The word 'kōyō' (紅葉), although used for all autumn colours, specifically refers to 'red leaves'. The word 'ōyō' (黄葉) describes 'yellow leaves', and the word 'katsuyō' (褐葉) 'brown leaves'.

Warm sunny days and crisp cold nights help leaves achieve their most vivid colours.

#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #紅葉 #楓 #momiji

Not only can you enjoy viewing maple leaves in autumn, you can also eat them!

Minō (箕面) in Ōsaka Prefecture is famed for its autumn colours and its deep fried momiji (もみじの天ぷら).
Leaves are harvested especially for cooking.

Legend has it that momiji tempura first began 1300 years ago, created by the mountains ascetics (shugenja 修験者 and yamabushi 山伏) who worshiped at the waterfall.
Inspired by the leaves (and the large volume of visitors), they struck upon the idea of serving a seasonal snack.

Yellow leaves are harvested and pickled (giving them flavour and preserving them for year-long use).
Red leaves are not used as the stems grow too hard.
The leaves are typically fried with sugar (& sesame) added to the batter, then left overnight.

Momiji tempura is nowadays flavoured in many different ways...sweet, salty & everything in-between🍁
When visiting Minō, do check out Hisakuni Kōsendō (久國紅仙堂). The store raises 150 maple trees & has been specialising in momiji tempura for 80 years.

Admiring the autumn foliage is known as 'momijigari' (紅葉狩り lit. 'hunting for autumn leaves') in Japanese🔎👀🍁👏

The 'gari' (狩り) in 'momijigari' (紅葉狩り) originally referred to the capturing of wild animals and birds, but over time also came to mean 'harvesting', 'gathering' or 'picking' plants.
Another example of this is 'kudamono-gari' (果物狩り), which means to gather fruit.

#Japan #Kyoto #京都 #autumn #momiji #maple #紅葉 #Eikando #永観堂