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This past weekend was a long weekend in Japan—some sort of hybrid Labor Thanksgiving Day—and it was also the height of leaf-peeping season. So what’s a girl to do? Leaf-peep, of course! I decided to avoid the crazy leaf-peeping crowds in Kyoto and headed, instead, to Ishiyama-dera temple in Otsu, east of Kyoto.

Ishiyama-dera was one of the most lovely temples I’ve seen so far. I know I keep saying this for every temple I see, but it’s true. Similar to my experience in Takao, I found myself saying, this time in English and in Chinese, “This is so beautiful, wow, this is so beautiful.”

The temple is partly set on a mountainside (the name of the temple means “Stony Mountain Temple”), with numerous trails, terraces, pagodas, and gazebos. There are enough trails there that, in spite of the crowds, I was able to find paths to explore by myself. The grounds are highly landscaped, the trees are tall and soar over you. Gorgeous.

I also arrived right around two o’clock in the afternoon, which I’m finding is prime time for picture-taking during this time of year in Japan. The red leaves really do seem to glow in the late afternoon sunlight. It’s like discovering a secret when you suddenly see a tree in front of you with those glowing leaves.