The Amitabha Autumn Night Light Show in Kyoto

A bald, blue-robed monk with a megaphone in one hand was rattling away on the street in Japanese. I did not understand a word, but I knew exactly what he was shouting at passersby. The gates of Chion-in Buddhist Temple were about to open for the evening autumn light show, and he was shilling for the crowd. He gestured to the lit-up ticket kiosk. It was dusk, and darkness was falling fast on the city of Kyoto. I could see lights glowing on the other side of the entrance. I seized the moment and joined the queue. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:630/1*pjrKg16intmmsxTDPdGivw.jpeg" style="height:525px; width:700px" /> Ten minutes later I paid my 800 yen and stepped into the vast monastery garden, more of a forest really, filled with maples turning red and yellow in the crisp fall air. Lights had been artfully placed along the path, highlighting the spots where the transformation of the leaves was the most striking, and illuminating the wavy patterns of raked gravel that are the signature mark of a Japanese temple garden. <a href="https://medium.com/globetrotters/the-amitabha-autumn-night-light-show-in-kyoto-c30898dcbdfb">Learn More</a>