This post is a continuation from Part 1 of "Kyoto’s Amazing Haradanien Garden", with a bunch more photos that I hope gives a sense what it's like to visit at the height of cherry-blossom season.

I'll explain below why Haradanien (原谷苑) is wonderful despite the crowds, but make no mistake, it's very crowded.

It's crowded, but the layout of the garden, with wandering paths on a hillside, is masterful. There are people behind the lady posing above, but you can't see them, and that works well with the first rule of photography: "If It's Not in Frame, It Doesn't Exist".

Yesterday's post ("Photo Shoot at Kyoto’s Haradanien Garden: John and Ai") has inspired me to at least start to try to show the magnificent Haradanien Garden (原谷苑) in north-west Kyoto, a few kilometers in the mountains behind the Kinkakuji "Golden Pavilion" Temple. I'd made my first visit last week and from that trip had posted so far only one wigglegram, and then visited a few days ago for the photoshoot with John and Ai, and from that visit also posted some subtle pastel blossoms.

Having entrusted my route to get there to Google Maps on my iPhone, I unknowingly ended [...]

It's been a busy few days since I posted "Weeping Cherry at Kyoto’s Ryouanji Temple (龍安寺)". I came down with a cold, my wife performed in a local production of Swan Lake, and I recovered from my cold, in that unfortunate order. No time to even look at the photos from the other day beyond a quick glace at the top of the stack, so here are a few more from the start of that outing...

After all the buds and blossoms I posted last month (such as here, here, and here), I told myself I'd concentrate more on shots [...]

I spent most of the day at the Ryouanji Temple (龍安寺) in northwest Kyoto, which I often visit in the fall for its spectacular autumn scenery. I think today was my first visit during cherry-blossom season.

I was tickled to discover that the "weeping cherry" (シダレ桜) at the west end of the property were spectacular, both pink and white. Best earlier in the day... by noon the light was too harsh.

I haven't looked at the photos yet, but while flying through the grid of 881 shots to mark color-checker shots as part of my import routine, I thought this [...]

I popped up to Shogunzuka the other day for the first time in ages, for what I hoped was a promising sunset that ended up being very hazy, lending more of a moody shrouded feeling than "dazzling", but a little over-exuberance in Lightroom brings out a variety of dynamic results.

A couple of months ago I posted some similar shots in "Views of Kyoto From Shogunzuka Over The Years", and some others last summer in "Anatomy of a Nice Kyoto Sunset", so I worry I might wear out this kind of overprocessing that's best only in moderation, but I guess [...]