Dipping back into my largely-untapped archive from November's many fall-foliage outings, here are some photos from a trip to the Kyoto mountain-suburb of Ohara, where we (Damien Douxchamps, Paul Barr, and I) visited some of the smaller temples surrounding the justly-famous Sanzen-in temple (三千院), which has been on my blog many times since my first visit four years ago, including the bazillion offering statues and one of my all-time favorite photos, “Serenity”.

But on this trip a few months ago, we avoided the oppressive crowds at Sanzen-in, instead letting Damien introduce us to the hidden-gem lesser temples dotting its perimeter.

A few of the photos from this highly-photogenic day have already appeared on “A Post For Damien Douxchamps’ Parents in Belgium” and “A Long But Photogenic November in Kyoto”, but much delight awaits.

Where to go, of course, was into the temple where you could view the garden from its intended perspective.

Near the entrance, a small stream in the narrow space between the building and a rock wall made for a nice scene, and I tried to get the kusaridoi gutter chain in silhouette, but I'm not quite sure it works...

I also noticed these branches oddly tied together (along with what looks to be a half-dead vine)...

Anyway, inside the temple it was crowded, but nothing like what it would be at Sanzen-in, and with some patience I was able to get a clean shot of a tea(?) room...

The tatami (rice mats) in the foreground at the bottom of the frame are the hallway; to get this shot I was standing almost outside in the external hallway (and would have been if it had not started raining).

I didn't actually get a nice shot of the “dining” area with pot hanging from the ceiling, but to give a sense of the Japanese aesthetics, here's a crop from a wide, out-of-focus shot...

I probably didn't have time to get a good shot, since people were coming and going all the time...

Further into the building, I looked back on a minor front garden...

I love the “segmented grass” that I (incorrectly) call “bamboo grass”...

Bamboo is grass, of course, so “bamboo grass” is like saying, er... “elm tree”.

This next shot of the main garden-viewing room is not quite like the amazing one the other day...

Entrance to the temple includes green tea and a sweet, and as I'd been doing lately, I tried to get a simple shot...

I really wanted to create layers (the tatami, the wood threshold, the wet rocks, and the green of the garden), but just couldn't get the right angle...

... so I tried a vertical shot...

... but that's too busy, so I suppose this is the best I can do:

Then I thought to pull back from the edge to the red carpet, which is where I was supposed to be anyway. There are many pictures out there by other folks of me contorting to get the shot; it was probably like the peach-pie scene in “Look at this Instagram” parody.

Anyway, the red is pretty but I wasn't able to do much with it...

At one point the sun came out briefly, making for some stark shadows that I liked...

Continued here...