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Sea of Red Maple Leaves Adorns Kyoto Temple; Kawabata-Connected Arashiyama Art Gallery Also Boasts Stunning View

Yomiuri Shimbun Photos
Left: Visitors look at the red foliage at Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto on Thursday.
Right: A garden is seen from inside Arashiyama Yusai-tei in Kyoto on Dec. 2.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:19 JST, December 8, 2024

The season for taking in the sights of red foliage has reached its peak in Kyoto.

At Tofukuji Temple, the leaves of 2,000 Japanese maple and other trees turned a vivid crimson red, creating a view that resembled a sea of red clouds surrounding the temple. Famous for its red foliage, the temple attracts many visitors during the autumn foliage season.

Although this year’s extreme summer heat had initially delayed the leaves’ color change, the recent cold weather has accelerated it.

Arashiyama Yusai-tei, an art gallery in Arashiyama, Kyoto, also offers a unique view of red maple leaves through a wooden window. The about 150-year-old building, which has been opened to the public since 2020, is known as the place where Nobel Prize-winning novelist Yasunari Kawabata wrote one of his novels, “The Sound of the Mountain.”