Morning at Lake Kinrin and Yunotsubo Kaido Street

4 November 2024

One of the highly recommended things to do at Yufuin is to take a walk around Lake Kinrin, a place of natural scenic beauty. This lake is also teeming with fish, including koi. As a Koi lover, I know Kinrin means golden scales. I have owned a ginrin koi with metallic looking golden scales in my pond before. Apparently, the lake got its name from a Confucian scholar who was impressed by a fish’s scales that shone in the sunset when he visited the lake one day.

Beside the fishes, Lake Kinrin is more well known as a lake with morning mist. Since Yufuin has many hot springs, the water in the lake is constantly warm. During autumn and winter months, mist rises from warm water of the lake and produces a magical mood early in the morning, if the conditions are right.

One of the reasons why I chose to stay overnight at Yufuin is so that I could take photos of the misty lake in the early morning.

Mist over Lake Kinrin in the early morning.

Sunrise was 6.30 AM and we got up early to take a short walk from our ryokan to the lake.

The morning air around Yufuin was already misty even before we arrived at the lake . The walk through the misty and quiet residential area of the small onsen town of Yufuin was a good experience in itself.

 “So early in the morning, crazy guy, nobody except us”, my wife was teasing me.

We went to the Tenso Shrine that sits on a quiet perch along the southeastern shore of Lake Kinrin first. A stone torii gate rises from the surface of Lake Kinrin. I wanted to take photos of the torii gate reflected in the still water surface of the lake. The best time to do this is early in the morning before the warm of the sun causes the air to move.

Lo and behold. I was not the only crazy guy.

There were already other groups of visitors at Lake Kinrin at 6.30 AM, with same purpose of enjoying the views of the mist over the lake.       

A local couple was seen paying respect at the shrine. So not all visitors are foreigners.

Torii gate shrouded in morning mist and reflecting in the water of Lake Kinrin.

A sacred cedar tree at the shrine.

There were a bit of autumn foliage on the trees in the small park where the shrine was located. The weather was warmer than expected this year and the peak period for autumn foliage had been delayed by a few weeks. Else Lake Kinrin with the red and orange autumn foliage would be even more stunning.

Not the best autumn foliage but still pretty.

There is a boardwalk on the western shore of the lake where people had already gathered. A few had even set up their cameras with tripods to wait for the sunrise.

Look at the number of people at the lake before 7 AM.

View of the misty lake at 6.50 AM.

We took our time to enjoy the serenity of the misty lake. The mist over the lake was still present at 7.30 AM. My wife was right after all. We were crazy to come so early. We could have an extra hour of sleep and come to the lake a bit later. Although sunrise was officially 6.30 AM, the sun took time to rise above the mountains.

We lingered at the lake till about 7.50 AM when we saw the round globe of the sun peeking above the mountains. I was all excited to snap photos of the misty sunrise. The sun moved quickly through the sky as I snap photos of it against the trees on the mountain.

The sun that looked like a moon in the misty morning.

Magical morning by the lake.

As the sun rose, the mist became less dense. A slight breeze developed as the warm of the sun hits the ground. However,  a thin layer of mist still hangs over the warm water of the lake.

Mist was clearing and a bit of blue sky appeared.

The water birds appeared like magic and started feeding on the lake. We spotted a white heron and a pair of ducks.

This is the mist from the warm water of the lake.

A white heron on Lake Kinrin.

A pair of tilapia performing a courtship dance or spawning on the surface.

Golden koi but not quite the ginrin.

I would have loved to linger at the lake as it was such a magical experience. But we had to hurry back to our ryokan since we had booked our breakfast at 8.30 AM.

Along the way, I paused briefly to snap a photo of the rice paddies with the mist over it. The mist would soon clear as the day gets warmer.

Rice paddies next to our ryokan,Yufuin Bettei Itsuki.

After breakfast, I had a relaxing soak in my room’s outdoor onsen before checking out.

Watching the sunrays through the slats in the outdoor onsen.

We left our car in the ryokan after checking out and took a walk to the Lake Kinrin again. The views of the lake was so different but yet so beautiful. I am glad we experienced the misty lake as well as the colourful lake with some autumn foliage on the trees.

Lake Kinrin in the morning without the mist.

We spent some time to explore Yunotsubo Kaibo Street and do some souvenir hunting. The 800-meter-long Yunotsubo Kaido Street runs through the center of Yufuin leading from Lake Kinrin to JR Yufuin Station.

The street was packed full of people by late morning. There are enough interesting  and unique shops, themed cafes and galleries to merit an hour of exploring. Fans of Snoopy, Hello Kitty, Miffy, Doraemon and other cute cute characters would not be disappointed. There are also many snack and dessert shops. 

Many interesting decor such as this car could be seen along the street.

One of the many stores with cute stuff. This one is the dog-themed store.

Checking out a food and snack store. Mount Yufu can be seen from the street, adding to the picturesque setting.

Enjoying sweet potato and macha ice-cream before leaving Yufuin at 11 AM.