From the beginning of October, everyone Helene and I met told us about how beautiful the autumn season was. At the time, I could hardly care. Living in Canada most of my life made me pretty immune to trees changing colour. Besides, it was October and the season would be over soon. At least that's what I thought. Well that's somewhat true by Canadian standards as by Halloween nothing much is left on the trees. But the season here doesn't really start until the second week of November and it goes until the first week of December or so. Then all of a sudden one cold day comes along and all the trees loose their leaves and you get that barren look.
When the time came to see what all the fuss was about we were absolutely amazed by how beautiful the trees started to look. It was right out of a painting. Looking at one tree, the tips of the tree would be red (and by red I mean a strong vibrant red that I've never seen on a tree before) and the middle would be yellow but the centre still green. I think it has something to do with the fact that it gets only slightly colder here everyday through the season and thus the trees change just a little at a time. In Canada, you know the Autumn season is over when you see snow. But that's Canada for you.
For the entire month of November, the major topic of conversation in every class was where to go to see the trees. Now this may not sound like a big deal to you but look at it this way: many of the most important temples and shrines in Japan are located in the big cities. During WWII, the Americans bombed the hell out of most of them but for some reason left most of Kyoto intact. Thus this is the number one tourist spot in all of Japan, especially for Japanese people wanting to travel within Japan.
During the month of November, and from what people tell me April as well, mass flocks of people pour into Kyoto to visit the shrines and temples on the backdrop of the beautiful colours of the maple trees. Some of the gardens at these temple sspecifically plant maple trees for their Japanese garden to get a more Zen effect.
I know these pictures are three months late but I wanted to put it together in a fun way. The video is about 4.5min. I threw in some pictures that I took beforehand so that you can see the change. The video starts off with the view from outside our door. I saw this sight everyday. Enjoy
When the time came to see what all the fuss was about we were absolutely amazed by how beautiful the trees started to look. It was right out of a painting. Looking at one tree, the tips of the tree would be red (and by red I mean a strong vibrant red that I've never seen on a tree before) and the middle would be yellow but the centre still green. I think it has something to do with the fact that it gets only slightly colder here everyday through the season and thus the trees change just a little at a time. In Canada, you know the Autumn season is over when you see snow. But that's Canada for you.
For the entire month of November, the major topic of conversation in every class was where to go to see the trees. Now this may not sound like a big deal to you but look at it this way: many of the most important temples and shrines in Japan are located in the big cities. During WWII, the Americans bombed the hell out of most of them but for some reason left most of Kyoto intact. Thus this is the number one tourist spot in all of Japan, especially for Japanese people wanting to travel within Japan.
During the month of November, and from what people tell me April as well, mass flocks of people pour into Kyoto to visit the shrines and temples on the backdrop of the beautiful colours of the maple trees. Some of the gardens at these temple sspecifically plant maple trees for their Japanese garden to get a more Zen effect.
I know these pictures are three months late but I wanted to put it together in a fun way. The video is about 4.5min. I threw in some pictures that I took beforehand so that you can see the change. The video starts off with the view from outside our door. I saw this sight everyday. Enjoy
Looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteDamn leafers!
ReplyDeletePics look really nice, though :P