Let’s go Kyoto! ~Arashiyama & the autumn foliage~
Whenever you hear “the Autumn of Kyoto”, do you come up with the scenery of temples and shrines with Japanese maples and Ginkgo shining? The best timing of seeing the autumn foliage this year in Kyoto is around mid-November to early December, so I went to the north of the Arashiyama today!
There are so many famous spots in Arashiyama: Sagano Scenic Railway, Hozu River Rapids, Hogonin Temple, Jojakko-ji Temple, Tenryu-ji Temple, Giou-ji Temple which has become well-known because of a Japanese TV series “Taira no Kiyomori”, etc.. With so many famous spots mixing together, do you know there is actually a hidden spot of the autumn foliage over there?
Walk for about 15 minutes from the JR Saga-Arashiyama station, you will find the Hokyoin Temple. The entrance gate is very small, but the autumn leaves stand on the top of the gate to welcome you. At first glance, I thought it was only a small temple. However after I entered, the beautiful scenery stretching in front of my eyes almost took my breath away. There were trees with all leaves turning red; trees with green leaves turning yellow, yellow leaves turning orange, a fine colour gradation on a single tree, creating a colourful world. Imagining how further red those leaves can turn is also one of the interesting thing while looking at the autumn foliage, isn’t it?
After visiting the Hokyoin Temple, I recommend you going to the neighbouring Seiryō-ji Temple. Inside the Seiryō-ji Temple, there is a shop named “Daimonji-ya(大文字屋)”, which is famous of Aburi mochi, a kind of Japanese grilled rice cake with white miso sauce. This shop is quite usually used for TV series filming. 12 skewers are the volume for 1 person, but the actual rice cake is much lighter than it looks. The size is perfect for 1 bite, so you just easily make a clean sweep of them all quickly. No matter how tired you are after a long walk, having a tasty rice cake and a hot tea, you can relax and be healed.
Blue sky, jet black temple, red, orange and yellow trees, created an interesting scene surrounding me, made me feel glad to be Japanese.
When you go to Arashiyama, please also visit these places if you have time.