I visited Tofukuji temple and enjoyed a walk in a gentle rain, watching fresh greenery of early maple leaves. It’s always nice to see crimson foliage in autumn, but viewing these vivid young ones wet in the rain was so pleasing to my eyes. I felt lucky because there were not much sightseers.

In the premises of Taiko-an, one of the sub temples of Tofukuji, there is a water well called “Ono no Komachi Century Old Well".

Ono no Komachi is a female poet in the Heian era, very famous for her beauty. It is said, that after Ono no Komachi got old, she saw the reflection of herself on the well water and sung a poem lamenting the sadness and the emptiness of getting old. The well is also famous for the blessing of tying the knot.