The trains to and from Arashiyama were packed with tourists out to see the autumn leaves on Sunday, but Mewby and I together with the volunteers of P.T.O. escaped from the crowds and up to the summit of Ogurayama where we were blessed with some spectacular views.

I have more pictures on flickr here, and Lucinda Cowling has written up a very nice summary of our day here (so I shan’t bother) but there are so many spots to view the autumn foliage in Kyoto… and as Stewart Wachs wrote earlier this week they are “sometimes so beautiful it can make you cry”. I asked Stewart and some other friends of Deep Kyoto:

What is your favorite location for viewing autumn foliage in Kyoto?

Stewart Wachs is from the U.S.A. He is a professor of British and American Studies at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, a photographer, a writer and an associate editor of Kyoto Journal. Stewart says,

The woods in the precincts of Kamigamo Shrine. I once lived just down the road from here, in a small tatami flat behind a big pickling vegetable patch, and the shrine forest was our neighborhood’s magical sanctuary. A brook runs through these woods and in summer fireflies meander through the dense darkness above its current. Here and there certain boulders are encircled with rope, marking them as sacred, and some are topped with small Shinto altars like the one in this photo. The maple trees are wild, or feel so; they aren’t overly designed or arrayed, yet the range of autumnal hues glowing from shafts of light always delights my eyes…

And Stewart (being a photographer) has also sent us this lovely picture to enjoy. [Read more…]