/12/09 - Tokyo Report
2010/12/06 - Kamakura Report
2010/12/01 - Kyoto Report

2010/11/30 - Tokyo Report
2010/11/26 - Kyoto Report
2010/11/26 - Osaka Report
2010/11/25 - Kyoto Report
2010/11/24 - Tokyo Report
2010/11/24 - Kyoto Report
2010/11/23 - Kyoto Report
2010/11/19 - Kyoto Report
2010/11/19 - Sakurayama Report
2010/11/18 - Nara Report
2010/11/17 - Kyoto Report
2010/11/17 - Ise Report
2010/11/16 - Tokyo Report
2010/11/16 - Koyasan Report
2010/11/15 - Kyoto Report
2010/11/10 - Kyoto Report
2010/11/09 - Fujigoko Report
2010/11/05 - Yamadera Report
2010/11/04 - Daisen Report

2010/10/27 - Kuju Report
2010/10/27 - Nikko Report
2010/10/26 - Kirishima Report
2010/10/19 - Noboribetsu Report
2010/10/15 - Akita Report
2010/10/14 - Nikko Report
2010/10/14 - Akita Report
2010/10/05 - Nikko Report

2010/09/29 - Oze Report
2010/09/15 - Kurodake Report
2010/09/14 - Asahidake Report