2016 Classic Japan Cherry Blossom Tour Report

Day 11 saw much of west Japan hit by heavy rain including Kyoto. Our plan for today was to visit Saihoji (西芳寺), more commonly referred to as Kokedera (苔寺, “Moss Temple”). As its name suggests, this temple is famous for its moss garden, one of the finest examples of zen garden design that exists.

Saihoji takes a lot of effort to visit due to a strict daily visitor quota (we booked our places 3 months in advance!). In addition, before we could enter the garden, we needed to participate in a prayer ritual involving copying out a sutra (the Heart Sutra) in Japanese, before writing out a wish and offering it up to the temple.

An estimated 120 different varieties of moss can be found at Saihoji’s garden. The garden’s outstanding design is centred around a pond which is shaped like the Chinese character for “heart” (心 kokoro).

Day 12 saw us head south from Kyoto to the mountainous countryside in Nara Prefecture. Our destination was Mount Yoshino (吉野山), the most famous cherry blossom location in Japan.

Mount Yoshino has over 30,000 cherry trees of different varieties on its slopes. Due to the elevation change, the cherry blossoms bloom at different times depending on their location up the mountain.

Our timing was absolutely perfect as the cherry trees in the middle and upper parts of the mountain, called the nakasenbon (中千本 “middle 1000 trees”) and kamisenbon (上千本 “upper 1000 trees”) respectively, were in full bloom.

For our final full day in Kyoto, we started by visiting two of the most famous temples in Japan.

Kinkakuji (金閣寺 “Temple of the Golden Pavilion”) is a Zen Buddhist temple in northern Kyoto and features a striking gold leaf covered pavilion located in a large pond, all part of a large zen garden.

Nearby Kinkakuji about 20 minutes walk away is Ryoanji (龍安寺), another Zen temple and famous for its karesansui (枯山水 “dry landscape”) garden. This is Japan’s most famous rock garden and dates back to the 15th century.

Photography at both Kinkakuji and Ryonaji is always tricky due to the large number of tourists that visit so we needed to take some time to get to the best spots to shoot.