The Nara prefectural tourism site gives Yoshinoyama a band that runs from early November into the first days of December, and lists the location simply as everywhere on the mountain. Maple and momiji, it says, and that is the whole of the specification.

A five-week window is unusual and it is a function of height. Yoshinoyama is a ridge rather than a single viewpoint, and the colour starts at the top and works down, so at any point in that window some part of the mountain is at its best and some part is not. Arriving on the wrong day is difficult. Arriving expecting the whole ridge at once is the actual mistake.

Three places are named as the things to see: Takagiyama, the view from the Hanayagura lookout, and the temple Nyoirin-ji. They sit at different heights along the ridge, which is consistent with the rest of it — the mountain is meant to be moved through rather than stood in.

This is the same ridge that fills with cherry blossom in spring and draws crowds for it. The trees do not change; the leaves that make the spring famous are the ones turning here. Walking up from the bottom in late November means walking backwards through the season, from bare branches to full colour. Walking down means chasing it. Either way the view changes on you partway, which is the point.