Green, Orange, Red and Yellow

Last weekend I took a trip to Kyoto, the old capitol of Japan, which is famous throughout the country for its beauty in the Fall season. Since this is my favorite season and Kyoto's Autumn is so highly recommended I decided it was a must-see for me this year. 

Noto Railways- anime train

As soon as the clock struck four on Friday, I grabbed my things and got in my car to drive straight to the train station forty-five minutes away. I had packed my backpack the previous night in preparation so that I wouldn't miss the opportunity to catch the 5:20 train that evening. After riding the train for about 4 1/2 hours I arrived at Kyoto station and took a dark, rainy walk to my hostel. I was in Kyoto for a weekend once before, three years ago during my internship; but there is so much to do in Kyoto that I did not even repeat anything this weekend that I had done before. And I still haven't done anywhere close to everything there is to do here!

I began my day in the Arashiyama area. As I alighted the city bus I was immediately greeted by a fantastic maple tree with bright orange leaves! Beyond the tree, the Oi river, and the Togetsu-kyo Bridge rose up the formidable Arashiyama mountains, splashed with colors. Just two minutes into my sight-seeing it was clear that Kyoto in Fall was a great choice.

A charming canal off of the river

My first stop Saturday morning was Iwatayama Monkey Park. I took the 20 minute stroll up the mountain surrounded by woods chock full of beautiful colored maple trees. 

The top of the mountain is home to a whole tribe of Macaques, the only species of monkey that naturally resides in Japan. At the mountaintop compound they provide food, shelter and maintain a playground for the monkeys. You actually walk through the park where  the monkeys are, close enough to touch. The macaques are quite used to being around humans and don't take any notice of you. And they certainly do not oblige you with still poses if you want pictures.

At the top of the mountain at the monkey compound there was a beautiful view looking out over the city of Kyoto.

After leaving the monkey park I headed back down to the Arashiyama area to visit a few temples. Along the way I noticed a sign posted about a maple tree garden that was open for special Fall-viewing pleasure so I headed right in. It was gorgeous.

This guy.

After touring the maple garden, I headed to Tenryuji, a Buddhist temple which is also a world cultural heritage site. It was established in 1339 by a man called Ashikaga Takaui in memory of Emperor Go-Daigo. It is historically significant as the first Zen temple in Japan. Also, the landscape garden behind the main hall, called Sogenchi Garden, is in the same form as when it was made in the fourteenth century. In 1994 the United Nations designated this temple as World Cultural Heritage Site.

The temple itself is obviously quite popular due to its status. But I find the crowds of tourists detracting from the experience so I quickly made my way to the garden in back which was much quieter. 

After exiting Tenryuji, I wandered through the famous Bamboo Path.

Next I went to Jojakkoji Temple...

After that I trekked to Gioji Temple, another one off the beaten path, but a real treasure for fall foliage. 

After night fell on Saturday I went to Kodaiji Temple to see their annual Fall light up. It is quite popular and was filled with hoards of other visitors. But it was very pretty to walk through and see all the maple leaves lit brightly against the dark sky. The crowning spot within the temple grounds was a pond surrounded by trees. It was beautiful since the lit up trees were brightly reflected in the water- creating a mirror landscape of bright trees against a black background. The next beautiful part was a walk through a bamboo grove. They had even placed lit up parasols among the bases of the trees for the event.

 

--

I woke up early again on Sunday, gathered my things and headed to Fushimi Inari Taisha, one of the most famous places in Japan. Inari is a suburb of Kyoto based around Mt. Inari. Mt. Inari is covered in shrines with the grand shrine, taisha, being the main attraction. It is special and unusual because the path up to the top of Mt. Inari is lined by hundreds of red torii. It is called 千本とりい, which means A Thousand Gates. Unfortunately I could not go all the way up to the top because I did not have enough time, but that just means I will have to go back!

After some shopping I had to make my way back to the train station around two in the afternoon for my return trip. Three train rides later I arrived back in chilly Ishikawa where I woke up the next day to the start of winter. All this week the high every day has been around 6 degrees C (42 Fahreneit) with constant rain and ice pellets. Going to Kyoto was a brilliant way to spend the last weekend of the Fall season, enjoying the gorgeous green, orange, red and yellow leaves as they fluttered down from the trees.

Just in time...

A couple weeks ago we had another Japanese cooking class! This one was really special because we cooked and ate around an irori, an old-fashioned Japanese hearth. It is a simple fire pit in the middle of a tatami floor room where a small fire is built for cooking. From the ceiling above it always hangs a strong rope with a festive metal Tai fish figure with a metal loop at the bottom. From the loop they used to hang large pots for cooking stews in. Several of the ladies present last night told me they even still have irori in their houses. Although they still have them, they are rarely used anymore. 

We had an incredible meal of salted grilled fish, kenchin jiru (a special stew made for large gatherings), and several side dishes to go with it. Perhaps coincidentally, one of the two adult men present was given the task of grilling the fish, while the rest of us (mostly) women cooked in the kitchen. Coincidence? It is funny how that is similar to both of our cultures- send the men to do the grilling!

As the fish was grilled over the fire we prepared the other dishes in the kitchen. First we grated nagaimo into a slimy paste and mixed in a bit of miso for flavoring; this dish is usually plopped over rice to eat. We made the stew, simmered daikon radishes, vinegared side dishes, and a salad.

We also made special yuzu flavored miso, an old fashioned treat. First we scooped out the insides of the yuzu and mixed it with miso and sake. Then the mixture was spooned back into the cups left by the yuzu rinds. After preparing them and replacing the tops, we set the filled yuzu fruits on the grill next to the fish where they cooked until we began eating.

One of our volunteer cooking teachers brought gozen from her house for us to eat off of. Gozen are old-fashioned low table trays made to serve the meal of just one person. It is a Japanese custom to eat off of these single person trays at wedding ceremonies, funerals, festivals, and other large events. Our teacher supplied Wajima red laquerware gozen, which are very fine, fancy handmade trays. It was a treat to get to eat with them!

Assembly style we portioned the food into dishes and arranged them on the gozen for our party of 17 people. Once all the food was laid out we gathered around the warm irori to eat. After we began eating we took a warm yuzu from the grill and passed it around to spoon the fragrant miso paste onto our simmered daikon. It was my first time to eat yuzu miso and it was wonderful!

Our class was on November 19th, which as one of my American friends pointed out was the day before Thanksgiving. The four of us Americans were all delighted to realize that even though we couldn't be with our families that day, at least our cooking class was just in time to provide us a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. We ate in glee at our fortune.

The next day, I excitedly sent my family a video message to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Oddly no one seemed to answer me. A couple hours later, my mom finally responded, "Thanksgiving is next week."  Oh, oops.

Well. Regardless of what day it really was, the food was great!

季節感 

Fall is my favorite season. Since I was a kid I have always loved the idea of Fall; changing trees, brisk temperatures, wearing sweaters and scarves without the bulk of a coat over it all, etc. These images always stuck with me although growing up in Texas we often did not have much of a Fall season. In Texas it goes from very warm straight to a cold, icy winter overnight! After moving to Japan I got to experience the creeping descent of temperatures coupled with an abundant fare of persimmons, mushrooms, chestnuts, and apples while the leaves changed their colors around us. After last year, my first true Fall, my childhood affinity for Autumn was affirmed. I love this season even more now!

It is a well known fact that Japan is proud of its four seasons. However many people do not understand why. Lots of other places in the world have four seasons too, but you don't see them talking about it endlessly. In Japan it truly is special because the culture reflects the seasons as they change throughout the year. The food, fashion, and even language changes to coincide with the surrounding nature! Not only does Japan eat seasonal foods (which are often not available at all off-season. ex: persimmons) but most households even own different sets of dishware to serve food on in order to complement the season and its typical foods. Also people travel to specific places based on their beauty in a particular season. In Autumn everyone talks about the fall foliage; in Spring everyone talks about the cherry blossoms. There are even websites that track and forecast the movement of blooms and changing leaves so that everyone can keep tabs on it and plan their trips for the optimum time to appreciate nature's beauty.

The season permutes so many aspects of culture in Japan, they even have a phrase to describe it, 季節感, meaning sense of the seasons. The great product of this sense of the seasons is that you are enjoying and looking forward to things all year round! The pleasure of enjoying something anticipated makes it that much more satisfying once you get it after months of waiting. In Japan there is something beautiful to see, do, eat and enjoy in every season! 

This Fall I too did my best to enjoy the beautiful foliage with many weekend trips to places known for their Autumn colors. One weekend I went to Kurobe Gorge in the neighboring Toyama Prefecture. Kurobe Gorge is a deep ravine running through the Tateyama mountain range. A scenic rail route winds among the mountains offering spectacular views of the river and mountainsides.

While riding the electric, open air rail car I was stunned to see the bright turquoise water of the river. I could not believe that color was natural, but the whole river was that bright. The mountainsides also had me in amazement with their orange and yellow hued trees spilling down the sides.

Finally, as I left after a full day of exploring the ravine, I snapped a picture of some distant snowy peaks- harbingers of winter.