Japan Navigator

Although less well-known outside Japan than cherry blossoms, in Japan the koyo or colored leaves of autumn are just as big an event. Like hanami or blossom viewing, momijigari (”hunting for colored maple leaves”) draws huge crowds. Not only the famed “sakura zensen,” but also the “koyo zensen” or “front map of autumn colors” is heavily reported, from TV to magazines and internet.

After all, in the large country that Japan is, the date that maple trees start turning their colors is different depending on the location (and elevation). Based on the information given by the media, people plan daytrips or short holidays to enjoy the fall colors.

[Autmn leaves in Shosenkyo, Kofu. Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

Autumn trips are sold to travelers with blazing pictures of red and yellow leaves by the travel agencies – every year again. In the past, the beauty of autumn leaves was eulogized in poems and paintings.

The love for both the short-lived cherryblossom (which dies after a brief blaze of color) and the always somewhat melancholy autumn colors is based on the Buddhist concept of mujo that permeates Japanese culture.

Shogyo mujo (”all realms of being are transient”) is the first of the Three Laws of Buddhism. Everything that is born must die. Nothing remains unchanged. This feeling of impermanence and mutability has been a major theme in Japanese literature, especially in the Middle Ages: look at such works as the Hojoki (The Ten-Foot-Square Hut) of Kamo no Chomei, or the Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness) by Yoshida Kenko.

What about spending some time under the fall leaves with one of these texts in your hand?