Autumn in Kyoto - part 1

Time for autumn leaves... or at least it was.

November 17th and 18th. A group of (mostly) Brazilian exchange students from many parts of Japan come to Kyoto for the event "Kyoto no koyou". Some of them I met for the first time, and some I've not met for a while (since Gifu BBQ, perhaps). When the group is together, it means a fun day nevertheless.

So we went to see some autumn leaves... with lots of chat, jokes and fun along the way. The first stop was at Heian Jingu that, although it's more known as a place for hanami (see cherry blossoms in spring) rather than a place for koyou (autumn leaves), had some beautiful scenaries like 泰平閣 (taihei-kaku), a bridge that appeared in "The Last Samurai" movie (as I was told that). There was some sort of wedding ceremony going on, and kids around in kimono... probably because of the 七五三 (7-5-3).

(Damn it... I want to upload larger pics...)

After that people wanted to go to Kiyomizu-dera. But crowded buses (weekend in Kyoto) made us change our course to the "light-up" at Chion-in. It was beautiful, and for me it had a plus: I've been to Kiyomizu already, but that was my first time at Chion-in. After that, most people went to a hotel (or kyokan, I dunno). Since there weren't vacancies for all and I live in Kyoto anyway, I went home, meeting the group again at Kinkaku-ji the next day.


After that, a walk at Kiyomizu-dera, watching those who went to the Jishu shrine, a shrine dedicated to the deity of love. From Japan-guide: "In front of the shrine are two rocks, placed several meters apart from each other. Successfully walking from one to the other rock with your eyes closed is said to bring luck in your love live". And answering a question that some are probably wondering about: no, I didn't try to do that.

After that, some karaoke that included Sakuraba's performance of Bounce with Me... haha!

November 23rd. Holiday. Shell and Chi-chan came to Kyoto. As the saying goes: if I don't go to Himeji, the gang comes to Kyoto... heh! Our first stop was at Kyoto University Yoshida campus. Some will wonder what was I doing at the university on a holiday... One, they wanted to go there. Second, there was the university's culture festival going on there. They call it November Festival (１１月祭), and guess almost all universities and schools have one of those, like 工大祭 in Himeji...

Anyway, after that, guess our next stop... If you guesses Kiyomizu-dera you're right. Yes, Kiyomizu on a holiday during the koyou season... That's surely equal huge lines and queues. At least it wasn't for the "light-up" event, when it would be even more crowded... But it was still enjoyable, mostly because of the company. I probably wouldn't have the patience to stand there alone.


For dinner, I tried to gather the groups I knew that were wandering around Kyoto. Claus, Marilia, Paulo and Mitsue came from Tokyo for a little tourism. Noemy and Lee came from Himeji to see the autumn leaves. So, Shell, Chi-chan and I managed to meet with Claus's group and eat at a "omuraisu" (omellete + rice) restaurant. There were some problems meeting with Noemy and Lee, so they couldn't have dinner with us, but we met later and could talk for a while before the groups dispersed.

The red leaves weren't over yet, but I'll leave that for another post.