It's been about six years since I've been to the Ryoanji Temple (龍安寺) in north-west Kyoto, but I think of it fondly because Fumie and I went there twice in the early years after moving here (once in the summer of 2005, and again in the fall), and because I've used this picture from there on my namecard for years.

I stopped in again the other day with Paul Barr, but it was a miserable day. It was the first day of real winter cold, but I was still dressed for autumn, and misty rain (ice/snow?) was blowing in at [...]

As I mentioned on the helicopter-and-rainbow post earlier in the week, I made a visit to a couple of remote mountain temples in the Takao area of north-west Kyoto. The first, the Jingoji Temple (神護寺), is accessed by walking down a long and winding flight of steps into a ravine, across a small bridge, then up an even steeper flight of windy steps on the side of the facing mountain.

The photos on this post are from the paths outside the temple area; it was really beautiful inside and I'm still a bit overwhelmed by the experience, so I'll have [...]

I took the camera with me on an errand a short walk from home the other day, and snapped a few photos. I was perhaps inspired because it was the day after this year's trip to the most-excellent Eikando Temple where Anthony had shown an eye for photography well beyond his years. Other than the errand, I had no specific plan, so just wandered.

I liked the color of the leaf above, though the wind made it tough to get a clear shot.

The Incline at Keage is always a pretty place...

In the 1880s, a 20km-or-so-long canal was built [...]

So, after yesterday's post of Anthony's surprisingly good photography at the Eikando Temple, here are some of my own.

Stéphane Barbery invited me today to visit a temple and shrine near Mt. Yoshida, an area a 20-minute walk from my place that he introduced to me a few years ago.

In the years since, I've gone by the steps seen above many times, but I'd never actually gone up them, but today I was continuing my slight walking-for-health kick and had arrived on foot, so I took them.

I'd hauled my tank of a Nikkor 300mm f/2 because Stéphane had found a good vantage point for a photo of the neighboring temple, but it turns out that conditions weren't [...]