stayed for 2 nights while visiting Fuji 5-lake during peak Koyo. Picked room with balcony facing Mt Fuji. It has nice rotenburo on top floor facing Mt Fuji.
On the first night, we had buffet dinner.
On the 2nd night, we had Teppanyaki course dinner.
Shosei-en is a garden that is part of nearby Higashi Hongan-ji. The garden was nicely designed with spots and walking paths. According to its guide-book, the garden was named from an ancient Chinese essay (歸去來兮辭) circa 400AD. In one line 園日涉以成趣 it means “pleasure from daily stroll in garden”. Indeed it is. Besides, as the day was calm, the reflections in the pond were impressive. There were fewer visitors than in other popular koyo spots.
From Shosei-en, we headed to Kyoto station and stopped by Higashi Hongan-ji. The Ginkgo trees have clearly passed its peak with many fallen leaves. There were many visitors on that morning, with loads of coaches parked outside. While we were leaving, I spotted a crane while I was reading the slogan on the outer wall.
After lunch we took train to Biwako – the largest lake in Japan. Before checking in the onsen ryokan, we visited Hiyoshi Taisha at the foothill of Hieizan. It seems that macaque is worshiped there. Along the path, there was a long row of Chrysanthemums with awards.
Here Koyo has clearly passed peak as in Tenryu-ji. However, it was a calm day and thus the reflections of the golden pavilion was almost perfect.
visited in past Feb for Ume blossom and now returned for peak Koyo, which was so beautiful along the paths.
once a detached palace of the Saga Emperor, this temple has been growing Sagagiku (Saga Chrysanthemum) in specific colours, heights by season.
One of the most spectacular Koyo sites in our visit this time.
Though we had planned to visit Nara on 23rd Nov to avoid potential crowds on public holiday, we visited Arashiyama in order to catch up on our “backlogs” 🙂
Despite my effort to reserve the Torroko train tickets about 1 month in advance, we were advised by hotel concierge that all train tickets in that week were snatched up pretty soon the booking window opened up.
Thus, we took a normal JR train to arrive at the gorge. Koyo was past peak and a boat happened to flow downstream. We then took the next train back to Sagano.
Koyo around the pond clearly has passed peak. Colours were less vivid than in our first visit 12 years ago. However, there were some pockets of bright colours before the exit to the bamboo forest, in the Arashiyama Park and also along the passage to the main entrance.
Hogon-in is a “Tachiu” temple (塔頭寺院) of Tenryu-ji. It has a beautiful garden – “Lion-roar” (獅子吼の庭). Koyo was at peak, unlike neighboring Tenryu-ji. Good that we did not miss it, though it was very crowded.
3rd visit for Koyo in Kyoto. Stayed for 4 nights in 3rd week of November. Though some popular Koyo spots were already past peak such as Tenryu-ji and Kinkaku-ji, we were so lucky as days were sunny and calm.
Stunning Koyo, more beautiful than our last Koyo visit in 2004 🙂
2nd visit for Koyo as well. Went there around 9am and there were huge crowds already. Slightly after peak than our last visit with many fallen leaves. Due to light rain on previous night, the fallen leaves were showing different textures and tone in the morning sun. Unlike our last visit in 2004, photography was forbidden on the Tsuten bridge, presumably to speed up the flow of crowds.
Shisendo literally means hall of saints of poets. Small beautiful hall with a lovely garden. Koyo was beyond peak colours. Inside the hall there are portraits and essay excerpts/poems by 36 scholars/writers from ancient China. Apart from the renowned scholars and writers in Tang and Sung dynasties, some of the writers in earlier Han and Jin dynasties were unheard of. Poems were written in an ancient Chinese calligraphy used in the Han dynasty.
3rd visit to Kanazawa in mid-Nov. Took Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo again – smooth and easy in 2.5 hrs direct. Stayed for 1 day before heading to Kaga onsen.
One of the three famous gardens in Japan. Koyo was even more brilliant compared to our last visit in 2015 (which was one week earlier).
just opposite to Kenroku-en – not to be missed.
30min by JR express train from Kanazawa. There are several onsen towns in Kaga onsen. This was our first visit where we stayed in Yamashiro onsen.
have visited Kawaguchi-ko and Yamanaka-ko more than 10 years ago, but this was our 1st visit for Koyo. Rented a car to explore the entire area. Stayed in onsen hotel in Kawaguchi-ko for 2 nights.
In the morning, Mt Fuji showed up from our balcony after mists and clouds had dispersed.
This was the venue of the 2016 Kawaguchi-ko Koyo festival, which lasted from 1st-23rd November. Koyo was at peak and luckily again the sun was out which added more vivid colours. Not far away from the Koyo corridor, there were stalls selling food, drinks, local produce, craftworks, souvenirs etc.
The Koyo along the lake rims on Motosu-ko was beautiful. Drove to the viewpoint where Mt Fuji is featured on the 1,000-Yen note.
Oshino Hakkai is a small village between Kawaguchi-ko and Yamanaka-ko. There are small ponds with crystal clear, transparent water.
This phenomenon can be seen in Yamanaka-ko only from October to February, when the sun sets directly onto the summit of Mt Fuji, thus producing a “Diamond” effect right before it is completely hidden behind Mt Fuji. The first 4 photo shots of Mt Fuji below lasted in about 5 seconds only !
visited Shosenkyo for the 1st time. Picked up rental car from Kofu station and drove about 30min uphill. Koyo was peak in mid Nov when we visited. Lucky it was a sunny day, Koyo was gorgeous well beyond our expectations 🙂
Parked car in nearby parking lot. Followed the walking trail slightly uphill for about 30min and arrived at the Kakuenbo viewing area. Leaves were in a multitude of colours in the afternoon sunlight.
Before heading to Fuji 5-lake, stopped by Nagatoro bridge and it was well worth it.
visited Wakayama city and Prefecture for the first time by car. Stayed in Wakayama city overnight after landing in KIX. Nice dinner in local restaurant. On next morning, picked up car and stopped by Wakayama castle before heading to Shirahama.
Shirahama literally means white seaside. Took about 2 hrs by expressway through many tunnels. Had a late Ise-ebi (local lobster) lunch. Visited some coastal features such as Senjojiki (千畳敷) nearby before checking in onsen hotel.
drove past the southern-most tip in Honshu and onward to Kii Katsuura. There were other coastal features in Kushimoto (串本). After lunch in Kii Katsuura town, drove uphill to visit World Heritage Nachi Taisha and Fall.
Drove back to Wakayama city via Tanabe, returned car and took Nankai rail to Osaka/ Namba.
This was our second stay and this time we stayed for 2 nights. We like the spacious twin room with 47 sqm. On the first night we had traditional Japanese Kaiseki dinner, whereas we picked an Italian dinner course with nice wine pairing on the last evening. The staffs recognized us and we really had some good chats.
The resort has some outdoor sport facilities like golf, tennis etc. though we only joined the morning yoga session once.
