Autumn leaves: Jochi-ji

Winter is gradually deepening and the living things in the gardens are quietly preparing for this cold gray season to survive to next spring.

Deciduous trees sense the sharp drop of temperature and cut off the supply of water to their leaves. These dehydrated leaves change their colors from green to red and gold. Thanks to this splendid change of colors, fallen leaves can easily decay on the ground to return to dust.

In the biting cold of winter, living things take a long tranquil rest while dreaming of the arrival of the warm and fertile spring.

Autumn leaves: Jyochi-ji

The garden of autumn colors: Tokei-ji

Fallen leaves: Tokei-ji

Autumn leaves: Tokei-ji

Autumn leaves: Tokei-ji

Autumnal colors: Engaku-ji

Autumn leaves: Engaku-ji

The garden of autumn leaves: Engaku-ji

Autumnal tints: Kita-kamakura

Autumn leaves: Engaku-ji

Autumnal colors: Chojyu-ji

Autumn leaves: Engaku-ji

By the afternoon sea: Yuigahama-beach (Kamakura)

The surface of the sea is sparkling pacifically in the sun, while swaying slowly to reveal the undulating rhythm of life before our eyes.

The surging bright waves of the vast blue sea can let us become conscious of the existence of our Mother Earth once again.

Standing by the water's edge, people can go back to their own childhood, in which they could keep playing in that sinless world with heartfelt joy.

By the afternoon sea: Yuigahama-beach (Kamakura)

In the far distant past, our remote ancestors came ashore from the sea.

We come into existence in the seawater of the mother.

The sea is our eternal birthplace and always gives us a wave of great nostalgia for the forgotten past.

By the afternoon sea: Yuigahama-beach (Kamakura)

By the afternoon sea: Yuigahama-beach (Kamakura)

The beams of light: Yuigahama-beach (Kamakura)

Like the untold merciful words from above, the rays of the declining sun are coming down through the openings of the thick gray clouds and are softly illuminating the calm sea.

By the afternoon sea: Yuigahama-beach (Kamakura)

Shumei-giku (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica) flower: Tokei-ji

Rindo (Gentiana) flowers: Kaizo-ji

Autumnal tints: Kaizo-ji

Hototogisu (Tricyrtis) flowers: Kaizo-ji

Tumagurohyomon butterfly: Kaizo-ji

The gardens of Zen have just begun to acquire the brilliant colors of early autumn.

A vivid orange butterfly with leopard's spots is flitting from flower to flower in a hurried manner to prepare for her best season of life.

The pale purple of Sion (Aster tataricus) flowers is magically in harmony with the radiant color of this autumn butterfly.

A butterfly visits the finest flower which perfectly befits itself and a flower invites the butterfly which is worthy of its beauty and color.

In a stealthy way, the nature of our universe is manifesting itself in the scenery of the seasons passing away fleetly.

Hagi (Lespedeza) flowers: Kaizo-ji

The magenta flower cascades of Hagi are hanging down inconspicuously along the empty pathway to the moss-covered stone steps.