2014 Autumn Colors Walk Day 7 Chofu

On the final day of my walk I found myself in Chofu, the old samurai town near Shimonoseki. First stop was the Chofu Garden, Though it is not well known, it was a surprisingly good and large garden of the walk around style. I had been here once before, but that was an overcast day and everything was green, but with the blue sky and fall colors it really shone today.

Next was the pilgrimage temple Kozan-ji which had some nice fall color on the approach byt disappointingly the massive thatched gate was under repair and was completely enclosed in scaffolding and tarps. The young priest taking the entrance fee into the temples main hall, a National Treasure, was very friendly and chatty and gave me permission to photograph inside.

I also paid to visit the small garden which was enclosed on three sides and in shadow and somewhat disappointing. From here I headed to the Mori Mansion. Chofu was the Mori headquarters until the edo period when they moved to Hagi, but the mansion dates from the first decade of the twentieth Century.

It had a really nice garden, enjoyable as a view garden from the main house but also as a walk around garden, though very few of the visitors left the house. From here I headed down the main samurai street with high earthern walls and visited a couple of shrines. All in all an excellent end to my trip. Chofu is most certainly and under visited destination,

Next day I headed home where, a couple of days later, late autumn turned into midwinter in the space of one night. With work in the garden finished for a couple of months and enough firewood for the winter already chopped hopefully I can get around to finishing some masks :)