Autumn temple illumination event
Every year in the autumn leaf viewing season several temples have night viewing hours with artful illumination of the leaves. I was invited yesterday to a party hosted by Son of Soy blogger Rick and his girlfriend/master chef Mari, and ate and drank much more than my fill after leaf viewing in the lovely garden at Enkoji Temple in Sakyo-ku, which was certainly much, much less crowded than the bigger temples in Higashiyama-ku. There was ghostly shakuhachi music coming from somewhere out in the mist, and patches of illumination would very slowly fade in and out, highlighting the foreground, middleground, deep background or sometimes just a small stand of trees or bamboo. You become an aesthete just by watching. Thanks Rick and Mari, will pay back.
These are 8-second exposures taken when the entire area was lit. so they don’t really capture the way that the focus moved from place to place during the programmed illumination.
Kyoto is awesome this November.
ay….what sublime colors in Kyoto and Nara areas.and not much rain so far.
best,
Mehyar
Great shots and description, Nils.
This was my first “light-up” event. I couldn’t help but compare it to viewing Christmas lights back in the U.S. — but without the cars, cheesy Santas, huge amounts of electricity, jingle bells…
Hmm, I guess it was the holiday feeling of sharing a moment of beauty and appreciation with people.
Thanks for joining us, and thanks for bringing the delicious Ginyo Kyo Roman sake.
Lovely pictures as usual. Keep up the great work.
The host posted here.
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