autumn leaves

Location, Kansai, Kyoto, Seasonal Travel, Shrines & Temples, Weather & Seasons

Lesser-Known Kyoto Autumn Temples and Shrines: 9 Places with Access and Crowd Notes (2026)

Tall trees with leaves turning yellow, orange and red over a shaded shrine yard, paper lanterns on poles in the foreground and parked cars and vans visible behind a low fence.

Nine temples and shrines from my list of 54 lesser-known places in Kyoto, all with autumn colour documented by their own sites, Kyoto City or Weathernews. Five have a checkable access or timing difference, three more were included for their location in city dispersal areas (a policy, not a crowd count), and Adashino is a companion stop to Giōji. None is guaranteed quiet; each entry says what can still make it busy. Plus Enkoji's and Rurikoin's 2026 booking rules.

Nobu
October 7, 2026

Location, Chubu, Culture, Seasonal Travel, Travel Tips, Weather & Seasons, Yamanashi

Momiji Meaning: Maple, Autumn Leaves and Where the Word Leads in Japan

Woodblock print of orange-red maple branches framing a view down from a high bank: a blue pond, thatched roofs, a shrine gate and small figures on a path, with flat green fields, low mountains and a line of geese in a pale sky beyond.

Momiji (紅葉) means the red and yellow leaves of autumn and, by extension, the maple. Where the word comes from, how it differs from kaede, the maple poems of the Hyakunin Isshu, hanafuda's deer and the slang word shikato, and the difference between Lake Kawaguchi's Momiji Corridor and Momiji Tunnel.

Nobu
October 6, 2026

Location, Experience, Kanto, Nature, Shrines & Temples, Tokyo, Transportation, Travel Tips

Mount Mitake, Tokyo: Guide to the Rock Garden Loop, Musashi Mitake Shrine and the Cable Car

A green-patinated metal torii gate over the stone stairway to Musashi-Mitake Shrine on Mount Mitake, Tokyo, framed by orange and red autumn maples, with wooden lanterns and carved stone markers on both sides

Mount Mitake in western Tokyo: JR, bus and cable car from Shinjuku, the trails the Visitor Center listed as open and closed on its 18 September 2026 report, Rock Garden loop times stretch by stretch, what is shut at the shrine on weekdays, and the night kagura dates.

Nobu
October 3, 2026

Location, Experience, Kanto, Nature, Seasonal Travel, Tokyo, Weather & Seasons

Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue Guide: Light-Up, Festival Status and Where to Stand

Golden ginkgo trees line both sides of the Meiji Jingu Gaien avenue in Tokyo, with the stone dome of the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery standing at the far end under a clear sky

The Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue in autumn 2026: who runs the light-up and when Tokyo announced it in past years, a festival last listed for 2019, the works at the gallery end, and which station exit to use.

Nobu
October 3, 2026

Location, Experience, Kanto, Nature, Seasonal Travel, Tokyo, Weather & Seasons

Tokyo Autumn Leaves: Where to See Fall Foliage, from City Gardens to Mount Takao

Golden ginkgo leaves and grey branches against a blue sky, looking straight up into one of the trees that line the Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue in central Tokyo

Tokyo's autumn leaves sorted into four kinds of place, with the order they usually turn, 2026 hours and fares, and what's missing this autumn: Koishikawa Korakuen's red Tsutenkyo bridge, dismantled for rebuilding.

Nobu
October 3, 2026

Location, Kansai, Kyoto, Seasonal Travel, Travel Tips

Kifune Shrine and Kurama: The Walk Between Them, With 2026 Access Notes

The stone staircase at Kifune Shrine in Kyoto lined on both sides with tall vermilion kasuga lanterns, visitors climbing between them and autumn-tinted maples on the hillside above.

The 80-minute trail between Kurama-dera and Kifune Shrine, the cable car status to check, the last bus that leaves before the shrine closes, and what the maple tunnel really offers.

Nobu
September 22, 2026

Location, Events & Festivals, Kansai, Kyoto, Seasonal Travel, Travel Tips

Kyoto in November 2026: Booking Rules, 2026 Prices and Crowd Timing

The Tsutenkyo covered bridge at Tofukuji temple in Kyoto surrounded by a valley of red and orange maple foliage at the typical late-November peak of the autumn colour season

Three Kyoto sites now need advance booking, Tofuku-ji's garden rises to ¥600 on 1 November, Eikan-do's autumn daytime admission is ¥1,500 — and the bus one-day pass no longer exists. Checked against official Japanese sources.

Nobu
September 22, 2026

Location, Chubu, Seasonal Travel, Yamanashi

Fuji Hokuroku Park: Where Japan Trains at 1,035 m (and a Quiet Autumn Walk)

A large solitary maple in brilliant crimson at Fuji Hokuroku Park in early November, its full crown glowing against a deep blue sky above picnic tables on a lawn ringed by junipers and golden trees.

A national-team training park in Fujiyoshida - sprint camps 2001-2012, the 2018 relay squad, France rugby 2019 - that turns into an empty maple park every November.

Nobu
September 20, 2026

Location, Chubu, Seasonal Travel, Shizuoka

The Metasequoia Avenue at Susono Sports Park, Facing Mt. Fuji

An avenue of metasequoia trees in full rust-orange autumn colour framing a snow-capped Mt Fuji dead centre at Susono City Sports Park in late November, stadium floodlights rising on the right and a few visitors on the walkway.

A dawn-redwood avenue inside a municipal sports park that frames Mt Fuji between rust rows every late November - a field report from two dated visits, since no tourism page covers it.

Nobu
September 20, 2026

Location, Chubu, Seasonal Travel, Yamanashi

Mount Mitsutoge: Routes, the 2026 Trail Closure, and Autumn at the Foot

A crimson and orange Japanese maple in full colour beside the cracked paved approach road to the Mount Mitsutoge trail above Nishikatsura, with golden larch and dark cedars behind it under a partly cloudy sky in mid-November.

The classic Mt Fuji viewing climb, with a 2026 caveat: the Haha-no-Shirataki section is closed. Open routes compared, plus the Shinrei walking path in peak November colour.

Nobu
September 20, 2026