Autumn colors in Kyoto, the 1,000 year capital, were at the crest. Yet it was a slow season for traveling in Korea, so 10 people in total registered. Still 10 was a good number to move together.
My responsibility was giving a lecture “Kyoto and Literature”, yet the pre-determined schedule looked a bit inadequate.
Tour has its class, too. People who chose a trip with a poet would be no first-timers to Kyoto, and surely they must have taste and class.
Kyoto is always crowded with visitors from all around the world, yet the busiest season for Kyoto is the late autumn when trees put on autumnal tints. Kyoto’s population is a little over 1.1 million, and in the late autumn when autumn colors are at its highest, 56 million people including the Japanese visit Kyoto every year. Recently, the Chinese have started coming to Kyoto having heard of its beauty so it’s hard to find a room in Kyoto.
I know a little about where to go in which season, so I ditched the old schedule and chose 12 places to visit, though the schedule was a bit tight. Shirakawa of Gion, Shoren-in, Kodaiji, Entokuin, Sannenzaka, Kiyomizudera, Shisendo, Enkoji, Kitano Tenmangu, Bamboo forest of Arashiyama, Nonomiya, Hogonging, and Biwako, which is an hour away from Kyoto. It was the largest lake in Japan and we got to stay in a place where a lot of tourists stayed at – we could see the lake and stay in ryokan at the same time, so it was good.
People who had already been to Kyoto several times said it was the first time for them to see these places. A Kyoto guide of 20 years of experience also said that it was his first time in these places. Fortunately, people were moved by the places as I was a long time ago, exclaiming they would never forget this experience.
Kyoto has eerie charm that makes people want to come again.
Three days were not enough to look around Kyoto, the 1000-year capital. It was a season of autumn colors just in time, so I mainly chose places with beautiful autumn colors. Everyone was engrossed with the landscape. I asked the participants which their favorite was after the tour – and many of them said Shoren-in. I understand their choice considering its grace and beauty. Yet in my opinion, Hogonging of Arashiyama is the best in its mystique and allure.
Arashiyama is 30 minutes away from Kyoto. It is a beautiful place with Mountain Arashiyama and Katsura River. It has vacation homes of the old aristocrats, first-rate hotels, restaurants and fancy souvenir shops. There is a big temple named Tenryu-ji in Arashiyama, and Hogonging is a garden next to it, hidden like a gem and open once a year at the late autumn.
When I was studying at Doshisha University, I couldn’t go there often as I didn’t have the time and I had to transfer three times by bus, subway and tram. Last December I was taking a walk facing Mountain Arashiyama, and saw a long line so I decided to try it myself and waited for a while. It was a wonderful view with no matches to be found.
The numerous maple trees were all graceful. A narrow stream was flowing in the middle, and yellowish green moss which looked like thick velvet was glamorous. It was beautiful and wonderful from every angle. A mossy lion shaped rock, the symbol of Hogonging was on the opposite side of a bridge of one meter over a small brook. Hogonging was a tiny garden compared to other large gardens, but autumnal leaves spread like lace were blowing with the wind, and it was lovely and eye-catching everywhere.
The first year I visited Hogonging, I visited there three times in a row to bathe myself in Hogonging like a dream. The team I was guiding didn’t express much, so I jokingly asked them: “How is Hogonging, after I took endeavor to make, plant, and grow like this for a thousand years?” They replied, can we look around here again? I knew from this word that they were satisfied with what they were seeing.
The marvelous colorful autumnal leaves will fall eventually, yet the landscape engraved in my eyes and heart will be remembered for a long time.
Now it is time that we refrained from eating, sleeping and skimming through tourist attractions. We should upgrade our level and feel the history and culture.
It was lucky that I could look into the bare skin of historic Kyoto in a short time.
