Autumn in Japan....
Continues to be lovely. It was another clear day today, and I had time off, so I went out again, looking to capture the autumn....
There's not much narrative to this one, really. I just had a day off, fine weather, and decided it would be fun to go out and get more pictures. At first, I thought about going back to the northeast, hitting up Sanzen-in. But I'm still not exactly certain how to get there, so I went someplace I could find, instead, and headed to the northwest.
My first stop was Daikakuji, a temple I had been told was a must-see. I was told right. Part of it was under reconstruction, but the parts that were still original were fantastic. Here's a selection of photos....
That shrine was neat, as everything - even the floor - was done in a shiny red lacquer. There were some fantastic photo opportunities there, but there were also too many people. I couldn't get a shot without a human being in it. *sigh*
Anyway, Daikakuji. Very nice place.
Next, I went up the road to Ninnaji. I had been here before, maybe two and a half years ago. It was beautiful then, with the new leaves and cherry blossoms. It's beautiful now, too....
From there, with the day waning, I figured I could hit up one more place before everything shut down for the night. So, I walked up the road to Ryoanji. On my way, I came across a Mysterious Staircase that led up the side of the mountain (and didn't photograph well). I saw that and thought, "Well hells, I have to see what's up there...." I went up, and about 2/3 of the way up, there was a path off to the side that led to a Mysterious Shrine (which also, due to my camera's Low Lighting Curse, didn't photograph well). Well, here I was, at a Mysterious Shrine in the woods, no one around for miles, and I noticed a Mysterious Path.
One of my little mental twitches is my unshakable belief in what I sometimes call The Narrative - the belief that certain things should happen because they'd make a good story. Now, if I lived in any decent narrative, I would have followed the Mysterious Path and, perhaps, met up with a Mysterious Person, who would then impart the wisdom of the ages unto me or something like that. There were plenty of possible Narratives that could have spun out, but no. I followed the Mysterious Path for a while and came upon the Ordinary Large Rock, and then the Mundane Fire Safety Warning Sign, which kind of ruined the image of a seldom-trodden byway through the ancient and unknowable Japanese woods. *sigh*
I got to Ryoanji a few minutes later, just ahead of a tour group. This temple is famous for its rock garden, which is supposed to be a serene and contemplative place where you can meditate on the universe and your place in it. But not with a hundred people all trying to get into the same angle for a photograph of the garden. The poor lady doing the temple stamps probably won't be able to eat for days because of the cramping caused by doing all those books....
Still and all, it's a nice temple, once you ignore the other people. That's true about so many places, really....
By the time I was finished here, the sun was setting and the light was fading pretty quickly. I hopped the train to Arashiyama to see if anything interesting was going on down there, especially on the order of a late-opening temple. I'm one stamp away from finishing my Temple Book, y'see.... But no, I was out of luck. Maybe I can get that taken care of tomorrow....
See the rest of my temple book stamps on my Flickr Temple Book page
There's not much narrative to this one, really. I just had a day off, fine weather, and decided it would be fun to go out and get more pictures. At first, I thought about going back to the northeast, hitting up Sanzen-in. But I'm still not exactly certain how to get there, so I went someplace I could find, instead, and headed to the northwest.
My first stop was Daikakuji, a temple I had been told was a must-see. I was told right. Part of it was under reconstruction, but the parts that were still original were fantastic. Here's a selection of photos....
That shrine was neat, as everything - even the floor - was done in a shiny red lacquer. There were some fantastic photo opportunities there, but there were also too many people. I couldn't get a shot without a human being in it. *sigh*
Anyway, Daikakuji. Very nice place.
Next, I went up the road to Ninnaji. I had been here before, maybe two and a half years ago. It was beautiful then, with the new leaves and cherry blossoms. It's beautiful now, too....
From there, with the day waning, I figured I could hit up one more place before everything shut down for the night. So, I walked up the road to Ryoanji. On my way, I came across a Mysterious Staircase that led up the side of the mountain (and didn't photograph well). I saw that and thought, "Well hells, I have to see what's up there...." I went up, and about 2/3 of the way up, there was a path off to the side that led to a Mysterious Shrine (which also, due to my camera's Low Lighting Curse, didn't photograph well). Well, here I was, at a Mysterious Shrine in the woods, no one around for miles, and I noticed a Mysterious Path.
One of my little mental twitches is my unshakable belief in what I sometimes call The Narrative - the belief that certain things should happen because they'd make a good story. Now, if I lived in any decent narrative, I would have followed the Mysterious Path and, perhaps, met up with a Mysterious Person, who would then impart the wisdom of the ages unto me or something like that. There were plenty of possible Narratives that could have spun out, but no. I followed the Mysterious Path for a while and came upon the Ordinary Large Rock, and then the Mundane Fire Safety Warning Sign, which kind of ruined the image of a seldom-trodden byway through the ancient and unknowable Japanese woods. *sigh*
I got to Ryoanji a few minutes later, just ahead of a tour group. This temple is famous for its rock garden, which is supposed to be a serene and contemplative place where you can meditate on the universe and your place in it. But not with a hundred people all trying to get into the same angle for a photograph of the garden. The poor lady doing the temple stamps probably won't be able to eat for days because of the cramping caused by doing all those books....
Still and all, it's a nice temple, once you ignore the other people. That's true about so many places, really....
By the time I was finished here, the sun was setting and the light was fading pretty quickly. I hopped the train to Arashiyama to see if anything interesting was going on down there, especially on the order of a late-opening temple. I'm one stamp away from finishing my Temple Book, y'see.... But no, I was out of luck. Maybe I can get that taken care of tomorrow....
See the rest of my temple book stamps on my Flickr Temple Book page