Sunday painters were busily moving their brushes to capture the scene of falling gingko leaves on canvas

The University of Tokyo's Hongo campus is lined with gingko trees, at the end of which rises the majestic Yasuda Auditorium. This auditorium was built with a donation from Zenjiro Yasuda, the founder of the Yasuda Zaibatsu, one of the origins of the Mizuho Financial Group. Its official name is the University of Tokyo Grand Lecture Hall. Zenjiro Yasuda made the donation anonymously based on his belief that the donation should be “not for fame, but for virtue in the shadows,” and it was never known that it was his donation during his lifetime.

When I visited, it was just the time of year when the leaves of the gingko trees were brightly colored. The ground was covered with golden gingko leaves and looked like a carpet laid down by nature. The scene was a perfect symbol of the height of autumn. On the tree-lined avenue, Sunday painters were diligently working their brushes, trying to capture the beauty of the season on their painting cloths. Turning to the canvases spread out on the easels, I found that they were just as brilliant and warm as the autumn scenery of the real world, beautifully depicting the splendor of the season.

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