This is the point where my 6th visit to a Higashiyama Hanatouro finished up, just outside the gate of Chionin (pronounced "Chi-on-in"). It was only about 30 minutes to lights out when I got here, so I didn't bother paying to go in to see this temple. Rather I spent the last 30 minutes photoing the gate from different angles. The stream of light on the top right of the image came from the moon which was just outside of this photo.

This gate is is called "Sanmon" and it is a national treasure of Japan. It was built in 1619 and it is the largest surviving structure of it's kind in Japan (see Wikipedia entry). Seven years prior I photographed a monk at the same gate.

This photo was captured as a RAW (.NRW) file and post processed in DxO Optics Pro. It took me some time to get a version of it that I was happy with, as the mixed lighting made the white balance difficult. In the end I decided to desaturate the yellow a bit to remove most of the yellow cast in the foreground.

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