Late Autumn of Ryoanji Dec 1, 2019 When Ryoanji Wears the Colors of Fall Ryoanji is legendary.
There are many people in the world who study Kyoto. When people ask these Kyoto experts whatthe best of all the attractions of Kyoto is, they think for a while before answering, “Ryoanji.”
Its fame is outstanding in the West. Westerners have found something lacking in their moral civilization, and found the complement for Western civilization in Japanese spirit. The rock garden of Ryoanji was a manifestation of that something manifested in the formative art – it showed the simplicity and spiritual beauty of the Japanese spirit. Many thinkers, writers, artists and architects in the West were inspired by the rock garden of Ryoanji. The 2011 summit with Korean president Lee Myung-bak and Japan’s prime minister Noda Yoshihiko, which ended in a clumsy historical controversy, was held in Ryoanji, too.
There are a lot of people in Ryoanji. I sometimes go there to see huge cherry blossom trees right behind the long mud wall of the famous rock garden. I have been going there for a few years, yet I was always a little early or late and failed to see those cherry blossoms in bloom.
I had heard a lot about the beauty of Ryoanji, but I hadn’t heard of its autumn colors that much. Ryoanji is big and has a variety of trees, surely they must have autumn colors, I thought.
And then one day in 2015, after taking the semester-end test of Doshisha university for 90 minutes, I boarded a bus to Ryoanji feeling dizzy. There were a lot of direct buses that went to famous temples, yet I just hadn’t been able to find the time to take advantage of them during the semester.
I’ve seen the green leaves of cherry blossom trees, pine trees and maple trees in Ryoanji. But it’s not like all autumn colors are beautiful; or it might be that there are so many things to be proud of in Ryoanji that there isn’t any room for autumn colors. Which was it? I wondered.
The latter was right. Even though the leaves were falling, they were beautiful. It compensated for the endeavor I put into taking the test.
I thought of this visit to Ryoanji I paid last December, and went to Ryoanji again 15 minutes before the closing time. Temples or gardens in Kyoto normally close at 5. At 4, they normally prepare to close; the ticket box and the main gate were closed and a side door was the only thing that was open.
It takes a while to take a walk around Royanji. Time was tight, so I hurriedly went up the stairs to the exit to find maple trees lined up along a large pond. They were thick trees. Walking from the exit to the entrance, I looked at the autumn colors at sunset like they were merciful gifts of red flowers, and took pictures of them. A couple from the Middle East was walking toward me. I didn’t understand their language, but we were of one mind in that touching moment. If I were holding any kind of prejudice against the Middle East, at that moment, they were all gone.
After graduating from Doshisha, I went to Kyoto a few times a year for this or that occasion. I feel like Kyoto is closer than Busan in flight.
And now I have a backache and my flights to the USA and Kyoto have been canceled.
Autumn colors in Kyoto must be at its peak now. I also should go to the grave of Niijima Jō, the founder of Doshisha university, on December 29th, the anniversary of his death. I feel sorry about all these and send out pictures of and writings on Eikan-dō in three languages. In this chaotic world, some people liked that, and I kept thinking about the fiery autumn colors of Ryoanji which kept spreading into the pond.
Ryoanji wore autumn colors and its calmness and spirituality got deeper.
Wiggles inside the thick trees The thick life
The deep spirit
When Ryoanji wears the autumn colors 
When Ryoanji wears autumn colors, Kyoto, December 2018 
The 120 acre wide site of Ryoanji with mountains behind 
The exit of Ryoanji - Kyoto December 2018 | 
