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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Forbidden Garden
The Hakuryuuen Garden, Kyoto Japan

moss-covered steps up to something with a small moss-covered roof

After Nils Ferry showed me Rengeji Temple the other day, we continued on my scooter up into the mountains north of Kyoto, toward Kibune and Kurama. I'd made the trip by car many times, but never by scooter, so I took the opportunity to check out a cool-looking location I'd only briefly glimpsed before as the car went past.

It turns out that it's a garden, with the big stone to the left of the steps giving its name as Hakuryuuen (白龍園).

Unfortunately, it's a private garden not normally open to the public, so I was limited to admiring what I could see from the road.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Denied
“Entrance To the Environs Most Honorably Refused”

It's a bit hard to see from this angle, but the moss-covered stairs seen clearly in the first photo are mid-photo in this one, above and behind the big central rock.

Searching around on the Internet, I found out that the garden is owned by a clothing company. They have a page with a few low-quality photos here.

Across the street was a small cottage done in the same tasteful manner, and I see now upon close inspection that the name of the garden is also on the door-side nameplate, so indeed, it must be the caretaker's place...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/9, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tasteful and Cozy
with a touch of modern
( no, that's not my scooter )

This garden happened to be next to an overpass for the Eizan Train Line, so he took the opportunity to get a quintessential train shot....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/9, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nils, Train, and Two Cameras
Old Olympus Pen film camera in left hand, Nikon D60 digital in right hand

Nils knows the Eizan Train Line well, and in the past has introduced me to many attractions that it can bring you to. One of its tracks ends at a great river play spot, and a few years ago he introduced me to some gorgeous temples in north-east Kyoto – Enkouji and Konpukuji – during the hight of their fall-color glory.

And speaking of the Eizan Train Line, fall colors, and this new (for me) garden Hakuryuuen, here's a shot from last year's Eizan Train line's “Fall-Foliage Tunnel” Lightup of the train approaching Hakuryuuen. It's there on the right, with the bridge seen in the photo above starting just past the curve ahead...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 52 mm — ¹/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Passing By Hakuryuuen

That I could pull this specific photo from my library of 74,000 images is a testament the usefulness of both geoencoding your photos, and having a proximity-search function available. I knew I had photos from the foliage-lightup trip, but I didn't know whether any were at all near this garden, so I did a search in Lightroom with my proximity-search plugin, and was jazzed to find this photo taken only 120 meters away from the bridge.

(I actually had an image right at the start of the bridge, but since the bridge is surrounded by empty space instead of richly colored lighted foliage, this photo 120 meters prior is more compelling.)

Anyway, from what I can tell and imagine, I'm sure the garden is spectacular in the fall, but it's private, so I'll never know. Can't say I blame them... if I had such a garden, I'd probably keep it private too....

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Well, that was unfun... my server was down for several days. As you can see, it's back now, but it was not an enjoyable experience having my online presence evaporate. Unlucky server issues were compounded by less-than-forethoughtful decisions on my part, which extended the outage beyond what it should have been. Lessons learned.

Much thanks to my server hosting company, Peak Web Hosting for their support (even on 5am Saturday morning!). You guys rock.

To everyone trying to download my Lightroom goodies, my apologies.

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 36 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Inviting
Entrance path to the Renge-ji Temple, Kyoto Japan

I got together with long-time Kyoto resident Nils Ferry for the first time in more than a year, for lunch and a photo-walk. He introduced me to an out-of-the-way temple he likes, Rengeji (蓮華寺), not far from the river where Anthony and his son Greg played the last time I saw Nils, last summer.

(Nils was the premier Kyoto photo-blogger prior to becoming a daddy. Now that Greg is in kindergarten, he's thinking of getting back into it...)

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op

The temple is small, but pretty, and very quiet. During the two hours we were relaxing there, just one other pair of people visited, so we essentially had the whole place to ourselves.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Old Storage Building
very thick doors and walls, for before there was refrigeration

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Garden-Viewing Room

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 31 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Garden

The garden somewhat reminded me of the Enkouji Temple (see this photo for comparison), which Nils brought me to on our first temple photo hunt in the fall of 2006. In some ways I expect that Enkouji is more beautiful, but since it's an easily-accessed well-known tourist spot, the crowds can kill any advantage it might have. I'll definitely try to revisit Rengeji to see its colors this fall.

One difference is that while you are allowed into the garden in both temples, you may not take photographs from the garden in this one. Bummer.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
End Cap

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Joints

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 40 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tea and Sweet

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mini River Garden Area

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nils Photographing Seiza Style

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Somewhat of a Pest Problem

Some of the wood pieces in the temple showed a severe termite problem. The temple dates from 1662, and is still standing, so maybe it looks worse than it is.

Back in the entrance-path garden area, there were a few hints of autumn...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Just a Touch of Color
( some leaves are red all year... I don't think these have recently turned )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gingko and Moss

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gingko and Moss and Nils

The entrance path starts at a little wooden gate, which has the most severe termite damage that I noticed. As Nils said, if they don't do something about it, it won't last more than another hundred years....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/60 sec, f/7.1, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yikes

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Thus began our third photo hunt. I mentioned our first above; the second was two years ago to the geisha district, where his mother-in-law lives.

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sundrenched

Desktop-Background Versions
Standard: 1024×768  ·  1440×1080  ·  1600×1200      Widescreen:  1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600

The picture above is not that special, but for some reason really grows on me as a desktop background. When viewed big, there's just something about it that I like, giving my current desktop-background image a run for its money.

It was the view just outside the window at the Toganojaya Restaurant in the north-west mountains of Kyoto, Japan, which we visited this past weekend (and was the subject of the four previous posts: one, two, three, and four). In this post are a few final pictures from that visit...

The same branch that heads out of frame in the lower left of the shot above reached all the way out over the river, and made a big canopy of backlit leaves....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/9, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Backlit

We figured that this place would be gorgeous during the fall when these momiji turn color, but one of the waiters told us that because it's cold here in the mountains, the leaves fall off before they really turn, so the view is at its most enjoyable now.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shichimi
Jar of seven-spices seasoning with the restaurant's name

Down by the river there was some bamboo with odd-looking growths..

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nail-Looking Growths
and a fuzzy little spider
( maybe this is where golf tees come from? )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Vampire Bamboo?

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mossy Embankment Wall

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 66 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/13, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Roof Covering

Up at the restaurant, they'd covered an ugly corrugated plastic awning with something that fit better into the “nature” thing they had going there. Like the bottle of spice with the commercial label replaced by a simple label with the restaurant name, or the vase near our table, the attention to detail succeeded so well because you didn't even notice it unless you looked.

For context, here's the roof from a few steps back:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/22, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/13, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Fumie read about this restaurant on a Japanese food blog that someone writes anonymously. They have good taste in restaurants and good writing/presentation skills... she also found the Kamo no Shirabe cafe we visited last year (and again this year) through that blog.

Continued here...

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Continuing from yesterday's post about the Toganojaya Restaurant (とが乃茶屋) in the mountains of north-west Kyoto, after we finished our meal, we headed down to the river that the restaurant overlooks..

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/13, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading Down
these steps were just outside the window next to our table

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/18, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Riverside Benches

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/18, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Exploring

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lesson in Rock Skipping

Having recently learned how to skip a rock across the water, Anthony tried to teach Mommy...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/9, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mommy's First Attempt
( no further comment )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/3.2, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Unfocused Glee
this shot is out of focus, but I still love the look of glee on his face
( because he's about to chuck a big rock into the river )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/9, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stairs Back Up

Continued here...