Last week I took a drive out to a new temple that Manseki had recommended as being pretty in autumn. It did not disappoint. (The “Anatomy of a Selfie” that I posted the other day was taken here.)

It turns out that I rode right by this temple during my summer bicycle ride to Nagoya. At that time, it took about 2h 40m to get here from home. This time by car, it took about an hour. I made the drive with Paul, Damien, and a newly-met friend, Adrian Tischler from Australia.

We didn't realize it at the time, but the directions we followed to get there brought us to a little-used back entrance. There was little traffic as we approached in the morning, but we passed a gauntlet of parking-lot folks trying to get us to patronize their business. The sheer number of them waiting for the crowds to arrive didn't bode well for a quiet visit, but it was still early.

Our route left that behind, and eventually we came across a bridge that offered a nice view.

Soon we found a parking area at what looked like the end of the road, so we parked and walked up a pretty service road toward the temple...

At the crest of the hill you pay your entrance fee (about 500 yen), then descend into the temple area proper...

Halfway down, there's a picturesque alcove, a place called a chasenzuka (茶筅塚／ちゃせんづか), with a huge stone carved with that word (茶筅塚)...

It's apparently a place where practitioners of the Japanese Tea Ceremony can ceremoniously burn their used tea whisks, which are made from bamboo and don't last all that long. I guess if you've spent $100 on a whisk, you want to say goodbye.

I knew that a normal photo wouldn't capture the feeling of the space, so I tried making a wigglegram for the first time in ages...

It's a bit wonky because I didn't keep my distance from Paul constant. I'm out of practice.

Besides the huge stone with the name carved in it, they also had a little wooden calf-high sign with the name, so I tried incorporating it into a shot:

I can't quite decide whether it's interesting, or I should just delete it.

Turning again to continue on toward the temple grounds proper, it's only a short distance down a path until you arrive...

Continued here...