DAIGO-JI

On Sunday went to Ono with photographer Bill Schwob and his wife Keiko to visit the superb fall gardens of Daigo-ji temple (no photographing) where shogun Hideyoshi used to go for cherry blossom and autumn viewing. It was as always a soul-filler. On the way we stopped for lunch at at Tachibana, one of our favorite soba (buckwheat noodle) restaurants, then paid a visit next door to Zuishin-in, the Heian era (794~1192AD) retreat of legendary beauty Ono-no-komachi. Her house in the temple complex is long gone, but the deep staired well where she used to wash her meters-long hair is still there in the bamboo grove, same crystal-clear water-mirror at the bottom.