Walk temple slopes full of June hydrangeas
In June, during tsuyu, Japan's early-summer rainy season, hydrangeas bloom blue and purple across the grounds of Buddhist temples. Walk the paths and stairs among the flowers, whose colors look deepest in the rain. Many temples charge an entry fee or take reservations only in the flower season, so check their websites before you go.
A temple in Kita-Kamakura whose paths and stairs are lined with pale blue hydrangeas, a shade so well known it is called Meigetsuin blue. Inside the main hall, a round window frames the garden behind like a picture. It is a short walk from Kita-Kamakura Station, and June is crowded, so go on a weekday morning.
A hillside path planted with many kinds of hydrangeas climbs above the temple, with a view down to the sea at Yuigahama beach. In bloom season the path is entered by timed ticket booked online, so check the temple's website first. It is a 5-minute walk from Hase Station on the Enoden, a small local train from Kamakura.
A large temple in western Tokyo where hydrangeas fill the grounds and the wooded hill behind, with a small trail winding among them. The temple also has a tall red five-story pagoda. It is next to Takahatafudo Station, about 40 minutes from Shinjuku on the Keio Line.
About 20,000 hydrangeas fill a slope under tall cedar trees, and the colors change around you as you climb the path. The temple is in Uji, the green tea town south of Kyoto, so you can have matcha afterward. It is about 15 minutes on foot from Mimurodo Station on the Keihan Uji Line.
Known as the hydrangea temple, it has about 10,000 plants covering the mountain approach and grounds, and from the slope you look down over the flowers to the temple roofs. It is in Nara Prefecture, reached by an infrequent local bus from Yamatokoriyama, so check the timetable.
A small temple on the Oga Peninsula in Akita, northern Japan, where the grounds turn entirely blue with hydrangeas that the deputy priest has grown for years. It opens to visitors only in the flower season, from mid-June to July. It is far from Tokyo, so plan it as part of an overnight trip.