Tottori's prefectural tourism federation gives the peak around Daisenji as late October to early November. Daisen is the high mountain of western Honshu's San'in coast, and it presents two quite different faces depending on which side of it you drive to. The north side is the temple side, and the car parks are arranged around the old temple approach at Bakuroza.

For the north wall itself the two places to stand are the beacon platform on Goenzan and the rock gate called Kinmon, both close to the temple street. The inner shrine of Ogamiyama-jinja is reached by an approach paved in natural river stones, which is handsome and, after rain, slippery. Walking boots rather than trainers, if you have them.

The south side is Kofu town and the Kagikake pass, where the federation gives a later window, late October into the middle of November. That is a fortnight's difference across one mountain, and it is worth knowing before you plan the drive. The ring road connecting the two sides is how most people see both in a day.

The season here is described as arriving twice. At the end of October the beech and maple turn together and the whole flank of the mountain colours at once. Then, around the middle of November, the first snow settles on the summit while the lower slopes are still turning, and for a fortnight you get snow and colour in the same frame. There is a day-use hot spring on the temple approach for the end of either.