It’s fall – I actually felt cold walking to the train for the first time this week.  In Japan fall means Koyo, the changing leaves – a frenzy second only to sakura for seasonal events.

I did a little jaunt up into the hills today and while it seems to be too early for peak koyo, it was certainly a lovely reminder of how nice it is to live right on the doorstep of some real natural beauty.  I took a bus up to Futatabi Park, hiked down to Tairyuji Temple, then all the way back down to my apartment via Nunobiki Falls.  As is it’s about a 3 mile hike, but the advantage of the bus is that it’s all downhill on the way home.  With an elevation change of about 400 meters it would be a bit of an ass-kicker as a round-trip.

As you can see the autumn leaves are mostly clinging stubbornly to green, but it was still a beautiful day up there.  Tairyuji is a very old (8th Century) Shingon temple.  As usual with these things the buildings have burned down numerous times, and the current batch is mostly 16th Century.  It also exists chock-a-block with a Shinto Shrine, likewise quite usual here.

That shrine was at the bottom (I came into the temple through the “back door”) of a huge hill, which I decided against descending on the grounds that I’d only have to climb back up.  On the trail out of the temple I saw a chance to scramble up a small hillside to the shrine and though, “Oh, that seems doable.”  As I climbed I looked down and saw an O-Suzumebachi about a foot from my right hand and everything after “Oh” instantly changed to simply “Fuck”.  It’s amazing how something so small can seem so large, and an odd feeling to know that this (relatively) tiny creature is the most dangerous animal in Japan, a few inches away from you.  They’re scary bastards, that’s for damn sure.  Sorry, didn’t stay to take a photo – in fact I almost face-planted I went back down the hill so fast.  Where was this sign when I needed it?