What turns at Arashiyama is not a garden but a mountainside. The peak comes in mid to late November, and because the subject is a whole slope, the place rewards distance in a way the temple gardens across the city do not. Stand on the far bank of the Katsura and the entire hill comes into one frame — bridge, water and mountain stacked in three bands.

The Togetsukyo bridge itself is the worst place to see the mountain, for the simple reason that you are too close. Cross first, then turn around. Boats work the river below the bridge, and from water level the composition changes again: the slope stops sitting in the view and starts rising over it.

The colour begins at the top of the hill and takes about two weeks to work its way down to the river. That slow descent is why the season feels wide for a single site — the same mountain shows you two different autumns a fortnight apart, one at the crown, one at the waterline.

November weekends crowd the bridge from mid-morning. Early morning is another country: the light comes across the slope instead of down onto it, and the paths are nearly empty. The method here is simple, and it does not change. Do not hurry. Step back. Turn around.