Finding Koyo at Chokoji Temple

 

After visiting Kannabiji, we decided to head away from the river up into the mountains to check out Chokoji Temple. Famous for its large ginkgo tree, every time we have visited previously we were either too early or too late, so maybe this year we will be lucky.

And we were. Chokoji is a small temple in quite a remote location. Now there is a small hot spring next door. It was a family temple of a branch of the Ogasawara Clan who ruled the small domain here in the Muromachi period. I believe they were also connected to Kannabiji.

During the Edo Period, the area was controlled directly by the government in Edo as it was part of the Iwami Ginzan solver mine and the government appropriated all mines in Japan.

Koyo is the Japanese word that refers to the changing colors of the Autumn leaves, though I believe it originally referred specifically to the Japanese maple with its red leaves, it now applies to the fyll range of colors including of course the golden yellow of the ginkgo .

There was a little splash of mape at Chokoji....

As we were only about 30 minutes from Iwami Ginzan we decided to head there next.....