Kouyou

Autumn leaves, Nagano city

In Nagoya - and, I assume, Kyoto, Tokyo, Yokohama, etc - it's just now getting to prime kouyou (autumn leaf viewing) time. Kouyou is not quite as celebrated as hanami (cherry blossom viewing) in spring, but it's still important. Stores everywhere put up autumnal decor of coloured maple leaves, and people flock to gardens, parks, mountains and other natural spots to see the beauty of the changing leaves, which is quite lovely.

[Update: I went to Tokyo a month after writing this, and it seems that kouyou in Nagoya is earlier than in Tokyo. While the deciduous trees were almost completely bare in Nagoya, in Tokyo some of the slower trees, like gingko, still had touches of green.]

(The kanji for kouyou (紅葉) means 'deep red leaves'. Actually, the 'kou' ('deep red') in 'kouyou' is the same character in koucha (what we would call ordinary 'black tea', and a standard drink at restaurants here). Since black tea is actually a deep red colour, this would make more sense, right?)

In Yokohama, if you want to see kouyou without going far, I recommend a good stroll down Nihon-odori, from Kannai station - the gingko trees are resplendent in yellow - and down to Yamashita Park along the harbourfront. Sankei-en is a good spot too, and great if you're wanting a more traditional Japanese-style garden.

If you're in Japan yourself, why not make the most of the generally bright, clear weather at this time of year, and go find some nature?

I've not taken many kouyou shots this year, so here are a few from Yokohama.

Nihon-odori. It may not look so great in this shot, but there are a lot of trees on this street, and the leaves were absolutely pouring off them. This was in early December.

Yamashita Park.

 Sankei-en Park. It was overcast so I took it in 'antique' mode. ^_^