Tofukuji, Kyoto – Koyo viewing

  • December 10, 2009 3:13 pm

I asked the clerk in the tourist office at Kyoto main station  “What is the best place  for autumn leave viewing?” – “Tofukuji temple” he answered without any hesitation.

Of course I had no other choice but to go directly to Tofukuji temple (moreover it turned out to be extremely close to the main station. Just take one of the JR trains and you will be there in 3-4 minutes).

Unfortunately it was a rainy day but still it had its own charm (I hope you’ll feel it from the photos).

This is one of the few successful photos with flash:

20_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo.

And without the flash:

21_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo.

Even more momiji:

2_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo.

And now is time for some more colors (pink and yellow) :)

1_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo3_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo

.

This creature I found in one of the gardens. It reminded me the “Princess Mononoke” movie little forest spirits. Who knows may be he is one of them just pretending to be from stone :)

4_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo

And this is the lake next to which the creature was “hiding”. It definitely must be one of Princess Mononoke forest spirits.

6_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo.

And some more photos of momiji and the temple:

9_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo

13_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo

.

10_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo12_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo

.

13_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo17_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo

.

And even more :)

The temple is also interesting. It has a zen garden (next to the lake with the “mononoke” creature). This is part of the building surrounding the garden (on the second picture you can even see part of the moss garden where the creatures were hiding):

7_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo5_Tofukuji_Kyoto_Koyo

.

Just a few more pictures of Tofukuji temple buildings (in the rain):

I would like to end the post with just two more pictures. The first one – the roof of the main building  surrounded by the momiji:

4_Tofukuji_Kyoto_autumn.

And the second one – I called it “Koyo canopy” I simply can not figure up anything more suitable :)

6_Tofukuji_Kyoto_autumn

.

I hope one day I’ll have the opportunity to visit Tofukuji in a nice, sunny, autumn day and than the real “koyo canopy” shall be revealed :)

Related Posts with Thumbnails
Share

Care to leave a comment?

2 Comments on Tofukuji, Kyoto – Koyo viewing

  1. JapanSoc - December 12, 2009 at 5:00 am

    Tofukuji Temple, Kyoto – Koyo viewing…

    They said it is the best place for autumn leaves viewing in Kyoto (better than even Kiyomizu-dera).
    I had no choice but to venture there (in the wind and rain) and to verify it on my own.

    PS. I found and my new gravatar there:)…

  2. Twitted by IH39 - December 12, 2009 at 6:03 am

    [...] This post was Twitted by IH39 [...]

Leave a comment

Add Your Comment