December | 2020 | Addams in Kyoto

Hi all! Get yourself a caffeinated beverage (if you drink one of those) and take a seat, because you are in for a spectacular anthocyanin, carotenoid and tannin laced tour de force of trees, as this is the Autumn episode and you are going to see more photos of beautiful trees than you may think possible in one smallish post – and you want to be fully awake for the experience!!!

This year the colours were more intense than I have ever seen them here, and after checking the electronic oracle I found that the conditions this year were text book perfect:-

“The best weather for brilliant fall foliage is a growing season with ample moisture followed by a dry, cool and sunny autumn with warm days and cool but frostless nights.”

All boxes ticked – we had heavy rain for the first half of summer, with follow-up rain through until early Autumn, and Autumn has been warmish (mid-teens mostly) and sunny (as you will see in most of the photos) with very cool nights, but no frost. Interestingly, the leaves are still holding on many trees, and the reds are becoming even more intense. This may change in the next few days, however, as very cold upper level air is coming in and bringing snow to wide areas of Japan, perhaps even here.

The hill behind our home, taken yesterday

We, of course, took full advantage of the colourful pageant, visiting a number of the best places to view these trees. The end result of all of this was a joyous uplifted feeling, many, many photos to be checked, and difficult decisions to be made of which to use – exhausting 😊.

Our first colour outing was a return visit to Takaragaike park, for a picnic. It had been a long time since we’d been on a picnic, which we used to do a lot, so having found a suitable park for such an outing it seemed very appropriate. We still had the old picnic set, an assortment of bakelite plates and tumblers, 1960s picnic cutlery and other bits and pieces, and a picnic rug, so we took these, found a table and enjoyed an outdoor repast.

Prior to lunch we walked through the forest and were surprised when a group of deer walked past us. We had no idea there were any deer in the park, so we were somewhat shocked. Had we been in Nara, well, you just expect it, so it was quite funny that we were surprised with this Close Encounter of the Animal Kind. When I heard the nearby noises, before we saw the deer, I was hoping for a tanuki or maybe (laughingly) a serow, but the deer just sauntered across the path in front of us, with only one stopping to look at us briefly.

A serow

For our next visit we went to Arashiyama. Our walk took us through the bamboo and then up to the top of the hill behind the bamboo forest. In all the times we had visited the area, we had never climbed up the hill, from which you can see further up the Hozugawa river. With the colour and the sunny day it was a fantastic panorama.

We then climbed down to the river and along back to the main area to look for somewhere to eat. The restaurant we had planned to go to had a waiting list to get in, so we tried a couple of other places – one was gone – then checked the oracle and found a vegan café across the other side of the river, called Musubi Café. Initially we were the only people there, which was nice, and we had a fantastic lunch with the best taco rice I have ever eaten.

The final of our three outings for colour took us to Eikando Zenrinji temple, which Craig had never been to. I had been there with friends two years previously and loved it, so it seemed appropriate. This time the colour was unbelievable, so intense, and there were quite a few people but it wasn’t too over-crowded.

After leaving there we dropped into Nanzenji temple and had a snack which we had taken with us. After the beauty of Eikando we just sat there and ate there, and I only took two photos! We then walked back along one of my favourite canals. The weather was perfect for a long walk, mid-teens and clear blue sky. A lovely day.

As the weather continued to be clear, we went for a few other walks. For one we decided to go for a walk in the forest nearby (and yes, sometimes I do hum that tune 😊), taking a route past Tofukuji to see how the foliage was going there – but it had definitely passed it’s peak. We then walked around the back of the temple into an area we hadn’t been before where there were very large houses, many of which were very nice indeed. Like walking into Beaumont, or somewhere similar where there are many large, old homes.

One other noteworthy walk took us into the CBD area, from a different direction, and we found a very interesting small temple there called Rokkakudo. Legend has it that the temple was founded by Prince Shotoku in 587CE. It was previously known as Siunzanchohoji, however, the current name comes from its main hall’s hexagonal shape. Next to the temple is a hall called Ikenobo, which is renowned as the birthplace of Ikebana. The Ikenobo school has produced many skilled artists in Ikebana since the Muromachi period (1333-1568). There is an Ikebana museum there, but we didn’t have time to go in, so that will be left to another time. In front of the hexagonal hall there is a small hexagonal stone, which is known as the Navel Stone and is said to mark the centre of Kyoto.

The Navel

What a lovely time of year it is here in Autumn – Spring is lovely with the blossom on display and the warmer weather ahead but Autumn truly is a magical time here, especially this year. Perhaps nature was giving us a gift in light of the year we have all been enduring.

There were three other noteworthy events for us during this period – 25 November was the four year anniversary of my arrival here to live, we had a second vegan meet-up event here, nearly exactly a year after we held the previous brunch (in fact, it was the first meet-up event since ours) and the Veggy magazine with the article about us was published on 10 November. The magazine is a Japanese vegetarian/vegan publication, so we are hoping this will give us more exposure to the Japanese market.

To ensure social distancing, we held our meet-up event in two groups, one at lunchtime and the other at dinnertime. We made a three course Thai meal, followed by pumpkin spice muffins for dessert (yes, I know, not exactly a Thai dessert but really yummy, so why not?) Everyone enjoyed it and we had some queries about having other events here, and tomorrow one of the couples is coming here for a late breakfast.