Kyoto's new green season is extremely kind to your eyes

type

status

date

slug

summary

category

icon

password

😀

The room, the size of an eight-stack tatami mat, faced the garden of the temple, which was in full bloom, and I couldn't help but look there, and finally exclaimed to my companion, a tea props worker in his fifties, "It's really a blessing to work at a temple!" He immediately understood what I meant, and said, "It's the best new green season in Kyoto! He immediately understood what I meant and said, "It's the best new green season in Kyoto!"

In describing the seasons, Kyoto people single out the short period from mid-April to mid-May as the "new green season". The transition from spring to summer is especially beautiful and should be cherished.

The term "fresh green" refers to the color that trees take on at this time of year. After the cherry blossoms have faded, the trees that have withered in winter grow young leaves that are fresh and moist. Through the sunlight, it will take on an almost infinitely transparent green color. The green color of different trees takes on various shades, and with the passage of time, by will almost always turn to the same dark green. Before turning dark green, they are literally - "new green.”

The new green of Shimodaka Shrine's Tangled Forest

In Kyoto, the cherry blossom season and the red leaf season are the most popular seasons for tourists, but for the people of Kyoto, they seem to prefer the present season. The weather is neither too cold nor too hot, and the new green color is commensurate with both sunny and rainy days. Such a color does not stand out too much in the traditional architecture of the Koushaji temples, but rather adds a bit of new life to their thousand-year history by leaping forward.

Over the years, Kyoto's temples have greatly promoted traveling during this season. It is probably because after the cherry blossom season and before the Gion Festival, there is a temporary off-season for tourism, which needs to be promoted. In recent years, the buzzword "Aomomiji" has been frequently used in promotional posters. The Japanese call the red leaves "momiji", so it is sometimes called "aoimiji". In fact, it means "green maple". Maple trees are the main attraction of red leaves in the fall, but they also have a clear and bright beauty in the spring. Yoshida Kaneko has long praised the young leaves of the maple tree in early April as being superior to all the flowers and red leaves in the world, as he writes in "Tourokusa".

As a result, famous places to see red leaves are usually also good places to see green maples. Especially famous places are Arashiyama, Kaohsiung, and Guifune, and some people love the big temples such as Kiyomizu Temple, Tofukuji Temple, and Sanzen-in Temple. At Guifune Shrine, there is a maple walkway with red lanterns on both sides of the stone stairs, making it a good place to take photos of both red and green leaves. The Eizan train to Guifune runs through a tunnel of red leaves in the fall, but during this time it becomes a tunnel of green maples, and for a month after the end of April, the train company starts the "slow run of the green maples and new greenery," running slower than usual to make it easier for people to take photographs and video footage. As the month of May began, a number of Kawabedori restaurants opened in the Takifune area, and even though it was a bit chilly to sit by the water, it didn't stop people from coming to eat there. For a few nights during the first week of May, a special illumination event for the new green season is held at Guifune Shrine. Meanwhile, on the other line of the Eizan train, the entrance to Rurikouin Temple, which is open for a limited period of two months, is bound to be crowded with people wanting to take photos of the reflection of the new green, although locals are less inclined to do so, as a temple with a long queue, crowds of people taking photos and an entrance fee of up to 2,000 yen does not seem to be a good everyday choice.

Kyoto has seen an explosion of tourists this year, reportedly exceeding pre-epidemic levels. It's hard to feel a silent new green season in places like Guifune and Arashiyama. After much thought, I went to the Hawk Peak area in the north. I hadn't been to this area for five or six years. A typical place here is "Eagle Peak Three Temples", which are three temples in the Eagle Peak area. In the past, I had visited Gengwangan, which has the "Window of Enchantment" and "Window of Enlightenment," and is a well-known attraction during the autumn leaf season. When I came out of Genkoan that year, I saw another small temple across the street with tall maple trees on both sides of the narrow pathway, covering the sky with leaves, and realized later that it was famous in the tea ceremony world of Kyoto, and that it was the place where the Edo-period artist, Motoya Mitsuetsu, lived in his twilight years. Another temple, which most people cannot name, is called Tsushoji Temple, which actually has a story to tell, as Yoshino Taifu, a famous Kyoto prostitute from the Edo period, is buried inside the temple. All three of these temples charge only 400 yen for admission, and maintain a simple and sincere routine.

While the three temples of Eagle Peak are bustling with activity during the red leaf season, they are sparsely populated on weekdays during the new green season. I didn't meet a single person at Tsushoji, and the monk took me to the main hall to watch a ten-minute video about the place's various connections to Taifu Yoshino, which seems to have become its biggest selling point. Later, wandering around the temple grounds alone, in a small room deep inside, someone was taking a tea ceremony class, a young girl sitting on her knees in front of a tea kettle, with no teacher in sight, and only the voice of a gentle, quiet, middle-aged woman ringing out from time to time, correcting her every move. The tea room at Tsushoji Temple, Yufangan, boasts a beautiful window that at first glance appears to be a circle, but in fact is not perfectly round, with a rectilinear shape at the bottom. In a video not long ago, I learned that this design has a special significance: a complete circle tends to remind people of a full moon, and it is a law of the world that a full moon is a full moon. It is said that Taifu Yoshino deliberately chose this incomplete shape, like the state of the moon before it is full, to symbolize that people should reflect on themselves and continue to improve. For this reason, the window is called the Yoshino Window. The Yoshino Window always has a slit in the center, so you can catch a glimpse of the scenery outside the window in the tea room, and at this time of the year, you can see a line of fresh green, a thin line, which looks even more lush in the dim light.

There are no visitors to Gwanggye-ji Temple. During the foliage season, a sign saying "No photos on the path" is placed under the tree to prevent people from blocking the path. At this time, because of the absence of people, a few old people passing by the gate will also turn in, take out their cell phones to take two pictures, and then continue on their way. The green maple swayed in the wind, the sunlight cast shadows on the stone stacks, and once the wind blew through, the shadows would dance. Although they are all green, the green of the new green season is rich and no less than the red leaf season. The gardens and walkways of Gwanggyetsuji Temple are a perfect illustration of this green, which is layered with shades of green. In this world of green, life is growing vigorously and exuberantly.

Since ancient times, the Japanese have paid attention to the subtle changes in nature as the seasons change. The shapes, shades and shades of color of each tree vary, and the green variations, from moe yellow, wakagi green, new green, lime green to dark green, are perfect renditions of Japan's traditional colors. There are also many words describing these colors: "wakagusa color," "moegi color," "wakatake color," "moe onion color ", "Willow Color" ...... "Moongi" refers to the color of the new leaves of trees in spring, while "Moongongi "Moegi" refers to the color of the young leaves of trees in spring, while "Moongi" refers to the color of green onions, which come into their fullest color in summer. The names of the colors come from the plants so that one can quickly make sense of them.

The term "wakaba" is mentioned in the New Nihon Daisenshoki (New Nihon Daisenshoki). The term "wakaba" refers to the shiny new leaves of trees in spring. According to the types of trees, there are deciduous trees such as "Kakimoto Wakaba," "Park Wakaba," and "Niao Wakaba," as well as "Camphor Wakaba," "Camphor Wakaba," "Camphor Wakaba," "Camphor Wakaba," "Camphor Wakaba," and "Camphor Wakaba. There are also evergreen trees such as "Camphor Wakaba", "Spine Wakaba", and "Mistletoe Wakaba", etc., which grow fresh leaves at the same time, making the scene vivid and beautiful. Herbaceous plants are uniformly called "Kusakabana". There are also "Tani-wakaba," "Sato-wakaba," "Yamani-wakaba," and "Window-wakaba," which describe new leaves in a particular place or view. The new leaves in a particular place or in the field of view are described. In addition, depending on the weather and temperature, expressions such as "wakaba wind," "wakaba rain," and "wakaba cold" are also used. There is also a phrase called "Wakabayashi", which widely refers to the period of new green color.

💡

"I love walking the streets of Kyoto, especially in the late afternoon hours of spring. The feeling of 'spring day' seems to belong only to Kyoto, as if the whole town inhales deeply into spring and becomes a little trance-like. However, there are very few places where 'spring day' can be felt today. There was an ineffable serenity that occupied the luxury of the afternoon hours during 'spring days', but nowadays this serenity is often replaced by hustle and bustle.”

japan guides