The other day I posted "This Evening's Sunset in Kyoto", a photo that I really like of yet another not-too-bad Kyoto sunset, taken from the Shogunzuka overlook (将軍塚) that I often visit in hopes of a nice sunset.

As the proximity-search "nearby photos" link under that photo (and those below) shows, I post lots of shots taken from up there, most recently "A Typhoon Makes for a Good Sunset (But It’s Me That Makes It Great)" a month and a half ago, and a week before that, "Bland Sunset Over Kyoto: They Can’t All Be Amazing".

I've been up a [...]

We had a nice sunset in Kyoto this evening.

Continued here...

In yesterday's post about my first summer visit to the Kajuji Temple (勧修寺) in Kyoto, I mentioned that it was much more "Alive" than in the bleak of winter. It's got a lot of animal life, but this post highlights some of the botanical life.

As far as I can tell, the lifespan of the lotus brings its flower through a few visually-distinct stages, but it's difficult to be sure exactly what's going on...

The pink bud opening in the photo above is the same one seen at the top of this post, and in the next image, which looks [...]

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...