I posted the other day about the wonderful and moody Kosanji Temple (高山寺) -- commonly referred to, in error, as the "Kozanji" Temple -- in the north-west mountains of Kyoto. Part of the mood was the really dynamic weather... brilliantly sunny above the high canopy of the towering pines, punctuated by dark clouds and fits of spritzy rain. It had been the same all day, including while at our earlier visit to the Jingoji Temple (神護寺) a short distance away.

Leaving the cover of Kosanji and returning to the relative openness of the area's parking lot, we got a new [...]

On the way home from the park with Anthony, I noticed preparations for the new-year hatsumode "first visit to the shrine". As happens every new year, the street leading to the Heian Shrine will be closed off for several days, and the sidewalk lined with food vendors.

The preparations that I noticed were for the food-stall power supply, and if you'll forgive the obvious pun, it's shockingly unsafe.

Basically, they took two singleton strands of insulated wire and strung them over some bushes and then up through branches of the trees lining the sidewalk. These wires are used both to [...]

Earlier this month, on the wonderful day in Kyoto's Takao area that I mentioned in the rainbow post a few weeks ago, we visited two temples. I posted a few scenes from the first in "On The Path To Northwest Kyoto's Jingoji Temple", and while I have a bazillion more from there that I want to share, today's post is from the second, the Kousan Temple (高山寺).

The Japanese name, 高山寺, looks as if it should be pronounced kozanji and that's what most Japanese would guess, but for whatever reason the temple actually uses kosanji. Even the Japanese Wikipedia article [...]

A month ago in "Another Day of Amazing Fall Colors in Kyoto" I posted on photo similar to the one above, from that day's trip to the Imakumano Kannonji Temple (今熊野観音寺) in eastern Kyoto.

The tree with the red leaves had particularly impressive colors, but only when viewed from about where the group is standing. From where I took the photo above, the leaves look fairly bland, at least relatively speaking. As you can tell from the shadows, the leaves were not being backlit.... it was a hazy day and the sun was more or less to my back in [...]

On paper, the Japanese economy is in the dumps, but from what I can tell, it's really cooking.

As I noted last month, I've been using my own feet as a mode of transportation lately. Having had errands near the corner of Kyoto's Sanjo and Karasuma streets a few times in the last week, I've made the almost-three-mile round-trip stroll down Sanjo Street at various times on various days, and have been astounded with how busy and vibrant everything is. Every shop seems full, every restaurant doing brisk business, every traffic light accompanied by a throng of shopping-bag-laden pedestrians waiting [...]
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