Japanese autumn

Is it too late to talk about autumn?
Oh, well, never mind! I can't help talking about this place.

I visited a templed called 廣誠院 (Kou-sei-in temple) on December 1st.

This traditional Japanese house is just behind Kyoto Kyoto Hotel Okura.
This year we had very warm autumn, so it was the best time to see
coloured leaves in Kyoto. (Normally it's the middle of November.)




Can you believe it? When I entered the state room (大広間）,

this scenery came into my eyes!!

This temple, built in 1892, used to be a villa of Kanetsune Ijuin.
He was Samurai before Meiji restoration, but after that became a businessman.
You can imagine how rich he was when you know he kept building more than 10 houses and villas! He only lived in this house for 4 years. What a happy man!!



The state room faces a pond. As the floor is raised, I felt this room was in the air.

This house has a very small room for tea ceremony. And it also looks like floating in the air.




The scenery from the circle window in the tea room was astonishing...

We can only enjoy the colour of autum for about 1 week at a place. So we feel it's precious and that's why we love it, isn't it?





I wouldn't forget these sceneries for many, many years to come.

桂離宮 - Katsura Rikyu (Palace in Katsura)

A few days ago, I visited Katsura Rikyu, which is located on the west of Kyoto. Rikyu (離宮) means a detached palace, and this one was built in the 17th century.
The foundation of Katsura Rikyu was made by Prince Toshihito of the Hachijo family. He was a grandson of Go-Yozei Emperor, but didn't succeed to the Imperial throne. As the Imperial family did not have any political power at that time (the Samurai period,) they had little to do but write poetry, play their musical instruments and perform the tea ceremony etc.
So this palace has several tea rooms, a special place for seeing the moon, and a huge garden with a pond & a boat. (Noble people didn't walk around the garden, they used a boat!)

Can you see the mountain? This garden was designed to include that mountain. In Japan we call it 'Shakkei 借景.'

Shaku（借） means 'borrow,' so they 'borrowed' that mountain as a part of scenery.

Isn't it beautiful?? The weather was perfect!

Over the window, it's hard to see, but there's a rice field. This rice field was created just for this room. Nobles enjoyed seeing farm people work and rice grow.

In Autumn, this rice field must have been beautiful in golden colour. Nobles contemplated it from this room.

This room was closed during winter. When the rice field was empty, there was no reason to visit here.




The blue and white wall is a kind of symbol of Katsura Rikyuu. Many Japanese remember it when they hear about this palace.

The blue colour was derived from a very precious colourant, and it was donated by a famous Samurai family, Maeda in Kanazawa. The design of this wall is very simple, just a repeat of squares. But it gives a very refreshing impression.