Red and yellow colors at all the direction surrounding me. I've never walked under such forest of fall colors.

Tofuku-Temple
The people in the hotel recommended me of the temple as a good autumn colors. It was located about 5 minutes walk from the Tofuku-Ji-Station of Keihan-railway. My guidebook described the temple as quiet and good for taking some walk. But I can see a groups of tourists heading to the temple. It must be autumn thing. The temple had a small canyon (called Sen-gyoku-kan) which tourists can walk across over wooden bridge. The canyon was filled with autumn colors. Hmm, I had to say it passed its peak, but still it was very impressive. This canyon as well as one of its garden was made open to public. The garden was right at the peak of fall colors. I never seen such beautiful and gorgeous garden with fall colors. Except people were packed in this rather small garden. The canyon, although the peak of fall color was over, had less people and it had more open spaces. And thus I had much better impressions of the place.

Looking down the San-nen-Zaka from Kiyomizu-Temple side. Not too many tourists and good atmospher.

Walking from Kiyomizu-Temple to San-nen-Zaka and Ni-nen-Zaka
I decided to keep the famous and gorgeous Kiyomizu-Temple for the light-up show at night. At this time of the day, I walked from Kiyomizu-Temple to San-nen-Zaka and Ni-nen-Zaka. The street was paved with stones. Old styled restaurants and souvenir shops along the street made the complete impression of the street, particularly after seeing tourists filled Kiyomizu-Temple. But the slope was created because of Kiyomizu-Temple. The original words of this slope was San-nen, which means "giving-birth-to-a-child". Kyotonians changed the character to San-nen, which means "three-years". This is definitely the Kyoto-style.

A shop I saw along the San-nen-Zaka. White umbrellas stood out in the old town.

San-nen-Zaka to Ni-nen-Zaka, then to "Nene's street", a street named after the Hideyoshi's main wife. This street was also paved with stones. I kept the Kodai-Temple also for the light-up in the evening, and hurried up to the Chion-In famous for gigantic temple gate. It is the largest main gate of Japan's Buddhist temples. I heard it is open to public. I heard it had a great view of city of Kyoto.

Tourists enjoying tea in the garden of Eigan-Doh.

Sosui-Canal
The street lead me to more modern part of the Kyoto. Sosui-Canal was built at the end of the 19th Century for power-generation and for transporations. The water travels from Biwa-Lake but some part of the canal is too steep that they had to carry ships using rails to cross that part. Japan is such a mountanous country.

Nanzen-Temple was almost there. This is the head temple of Nanzen-Style of Rinzai-Zen-Buddhists. I do not know what it means but it sounds something distinguished temple.

Eigan-Dou(Zenrin-Temple)
This is also another head temple of a Seizan-ZenrinJi-Style Joudo-Buddhists. But the sign at the entrance said "Maple's Eigan-Doh". They know what to publicize to attract tourists. This temple had a kindergarten, and the fall colors just behind the kindergarten was superb. I had to envy the kids in the kindergarten. But then, it must be an awful feeling to have so many tourists around the school. This temple is also famous and some interest looking Buddha-statue. But that would be my next time. Oh, the fall colors in the Eigan-Dou was mostly over, unfortunately.

Ginkyou-Pond in front of the Ginkaku. The Ginkaku, sitting behind the garden, is also known as Kan-non-den.

Philosopher's Path
Somewhere between the Waka-Ouji-Shrine and Eigan-Doh, I came across the Philosopher's Path. It takes about 2km (1.3 miles) of walking to the famous Ginkaku-Temple. Cherryblossoms in the spring and fall-colors in the fall, the Philosopher's Path served the professors and students of Kyoto Doushisha and Ritsumeikan Universities nearby.

Ginkaku-Temple (Jisho-Temple)
I guess "the silver one" is the easiest to remember this temple. Ashikaga Yoshimasa the 8th Shogun of Muromachi-Government's created the Ginkaku-Temple. It is the best place to see what simplicity and antique look Japanese considers beautiful. The structure served as a standard Japanese room making which uses Tatami-Mat and Tokonoma. When I visited the Temple, I found the Ginkaku on my righthand side as if it likes to hide. Indeed, the Ginshadan-garden that was added hundreds years later was more visible. Ginkaku, the main structure of the temple, was a small two-stories structure quietly standing behind the beautiful garden. The fall colors put an accent to the garden, which is often considered as one of the best gardens in Japan. The view from the Ginkaku must be wonderful. The structure was facing east. The best time to take a good picture must be in the morning.

I must compare this Ginkaku (the silver one) with Kinkaku (the gold one), created by Ashikaga Yoshimitu, the 3rd Shogun of Muromachi-Government. Both Shoguns served in Muromachi-Government, but are very different in personality, political situation, and resulting Temples. I guess the Yoshimasa (8th Shogun) was the cause of the fall of Muromachi-Government. He hated politics; he could not decide; and he loved art. When warlords started fighting in the city of Kyoto (War-of-Onin, 1467), Yoshimasa decided to ignore it. He shut himself up in the Kyoto's main court, and had party every day. The only time his determination shined was to ignore the battle... When finaly the fight was over in 1473, Kyoto was in near-complete destruction. Most of the famous Templs and Shrines were burned into ashes, all of them were rebuilt after the war. When Kyotonian refers to "the war" it refers to the War-of-Onin, not the World World War II. With such personality, Yoshimasa devoted last days of his life to built the Ginkaku-Temple. He was almost bankrupt, he could only build a small one and it even finished after Yoshimasa's death. It is ironic that Yoshimasa's art became the dominant style of Japan.