Kōyō and Momijigari
I’m calling it. It’s officially Autumn. I don’t think anyone has captured the changing of the seasons quite like The Mamas and Papas in California Dreamin’ (“all the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey”), but the jumpers are out, the shorts have been folded away, and everyone has started putting cinnamon on everything.
The first sign for many is kōyō - red leaves, and the autumnal transformation they take, the fall counterpart to the cherry blossom season of the spring.
A visual reminder to pause and reflect. Some people do this through momijigari, a pilgrimage of sorts to view the changing foliage. Momiji (maple leaves) and gari (to hunt) - deliberately seeking out places where you might see this occur. When we lived in New York, we would often go to New England (Vermont in particular) to do a little seasonal trip of our own.
Kyoto and Nikko are some popular places within Japan, but I like to reflect on the concept whenever I see an acer, or as Milhouse (my dachshund) has a good sniff of all the golden leaves that have appeared for him on his daily walk.
