A little early look at the sakura along Tetsugaku no michi, The Philosopher’s Path, in northeastern Kyoto.

Kyoto Sakura 2010 preview from kyotonils on Vimeo.

I posted some videos up on the top page of this site while you weren’t looking.

Highlights from last year. Go to the top page of this site for video.

A short video of a suikinkutsu, an audio feature of some Japanese gardens that adds a soothing soundscape to the visual calm. A Suikinkutsu is a very large, inverted clay pot buried under a tsukubai water laver or other water feature, whereby water filters down through stones and into a hole in the top of the pot. From there it drips down into the water settled in the pot, and the dripping combined with reverberations inside the pot — and indeed resonance of the pot iteslf — make a very …

Video is here
(QuickTime 7 required)

Looking for fireflies at Takaragaike Park in Kyoto. Infrared and slow-shutter sequences. Surprise ending for one of the fireflies.
View on YouTube

Click for some clips from the just-concluded Ebisu Matsuri in Kyoto, a festival at Ebisu Shrine where people pray for business success in the new year and buy branches and all kinds of lucky charms in hopes that the gods will favor them over the following year.

I probably should have posted this a while ago…
Kurama Fire Festival (6 min, 37 MB Quicktime)
The Kurama Himatsuri, or Fire Festival, is held every October in a tiny mountain village in northern Kyoto. Progressively larger torches are paraded up and down this one-street town by teams in traditional costume, as a thumping taiko beat stokes the enthusiasm. Finally, fulfilling the ancient prophesy, Bobby Valentine is mystically conjured out of the sparks and smoke.

I made a little video over here of something or other.

First unedited clips posted on top page at www.planetkyoto.com