I'm "falling"...
Yes, it is autumn - or fall - season again. And, as usual, I've had my share of momiji-hunting this year.
Unlike my previous picture-huntings (check autumn and spring posts of years past. Too many links to put here), this time most of the time I wasn't alone. Guess that, with my thesis pending, I might not have gone to all those places without an "external pressure".
Where could I go after two years in Kyoto? Well, the question is better said as "which of the many places I've never been I may be able to go this year?" That's one of the wonderful things of living in Kyoto, although beautiful places exist throughout the whole country.
The first place was the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Not that I've never been there before. Actually, it was just last spring. Nevertheless, at the time, the place was open to the general public instead of the usual reservations required to enter as part of the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the current emperor's reign. It actually caught me a little off-guard for this year being "21st year of the Heisei era" on the Japanese calendar.
Japanese calendars counts years according to the year each emperor started its reign. So, when Emperor Akihito came, the Heisei era started; Emperor Showa reigned during the Showa era; Emperor Taisho during the Taisho era; and so on. (The era name and the posthumous name of the emperor have been the same since the Meiji era.)
Also, for being a special occasion, there were special exibitions and events. One more reason to get in and see.
Ohara is a place some people were recommending me to go to take pictures during autumn. So, I tried to gather the Brazilian group in Kyoto and go straight to the main highlight: the Sanzen-in (三千院).
Unfortunately, by a series of misunderstandings and sudden cancellations not many people gathered; and those who did ended up separated in two groups who basically didn't meet each other. Still, it was possible to taste a bit of the traditional Ohara atmosphere and appreciate the autumn leaves on the moss garden at the temple.
The next place wasn't exatcly new for me. After going there in 2007, I went again to Shugakuin Imperial Villa. That time I was with friends from Himeji who came to see the autumn in Kyoto.
Shugakuin Imperial Villa is still one of my favorite places in autumn. It's not too hard to figure out why. Even with some rainy weather by the end of the visit, it was still beautiful. Or should I say, raining while it was still possible to see the sun gave an even more special feeling to the scenario.
Talking about imperial places, the next one is the only one of the four in Kyoto I have never been to (the other ones are Shugakuin Imperial Villa, Katsura Imperial Villa and Kyoto Imperial Palace)... until now. Using a open place in a reservation Fang made, I went to Sento Imperial Palace, or the "retired emperor's palace". And I would like to live in a place like that after I retire... as long as some modern facilities were provided, of course.
It was during the peak of autumn, so the red leaves were at its maximum beauty (the guide himself said that). The garden, although it can't beat Shugakuin Imperial Villa, is really beautiful. Too bad that this time I was experimenting my polarizing filter and the results were often not close to what I expected. The cloudy weather during most of the visit also played a role in depreciating the pictures, too.
The last one was part of a part-time job activity: go to some touristic places in Kyoto with junior high school students. There we went to Toji and Nishi Honganji. The former was already withnot so many red leaves left; the latter had two full yellow beautiful trees. I will skip pictures of those two places to avoid showing the students (maybe there's no problem, but I'll play safe this time).
Well, not so many places this year. This happens when you are under pressure because your research is not going so well as it is supposed to. I would like to have gone to more places, but that was all I got.
To see more pictures, check my Picasa album.
Unlike my previous picture-huntings (check autumn and spring posts of years past. Too many links to put here), this time most of the time I wasn't alone. Guess that, with my thesis pending, I might not have gone to all those places without an "external pressure".
Where could I go after two years in Kyoto? Well, the question is better said as "which of the many places I've never been I may be able to go this year?" That's one of the wonderful things of living in Kyoto, although beautiful places exist throughout the whole country.
The first place was the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Not that I've never been there before. Actually, it was just last spring. Nevertheless, at the time, the place was open to the general public instead of the usual reservations required to enter as part of the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the current emperor's reign. It actually caught me a little off-guard for this year being "21st year of the Heisei era" on the Japanese calendar.
Japanese calendars counts years according to the year each emperor started its reign. So, when Emperor Akihito came, the Heisei era started; Emperor Showa reigned during the Showa era; Emperor Taisho during the Taisho era; and so on. (The era name and the posthumous name of the emperor have been the same since the Meiji era.)
Also, for being a special occasion, there were special exibitions and events. One more reason to get in and see.
Ohara is a place some people were recommending me to go to take pictures during autumn. So, I tried to gather the Brazilian group in Kyoto and go straight to the main highlight: the Sanzen-in (三千院).
Unfortunately, by a series of misunderstandings and sudden cancellations not many people gathered; and those who did ended up separated in two groups who basically didn't meet each other. Still, it was possible to taste a bit of the traditional Ohara atmosphere and appreciate the autumn leaves on the moss garden at the temple.
The next place wasn't exatcly new for me. After going there in 2007, I went again to Shugakuin Imperial Villa. That time I was with friends from Himeji who came to see the autumn in Kyoto.
Shugakuin Imperial Villa is still one of my favorite places in autumn. It's not too hard to figure out why. Even with some rainy weather by the end of the visit, it was still beautiful. Or should I say, raining while it was still possible to see the sun gave an even more special feeling to the scenario.
Talking about imperial places, the next one is the only one of the four in Kyoto I have never been to (the other ones are Shugakuin Imperial Villa, Katsura Imperial Villa and Kyoto Imperial Palace)... until now. Using a open place in a reservation Fang made, I went to Sento Imperial Palace, or the "retired emperor's palace". And I would like to live in a place like that after I retire... as long as some modern facilities were provided, of course.
It was during the peak of autumn, so the red leaves were at its maximum beauty (the guide himself said that). The garden, although it can't beat Shugakuin Imperial Villa, is really beautiful. Too bad that this time I was experimenting my polarizing filter and the results were often not close to what I expected. The cloudy weather during most of the visit also played a role in depreciating the pictures, too.
The last one was part of a part-time job activity: go to some touristic places in Kyoto with junior high school students. There we went to Toji and Nishi Honganji. The former was already withnot so many red leaves left; the latter had two full yellow beautiful trees. I will skip pictures of those two places to avoid showing the students (maybe there's no problem, but I'll play safe this time).
Well, not so many places this year. This happens when you are under pressure because your research is not going so well as it is supposed to. I would like to have gone to more places, but that was all I got.
To see more pictures, check my Picasa album.
1 comment:
Olá Igor,
Continua a partilha e a saga. Eu mudei-me para a Bélgica.
Abraços,
António R
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