22 November 2016
Kyoto’s Tofukuji Temple is large Zen temple that displays some of Kyoto's most spectacular autumn foliage and the colours are usually best in the second half of November. Tofukuji Temple is located south of Kyoto and near to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. It made sense to visit this temple when we were travelling from Nara to the APA Hotel Kyoto Gion Excellent, our next hotel in Kyoto. As usual ,we did luggage forwarding one day earlier using the Takuhaibin delivery services so have our hands free for sightseeing.
The temple opened at 8.30 AM and we planned to arrive immediately after the opening time, hoping that the crowd would be lesser earlier in the day. From Nara, we took the JR Rapid train to JR Tofukuji Station. It took 45 mins of travel time. Tofukuji is a ten minute walk from Tofukuji Station. There were already streams of visitors making their way from the train station to the temple, including many Japanese visitors. There were traffic wardens stationed at key road junctions to ensure safety, direct traffic and also to usher the stream of people walking to the temple.
We paid the entrance fee and entered the temple. The view of and from the bridge is spectacular in autumn.
View of the Tsutenkyo Bridge during autumn.
We had to follow a roped pathway that was quite wide and there was already hordes of photographers taking pictures.
Special effect shots of “falling” leaves.
Kaisando Hall serves as the mausoleum of the temple's first head priest.
Moss and pond garden.
The Kaisando and its gardens were last reconstructed during the Edo Period (1603-1867).
We got to see more of the impressive autumn foliage after exiting the Kaisando.
Looking at the autumn leaves at Tofukuji Temple, we can understand why this place was so crowded. Even the locals have travelled from all over Japan to Kyoto and to this temple to appreciate the beauty of nature. Crowd control was good and visitors are confined to the roped pathways so all can take good photos of the autumn foliage and not get in each other’s way.
Fallen leaves a plenty.
I think we visited at the right time. There were still plenty of colours – red, orange, yellow and green on the trees.
We met up with some friends who were also touring Japan. We had planned to spend this day exploring Kyoto together.
A nice tea break of Japanese dessert and coffee after enjoying the autumn leaves.
A picture in front of a tree with a beautiful mixture of colours.
We spent about 2.5 hours in Tofukuji Temple. Although it was not in my original plan, we decided to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine next since it was near to Tofukuji Temple and we had some unfinished business there. In our last visit to Fushimi Inari Shrine in June earlier in the year, we did not managed to hike all the way to the summit of Mount Inari. We aimed to complete the journey this time.
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