The Higashiyama Hanatouro (東山花灯路) is a light up event held for 10 evenings (from 6:00pm-9:30pm) during March in the Higashiyama area of Kyoto city in Japan. It normally starts on a Saturday evening and finishes on the Monday evening 10 days later. It usually finishes on the nearest Monday to the Spring Equinox day, but in 2015 it was held a week early (probably to prevent it clashing with Michelle Obama's visit to Kyoto). The word Hanatouro means "flower light path".

Features of the event include: the streets are lined with hanatouro lanterns; displays of illuminated Ikebana flower arrangements; floodlighting and other lights at various temples, shrines and other traditional buildings; traditional costume parades; displays of various illuminated artworks made by local students; and public performance of dances by local geisha groups.

The photos in this gallery are my favorite shots from attending the event at least once every year since 2010. I've used four different cameras to shoot the event over those years, but my favourite equipment for this event is my Nikon P7100 and a light weight tripod. All of the photos in this gallery I've post processed with DxO Optics Pro before doing the finishing touches with the Gimp. As well as technical details, I'll also try to include some background info on the sites that I've photographed.

For details about the up and coming Higashiyama Hanatouro and its sister event the Arashiyama Hanatouro (嵐山花灯路) check out the Kyoto Hanatouro website. If you're coming from overseas please allow a few evenings to really get a full taste of the Hanatouro experience, they are huge events. If you can, avoid going on weekend nights to avoid the big crowds.