As I mentioned the other day in "Kyoto’s Kajuji Temple at its Most Bleak (is Still Very Nice)", it was indeed rather bleak (but still rather nice) when I first visited in the winter, but a recent Japan Times article about its summer beauty reminded me to make another visit, so this morning I did.

最近の記事は勧修寺（かじゅうじ；京都市山科区）の冬の景色けれども、今朝もう一回行きました。夏は全然違う。「生きてる」雰囲気です！

I'm at a loss to explain the odd stance... my best guess is that I knew that the ground was uneven, so rather than risk misstepping when I wanted to move back a bit, I just leaned back. I dunno. I look silly so [...]

Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's look at the Kajuji Temple during its bleak winter phase. Even then it was quite nice.

There's a fine line on the spectrum of disrepair between "quaint rustic" and "ugly dilapidated neglect", and I found this temple to be well situated on the pleasant side of the line, much like the fences at the Gioji Temple.

Just inside the gate was a weird barren bush of the likes I'd never seen....

Continued here...

京都市山科区の勧修寺、冬の氷室池（去年の12月). 真冬でも美しい所ですが、夏は全然違うでしょう。

In an article in yesterday's Japan Times, "A heavenly retreat amid the bustle of Kyoto", about the Kajuji Temple (勧修寺) in the Yamashina area of Kyoto, the author waxes about the temple's many botanical wonders, especially water lilies and lotuses. I happen to have gone there in mid December last year, perhaps the most bleak season for the temple.

It was still very nice even then, and remains high on my list to revisit. The article reminds me to post about that earlier trip, and to schedule another one soon.

It really was nice, so now that I'm [...]

I'm mixing things up today by dipping into the large backlog of stuff I want to post, to my trip last December to the Jingoji Temple in north-west Kyoto.

今日の写真は去年の秋の神護寺(じんごじ、京都市)の裏にある散歩道。

This location is actually only about a mile away from the Kuuya-taki Waterfall that I've been posting about recently, but it's a very mountainous mile and the two locations feel worlds apart. To drive between them, for example, would take a considerable time because it entails a long loop into the city and back.

I'd made a few introductory posts from that trip, including "On The Path To (and From) [...]

Picking up from yesterday's "Beyond The Staircase Ruins" from an outing to the Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝) in western Kyoto, this post has a few shots from the short trip back to the road.

This picture reflects the style of many of the buildings in the area... rusty corrugated metal, haphazard amateur cement work, dusty bottles.

These ferns were parallel with the ground, but floating 10 feet above the ground, sticking out from the top of a wall built into the side of a hill.

This is the same wall seen in "Beyond The Staircase Ruins", but from a less edge-on [...]