Saturday, January 31, 2015

Red Autumn Leaves

Postcard 3. Glorious colour in these red autumn leaves of the Japanese maple tree. The leaves were just beginning to turn when we were there. A guide had told us we would see colour like this in about a month from when were there.

Friday, January 30, 2015

The River Section

Another of the postcards I purchased from the Daisen-In Temple. This is what is known as "The River Section", with beautiful bonsai's, raked gravel, moss, and strategically placed rocks. Not to mention those gorgeous scalloped roof edges again

Thursday, January 29, 2015

The Middle Sea

Inside the Daisen -In Temple were areas of open space with more rock gardens and beautifully raked gravel. We were not allowed to take photographs inside, so I purchased some postcards. This is one of those postcards.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

A Gnarly Tree

I just loved the shape of this pine tree, a little twisted with lots of gnarly bits. This tree was also in the grounds of the Daisen-In Temple. It looks like some of the branches may have been pruned off, and then to recover, the tree has tried to heal itself so that some parts have become thicker than others. As it has healed, a new branch has taken off in a totally different direction. Reminds me a bit of my rose bushes. But I think there are some great lines here, that would be great as a basis of some stitching.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Colours of Autumn

This tree was in the grounds of the Daisen-in Temple. We were in Kyoto in the beginnings of Autumn, and in this pic we can see the colours beginning to change. I would have loved to see this tree in a few weeks time. I think it would have been a glorious red.

Monday, January 26, 2015

More Tree Supports

How interesting is this? The use of bamboo poles to support the branches of this pine tree. This time they are horizontal, aiding in keeping the branches straight and not drooping on the ground. If we look closely we can see bamboo supports on every branch.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

An Old Tree

This old tree was in the grounds of the Daisen-in Temple. It is hundreds of years old. Note once again the bamboo supports, both horizontal as well as vertical. I loved the texture in the trunk of this ancient tree, it certainly could be inspirational in my stitching somewhere.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Tree Supports

I have mentioned before about the use of bamboo. Here it is again being used to support this beautiful Japanese maple tree that is on a decided lean. There is also the bamboo fence in the bottom right corner, held together with ties rather than nails.

What I did find interesting was the use of ridge capping on the other fence. It is like it has it's own little roof with tiles and capping. Very surprising was the fact that there were no patterns on the edges of the tiles

Friday, January 23, 2015

Buddha

The Daisen-In Temple is a Zen Buddhist temple. This Buddha was in the garden, just at the end of his own short pathway. We were on our way back to our waiting taxi, so there was no time to stop and reflect. I would have liked to get closer to get a better pic.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

A Garden Structure

This little structure was on the edge of the pathway in the Daisen-in Temple. I am not sure what it was used for, but I did so enjoy seeing those patterns and decorations used under the eves.