potted plum trees

It’s about 1 hour train ride from Kyoto station to Nagahama located at the northern end Lake Biwa, the biggest lake in Japan, in Shiga Prefecture. Just one hour ride takes us to snow-country... but it wasn’t when I went there.
At least I saw Mt. Ibuki covered with snow, it looked beautiful but it wasn’t close enough to make me feel that I had come to snow-country.

a snowy morning

We hardly ever have snow in central Kyoto nowadays, it might lie briefly a couple of times a year. I seem to remember it used to be more often when I first started living here. Global warming? It could be.
I went out to take photos when I saw the snow on the neighbour’s roof. It wasn’t enough to cover the ground, but it gave slight colour to the scenery.

I went to Nijo Castle and Shinsen-en.


At Nijo Castle only a little snow remained.

108

In the last hour of the year 2009 I visited a temple to participate in the ceremony of ringing the bell 108 times. Because of the crowds my friend and I along with the four others took our turn as groups of six were allowed to ring the bell in turn. The idea being to get rid of so-called “worldly desires” in 2009 before the start of the new year.




After that we went drinking until 5 o’clock. I’m not sure how successful I was in getting rid of “worldly desires”.


(left: a new year's ornament at Sanjusangen-do
/ right: a new year's ornament in Kyoto style)

A Happy New Year to you all.

photographs

A photograph has a certain kind of power.

My father passed away sometime ago and his photo brings back memories. After he passed away, we searched for some photos to use for his funeral. I found many pictures of him which I had never seen before. On the back of one of them was written my father’s name and 17 years old. His appearance was dramatically different and that made me think of his devotion to his work, family and friends, like many other Japanese men of his age his work was his hobby.


I found this picture in his photo pile. I think this is the area I was born, but nothing like it was even in those days.

Tenryu-ji Temple

Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto
天龍寺（京都/嵐山）

I think Tenryu-ji Temple’s attraction is the garden.


It has been known as Tenryu-ji and belonged to the Rinzai Zen sect of Buddhism since its founding in 1345 by the first Ashikaga shogun, prior to that the land had been a temple and for a time a detached palace.The temple has a long history, however it has suffered fire many times and the present day structures are mostly built within the last 200 years.


The garden around the pond has never been affected by the fires and is said to closely resemble the original.


It was designed by a priest Muso Soseki, who also designed the garden of Saiho-ji, Koke-dera or Moss Temple. It is a strolling style garden but the path around the pond is closed to the public.


Nevertheless it still has an open-spaced cheerful atmosphere with a backdrop of mountains showing seasonal colours throughout the year.