I happened to be working in Osaka on Tuesday, so I decided to take the Wednesday off and see if I could catch a glimpse of some of the Autumn foliage in Kyoto.

The title of this entry is a bit of an inside joke (every gaijin in Japan should get it, though): Japanese people who have never stepped foot off this chain of rocks like to declare proudly that “Japan has four seasons”, so, when you casually mention that “(insert country here) does too”, they sometimes appear a bit crestfallen.

That being said, the great thing about those four seasons in Japan is (as I mentioned ages ago) the fact that careful attention has always been paid to the planting and timing of seasonal flora.

As I have been to Kyoto a gazillion times, I decided to go to a temple I had never been to (not hard: there are hundreds). I chose Sanzen-in because it is supposed to be spectacular in Autumn, and because it has a very famous garden (which is apparently one of the most photographed gardens in Japan).

Aside from all the crowds, it was a good choice. For one thing, the temple and temple grounds are beautiful, a lot of the leaves had turned (Kyoto’s a bit late this year) – for the full slideshow, click here.

There were also some novel sights – including possibly the cutest jizo I’ve seen:

And, Fudge, not a Jizo, but I took this picture just for you: