When our new Japanese neighbours, Yumi and her husband Park, reviewed our travel plans to Japan, Yumi said, “This is a very creative and ambitious itinerary. Even for a Japanese person.”
2,126 km; C$226 tolls; 84 litres gas @C$1.50/litre
4 litres / 100 km!!
Our first visit was in autumn 1987, to the gardens of Tokyo and Kyoto. Our next was in October 2016, to hike the Kumano Kodo, visit Osaka, stay at Chiiori and see the Setouchi Triennale, during the time of koyo, or so we thought. But in most of the country, it’s not until November that the five-point maples reach a carmine red and the fan-shaped gingko leaves become mellow yellow. Before our plane touched down in Vancouver nine years ago, we started planning a third trip, a lengthy autumn stay, expecting it might be our last.
Tokyo (Nov 7-10): Ginkos took the early stage; chrysanthemums stole the show
Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue; we missed its festival lighting (Nov 15-Dec 1)
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Chrysanthemum Flower Bed Exhibition, Oct 28-Nov 16
Hakone (Nov 10-12): A miscible blend of art and landscape—four privately funded gardens featuring world-class art in a town with fewer than 11,000 people
"Mathematical Model 0010: Surface of Revolution with Constant Negative Curvature" by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto in the bamboo grove area of the Enoura Observatory in Odawara
"Two-Piece Reclining Figure: Points" by Henry Moore in The Hakone Open-Air Museum
Nikko City (Nov 12-14): Abscission—(new word!)the autumn leaves had fallen, as had the paralyzing crowds of leaf-peepers; driving up 48 hairpins on the Irohazaka Winding Road took only 20 minutes compared with 3-4 hours two weeks before
The Irohazaka Winding Road; at peak koyo, red maples crown the slopes
At the edge of the Senjogahara Marshland above Lake Chuzenji, the fan-shaped Yudaki Cascades tumble 70 metres into the Yukawa River
Nikko National Park West (Nov 14-16): Rosy bottoms in the onsens, snow in the Alps
At Hatcha-no-Yu (the only place on our trip with mixed-sex onsens), the Rhododendron Bath, a natural hot spring alongside a waterfall
The Kinunuma Marshland was well past koyo prime, but starkly beautiful with a skiff of snow, making the seven-hour in-out hike from the lodge most rewarding
Tokamachi (Nov 16-17): Infinitesimal separation of light and sky in the illusionary sunset/sunrise colours at James Turell’s House of Light
“I want to create an atmosphere that can be consciously plumbed with seeing, like the wordless thought that comes from looking into the fire.” James Turrell
Aglow, the House of Light, created in 2000 by James Turrell for the first Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, "simultaneously tackles both the human exterior and interior, intended to set an internal scene as much as an external one,” writes Karen Pinchin
Matsumoto (Nov 17-19): Yayoi Kusama’s pursuit of infinity with light and mirrors and vibrant colour
Matsumoto City Museum of Art honours Yayoi Kusama, who was born in this city in 1929 and is still creating immersive installations and signature polka-dot art like this sculpture: "Great Gigantic Pumpkin," 2017
Gateway to the Yōhashira-jinja Shrine in Matsumoto, a city surrounded by mountains and acclaimed for its beautiful views and one of Japan's premier historic castles
Kanazawa (Nov 19-21): Kenrokuen Garden leafage and the shadowed Geisha District
One of the three traditional landscape gardens in Japan, Kenrokuen was constructed by the ruling Maeda family over nearly two centuries, opening to the public in 1871
Kuragari-zaka, an alleyway in the “Dark Slope” of the Hidden Geisha chaya district that's said to have been the route used by wealthy shopkeepers to get to the entertainment district without being seen
Takayama (Nov 21-23): Peak koyo in the entrancing Edo city known as “Little Kyoto”
On the Higashiyama Walking Course, a 5.5 km trail that takes you through Takayama's city streets and the nearby Shiroyama Mountain
In the heart of Takayama Old Town is Sanmachi Suji, a group of three historic streets of the Old World architecture of traditional shops, modest homes and samurai mansions with their wooden doors, latticed windows and stone walls
Kinosaki Onsen Town (Nov 23-25): Historic, charming and romantic, willow-lined streets greening the riverwalk
Dressed in the simple haori, yukata and geta sandals provided by Kojinmari, a family-run ryokan (and the city's smallest), clopping through the streets among the seven public onsens
Serenity: Strolling at night along the Otani River, which flows through the heart of Kinosaki, alight with historical lanterns, reflecting the willows and the rows of traditional shops and ryokans
Matsue/Izumo (Nov 25-28): Perfect timing for koyo in Japan’s most acclaimed garden, worth the six-hour+ drive on the coastal road
Yuushien Garden in the Shimane prefecture, although best known for its 20,000 Japanese peony trees and Korean ginseng, is magical in autumn with vivid red and yellow foliage and mist drifting over its still pond
The five gardens (Dry, White Gravel Pine, Moss, Pond and Waterfall), viewed from windows, platforms and outdoor spaces in the Adachi Museum of Art Garden, are its most outstanding works of art, worthy of being named "Best Garden in Japan" for 22 consecutive years by Sukiya Living Magazine: The Journal of Japanese Gardening
Tokyo (Nov 28-Dec 1): Maple palettes in Koishikawa Korakuen Garden bedazzled us, ending the trip with exclamation points of colour
One of the three remaining 'daimyo' feudal lord gardens, Koishikawa Korakuen (completed in 1669) has a mass planting of 4,000 deciduous trees that are most alluring in late November
A quiet exclamation of autumn beauty, a small branch of a Japanese maple (Irohamomiji) in the Chishio-no-mori (Grove of Crimson), also in Koishikawa Korakuen Garden where we wandered for almost three hours on our last day in Japan
With a tailwind, the trip home to Vancouver took only eight hours. Autumn 2029 in Japan for Spice’s eightieth birthday?
12 Responses
Sublime images – the maples and ginkgos are so captivating. What an incredible trip – thank you for sharing!
Cheers,
Myra
You could say that we were in a constant state of “yudedako”, the Japanese word for a state of bliss in a community onsen
Beautiful photos , everything looks like it is from a fairy tale .
Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Like “Things that make the herat grow fonder” from The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagan from the year 1002.
Beautiful photography! Looks like it was a great trip.
Looking ahead to your next post. My name for the cathedral in Barcelona is The Cathedral of Perpetual Construction
Love your title for Sagrada Familia Greg.
What a brilliant trip! Kudos to you guys!
How many of these places have you and Christine already been to?
Very beautiful scenery, the Japanese have a way with things green that are beyond soothing to the soul.
Best of luck with the 80’th trip and celebration.
Best of the season to you two.
Cheers,
We are missing the soothing quietude of Japan. Even in Tokyo, whose population rivals that of all of Canada, we heard only a single honking of a car horn whereas on our walk to Granville Island this morning it was a cacophony of ill-mannered drivers braying at each other.
Amazing photos. Colours magnificent. Back in 3 years sounds like a good plan.
We can dream…