Autumn happened

So... I've been up to a lot in the last couple of weeks. Not least mid-terms and a Japanese history presentation. But sticking to the more fun stuff, it's now autumn leaf season here in Kyoto! The tourists have descended upon us. It's really quite scary.

Kyoto's especially famous for how pretty the momiji trees are when their leaves turn red, and there are a lot of places you can visit that are famous for them. Even our university campus is full of them. My teachers have now all, at some point or another, speculated about when the peak viewing time will be and encouraged us to go out and see them. If it's like this now, I can't bear to think what will happen when Japan's favourite flowers, cherry blossoms, begin blooming...

Having said that, it all really is beautiful. The other day a friend and I took a detour on the way home through Myoshinji, the big temple complex close to campus that you can cycle through. The paths are made of stone, so it's not a comfortable cycle, but you can cycle. I rather enjoy the slight sense of sacrilege you feel doing it (not that we're that bad, I've seen people going through on motorcycles...). On the way, we stopped off at one of the little temples that has a special autumn opening so you can view the momiji in its garden. We payed 600 yen to get in, which we were slightly surprised about - the price seemed a bit steep just for seeing some pretty leaves. Then we had another look at the tickets and realised that we got matcha tea as well! We could see a couple of people standing in the building waiting to welcome us, so we went on in and they served us matcha tea and a Japanese sweet, to enjoy while sitting on a veranda overlooking a garden specially designed for autumn. It was quite sweet, because they were very quiet and formal when we first went in, but when we spoke a little Japanese to them, they broke out into smiles and enthusiastically showed us some of the gorgeous details on the sliding doors in the rooms.

 

Another fun thing I did was go to the monthly handicraft market at Chionji. There are loads of markets that happen on temple grounds in Kyoto, and this was a big one. Everything was really pretty, and I was quite proud when my friend was looking at a tea bowl on one of the ceramics stalls and asked me why I thought there was a spiral shape in the middle - I could tell her exactly why because of my ceramics class! (It's to catch the bitter powder that might be left over in the bottom, so you don't accidentally drink it. Would be useful in my cocoa mug too.)

 Speaking of ceramics, this is the view from one of the bridges we cross on the cycle to the class every Saturday. Every time we go, I wonder why I put myself through such torture (the cycle is about an hour and you have to go through a super touristy bit, very congested), and then we come across something like this, and the light is gorgeous because it's only 10 o'clock, and I forget all of my grumpiness.

 And these are my traditional tea bowl and tea cup - all that's left to do is paint them!

 On the way back I took a little detour, because I heard that there was a chrysanthemum exhibit at Nishi Honganji and it wasn't too far out of my way. I didn't realise they come in so many colours!

Lastly, I found myself with a spare couple of hours on my hands a couple of Sundays ago, so I took a walk to this lake that I'd spotted close by on the map. It's an easy walk, you go past a lot of lovely gardens and a bamboo forest. In the distance you can always see Arashiyama's mountains, and the leaves were just beginning to turn that day, so it was a very pretty view.

I'm set for a very touristy weekend with my brother, so expect some fun pictures from that next time!