Dazaifu beauty

A train ride to where tradition lives. Koi, Chrysanthemum, Bonsai make their introductions first.  Finger hot flat rice cakes popped from the cast iron conveyor belts into delicate paper triangles are cradled in the hands of every visitor to Dazaifu. Piping purple anko warms our insides as we wander to the Shrines and Temples, making a prayer, tying a wish to a maple tree, gazing in awe at the zen Buddhist gardens. A pair of rare exotic birds of Paradise teeter past our eyes. We follow them, entranced and in love. They slow down the pace of the already sleepy town. Everyone stops and drinks in their beauty. They are Autumn and they belong here in this place of perfect mededtative escape.