Tinted autumn leaves were looked dark and dull these past few years because of the intense heat of summer, and so I was dejected a little comparing the beautiful autumn leaves that I had looked before. Nevertheless, I check information about autumn leaves out on the Internet when autumn comes every year. This year, I went to Kyoto Yamashina in the middle of November.
Now, let’s take a look at autumn leaves in Yamashina.
1. Way to Bishamondo-Monzeki Shrine
Yamashina is located one station east of Kyoto Station in JR line. It is in Kyoto City, but is not in Kyoto Basin but in Yamashina Basin, surrounded by Mt. Kyoto-Higashiyama in the west, Mt. Otohayama in the east, Mt. Hiei in the north. In Yamashina, there is Bishamondo-Monzeki Shrine, which is famous for beautiful autumn leaves. It took about 20 minutes on foot from Yamashina Station to get the shrine.
We selected route 3, and the route 3 had an atmosphere as if we were in the depths of the mountains thought several persons went up or went down on the route. It was good time to see crimson foliage, and we breathed in fresh air as much as possible. The paved road changed to an unpaved mountain path, but it wasn’t difficult to walk. It was fine that day, and we fully enjoy the stroll while stepping firmly on the carpet of fallen leaves.
2. Bishamondo-Monzeki Temple
We suddenly saw flaming red leaves, while we kept going up the mountain path. We reached Bishamondo-Monzeki Temple. Bishamondo is a temple of Tendai sect of Buddhism, and originally stood at the north side of Kyoto Gosho (Imperial Palace). After wars and burning down, the temple was rebuilt in this area, Yamashina, in the Edo Period (1665). The main temple and Karamon gate show the features of the Japanese traditional architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition, the temple is a place where beautiful autumn leaves can be seen but many people don’t know it.
Niomon Gate and Main Temple behind the gate
You’ll be able to see a red carpet of fallen leaves a little later after the leaves on the trees fall.
There are various broad-leaved trees around the temple, and all of them were at the best. In particular, the autumn leaves in or around Bansuien garden, the main temple, and Benziten were great!
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Benzaite is on the right, Main Temple on the left
3. Yamashina Shoten Temple
We walked on a mountain path for about 5 minutes after leaving Bishamondo Temple, and reached Yamashina Shoten Temple. It is a sub-temple of This temple is a sub-temple of Bishamondo Monzeki Temple, and is dedicated to Daisho Kangiten. It was built at the same time as Bishamondo was rebuilt in Yamashina (1665). It is a small and quiet temple.
4. Biwako-sosui River and Moroha Shrine
I lived in Shinomiya in Yamashina before and it is near the temples, and so we decided to go to Shinomiya. We went down to Biwako-sosui River (Lake Biwa Canal) and kept going west along the canal. We were walking on the promenade while talking about old times and seeing good scenery at first, but we gradually got antsy, because we didn’t know how long it would take to get there, and we were getting hungry. So, we decided to go back to Yamashina Station. We dropped in Moroha Shrine on the way to Yamashina Station.
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Promenade along Lake Biwa Canal
Sosui Park
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Moroha Shrine
I was frustrated last year and the year before last, because we couldn’t see beautiful autumn leaves due to the fierce heat in summer. This year, however, we could see beautiful autumn leaves hear and there. It was very good!
The following pic shows the scenery in front of Yamashina Station. This is totally different from the scenery that I remembered.
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