FEATURE

Japan's Best Autumn Leaf Spots ― From Kyoto's Temples to Highland Brocade

Autumn moves slowly across Japan, north to south, mountain to lowland, turning the land to brocade. Maples filling a gorge like a sea of cloud, a second autumn mirrored on a black table, night leaves beneath a five-storey pagoda ― autumn, too, tells a different story in every place. From my notes travelling through the season, here are the places that stayed with me, in order of their turning.

From highland to lowland ― following the colour

Autumn begins high in the mountains. From late September into October, at Oku-Nikko in Tochigi, Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls seen from Akechidaira, and the russet grasses of Senjogahara, show an early autumn. By November, at Lake Kawaguchi in Yamanashi, a corridor of maples over a century old turns colour while Mount Fuji rises beyond the water. Chasing the colour as it descends from highland to village is one of autumn's quiet pleasures.

Kyoto's temples ― frames and water mirrors

For the height of autumn, there is Kyoto. The gorge seen from the Tsutenkyo bridge at Tofuku-ji fills with maples like a sea of cloud. At Rurikoin in Yase and Yusaitei in Arashiyama, polished black tables hold the maples in mirror reflection ― a second autumn. At Nanzen-in the study's pillars become a frame, cutting the pond's foliage like a hanging scroll. After dark, the five-storey pagoda of To-ji is lit, and the twelve-hundred-year-old tower floats with the maples on the surface of the pond.

A valley in scarlet ― the finest in Tokai

There are maples that turn a whole valley scarlet. At Korankei in Asuke, Toyota, Aichi, some four thousand maples fill the valley of the Tomoe River ― the finest autumn in the Tokai region. The vermilion Taigetsu Bridge and the foliage mirrored on the water make one of the region's defining images of the season.

The maples are loveliest as they fall.
Better not to hurry ― wait for that one day.

Photographing the leaves ― season and mindset

Foliage peaks around late September to October in the highlands, and late November to early December in the lowlands and in Kyoto. The colour depends greatly on the year's temperatures ― the wider the gap between day and night, the more vivid the turn. After rain, leaves and moss lie damp and the colours sink in deep. Many of the mirror-table rooms and special viewings are by reservation and for limited periods, so always check the latest information before you go. For the craft, see how to photograph flower landscapes.

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