An assortment of autumn

A third autumn and I find Japan no less amazing but the urge to race about the country collecting every maple leaf possible has faded a little. This year I mostly stayed close to home. One warm Saturday morning I circled Kawaguchiko to get the momiji tunnel shots of Fuji. It was just as glorious as last year. I took my time watching the fish in the lake and battling brambles to get the perfect shot. (It was a draw as I got the shot but they ripped my tights.) Then was on my way.

Next I went all the way around the lake to a shrine I visited in late spring. I was there alone last time too. Maybe it was actually closer to early summer because I remember praying for my Grandma’s health only a short while before going home to Canada. She passed away anyways but I’d like to think my wish made it so I got home in time to say goodbye. Small blessings. The reason I returned this time was because I’d seen the most beautiful charm of Mt. Fuji and the cherry blossoms. It turns out the shrine is famous for them and with a little imagination I could see the way the now hibernating trees would line the path between shrine and the torii gate in pink. As I was leaving I saw a sign that said this shrine was one of the first in the Fujigoko area and had been a pilgrimage spot for the Takeda clan. It was destroyed in the big eruption many of hundreds of years ago but rebuilt to its original beauty later on.

After I went to write a few hours. It’s Nanowrimo time. And then headed to Otsuki for iaido because my black belt test was coming up. Spoiler: I passed. Confession: I’m writing this post two months later.

A couple of weeks later—after kicking my shodan test’s butt (half of it was written meaning I wrote it in Japanese!)—I went to Ibaraki with Sheena and Laura to see some leaves. It took many many hours to get there but once we did we were greeted by a pretty blue sky, a slight chill and the momiji temple. It was really pretty I just wish we’d had some better light.

 

 

 

 After we went to what I only found out later was one of the top three waterfalls in Japan. (Another one of those lists of three apparently. Another one is in Nikko, which I’ve seen, and the last is in Wakayama which I still really want to go to. Maybe spring break before going home.) Again it was pretty but as winter was approaching and we were in a mountainous area, the sun just didn’t quite peak over to the tops of the hills leaving us mostly in shade. It was also REALLY busy so we couldn’t ride the elevator to the slightly better vantage point up higher, nor was it possible to hike through solid rock. Instead we opted to head back to the car for some more adventuring before we lost all the light. The sun sets at around four in Japan in winter. Before reaching Kei (the car) we stopped on a bridge and there was this cool shot of the surrounding hills and the three of our shadows stretched out before us.

Okay so more adventuring would have been good in theory except for one little problem. The highway on google maps through the mountains was less a highway and more a narrow, very windy, road at best, trail by Canadian standards AND there was a giant tour bus on the other side trying to navigate against the flow of traffic. This resulted in me turning my car off twice to just sit there in the growing darkness tied up by the traffic and getting over the mountain only after we’d lost the light…

It was an okay day though because of good company but we were all feeling a bit disappointed UNTIL the beautiful pink Aeon sign guided us to the mall and we spent the rest of the evening chowing down on 1300 yen yakiniku tabehodai! Best part!

The following week it got even colder taking away the rest of the autumn leaves in Fujiyoshida. However, there is always one place we can count on to find hints of autumn when its winter everywhere else: Shizuoka! So on a Friday evening after school, Sheena and I headed down to balmy Izu (where the cherry blossoms bloom a full two months before ours) to capture some really cool night photography. It was a great opportunity for my still somewhat new camera because it had a beautiful ISO settings and HD quality so as long as I find a level place to sit my camera I can get some sharp shots. And so I did in this quaint little park that had a Japanese garden with lanterns and momiji on the shores of a pond.

We stayed out well over an hour until we got too cold and headed for dinner and then home. It was a good start to a weekend where I ended up celebrating Thanksgiving and going to iaido but it also felt like the cold was really beginning to set in.