Autumn in The Mountains

It's now freezing cold here and indeed it snowed quite heavily the other day.

Before the end of November though we were able to get up to the mountains near Chichibu and enjoy the Autumn colours.

These photos were taken at and on the way to our favourite old nunnery that is hidden away deep in the mountains.

The Ōchigawa, is a tributary of the Arakawa, it is full of autumn colours and delicious fish at  this time of year.

Kyoto

We hadn't been to Kyoto for about 18 years so it was good to make an autumn trip there on a recent weekend.

It is of course very popular with foreign tourists and can get a little crowded to say the least.

But if you get up early and get going you can avoid the worst of the crowds.

Also there are many temples futther out that are incredibly beautiful and little visited compared to the more famous ones.

Part of a trip to Kyoto is enjoying a traditional Kaiseki meal in an old inn.

Here are some, just some, of the dishes we had for dinner.

 Below are various photos of Kyoto and its gardens and temples.

It is easy to see why it is so popular.

The Yoshimine Temple in the western hills overlooking Kyoto waw particularly beautiful with the autumn colours. Also not crowded at all as it is quite a way out of town and we were there early.

This is a very old pine tree at Yoshimine that has been trained horizontally it runs for about 50 meters and is meant to be the longest in Japan.

The rock garden Mt Fuji, a little odd I thought.

A Shrine in the Clouds

The Mitsumine Shrine sits high up on Mount Mitsumine in the Chichibu area of Saitama.













The original shrine is more than 2,000 years old and was dedicated to a wolf spirit. Somewhere along the line it became a proper Shinto shrine.














The original wolf spirit shtrine is still there but is now hard to get to. Probably because the Shinto priests believe its not quite proper. Having said that the Shinto shrine itself is full of wolf statues that look at once scary and spectacular.

On one of our recent visits the area was shrouded in cloud. I've posted pictures of this shrine before but the atmosphere when it's cloudy is something special.

The Shrine is part of a 33 shrine pilgrimage route through the mountains and very well endowed and looked after.

A stage on which No plays are performed at certain times of the year. These are quite common in the larger shrines.

Shinto is of course an animist religion that worships,  amongst other things, the spirits in the trees and rivers.

Here is a much hugged 1,000 year old cedar which releases its power to those who cuddle it. Rather a nice thought.

Wolves are of course very messy eaters, hence the bibs. (Only kidding)

There is a wonderful avenue of giant cedars and stone lanterns leading from the main gate. At New Year there is a midnight festival in the snow where all the lanterns are lit, it must be wonderful to see.