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Field guide · Autumn 2026

Kōyō & Danpung

단풍

23 trees paint Japan’s and Korea’s autumn. Name each one with three looks: the leaf’s shape, its colour, and when it turns.

  • 23trees
  • 10leaf outlines
  • 4colour families
  • 3waves of colour

Real colour · tap a photo to meet the tree

1

Shape

Hand, fan, feather or needles? Count the lobes.

2

Colour

Red, orange, gold or brown. Each tree has a habit.

3

Timing

Cherries go first. Ginkgo and maples take the finale.

4

Place

Street or ridge? Japan or Korea? It narrows fast.

Where the colour is · 19 Oct 2026

Mountains are peaking now. Cities follow from November.

Peaking now

  • Seoraksan 설악산~19–25 Oct
  • Odaesan 오대산~16–25 Oct
  • Japan’s mountains, ~1,000–1,500 mmid–late Oct

Next 2–3 weeks

  • Sokrisan 속리산~28 Oct
  • Seoul · Bukhansan 북한산~1 Nov
  • Naejangsan 내장산~1–4 Nov
  • Mt Takao summit, Tokyo6–20 Nov
  • Sapporo maples~7 Nov

Later

  • Tokyo ginkgo · maples~26 · 29 Nov
  • Kyoto ginkgo · maples~27 Nov · 11 Dec
  • Fukuoka maples~7 Dec

2026 forecasts (peak dates). A hot September has pushed most of the season a few days to a week late.

Step 1 · Shape

Start with the outline

Ten outlines cover every tree here. Tap one to see its trees.

Count the fingers

For hand-shaped maples, the lobe count is the fastest split.

Step 2 · Colour

Red is made. Yellow was always there.

Four pigments explain every autumn colour. Bars are schematic.

The night-time trigger

Japan’s rule of thumb for maples. Watch the overnight low.

8 °Ccolour starts5 °Cit races
15 °C nights0 °C
Sunny daysSugar builds up in the leaf. Sun-side leaves go reddest.
Cold nightsSugar gets trapped. The leaf turns it into red pigment.
Enough waterA dry summer browns and drops leaves early.

Step 3 · Timing

Who turns first

The running order barely changes year to year. Tap a tree to jump to it.

Bars show colour from first tint to leaf drop in a typical year. Gold line is today. Shift ±1–2 weeks with weather.

First wave

Cherry, rowan, sumac, katsura, ivy, full-moon & Korean maples (mountains).

Main wave

Zelkova, persimmon, burning bush, oak, painted maple, three-leaflet maples.

Finale

Town maples, ginkgo, wax tree, larch, and last of all dawn redwood.

The 23 trees

Tree by tree

Each card: the leaf, local names, how the colour shifts, and the one detail that clinches it.

Japan · kōyō

Japan: the front runs south and downhill

Starts on Hokkaido’s peaks in mid-September. Reaches Kyoto’s temple gardens in December.

Japan’s big six

2026 peak forecast: ginkgo vs maple

Ginkgo peakMaple peakMountain window

Cities north to south. Forecast issued 2 Sep 2026 by Nihon Kishō.

  • Ginkgo first. It peaks before or with the maples in most cities.
  • Kansai lags. Kyoto: ginkgo ~27 Nov, maples ~11 Dec.
  • 2026 runs late. Sapporo maples +10 days, Nagano +9.
  • Height beats latitude. Hokkaido’s Asahidake peaked 21 Sep–5 Oct.

Culture to know

  • 紅葉狩り momiji-gari. “Leaf hunting”. A Heian court outing, now a national habit.
  • Night light-ups. Temples floodlight their maples after dark, best known in Kyoto.
  • One tree decides. JMA declares each city’s date from a single specimen maple and ginkgo.
  • シカト shikato. October’s hanafuda card shows a deer by maples, looking away. It now means “to ignore someone”.
  • Momiji tempura. In Minoh, Osaka, leaves are salted for about a year, then fried in sweet batter.

Korea · danpung

Korea: mountains first, cities last

Colour starts on Seoraksan’s summit in late September and slides south to Jeju by early November.

Korea’s big six

2026 mountain forecast

First colourPeak (range across forecasts)

Forecasts from the Korea Forest Service (via WikiTree) and Weather-i. They differ by a few days.

Korea’s official colour gauge

첫 단풍 · 20% 절정 · 80%
  • First colour when the top ~20% of a mountain has turned.
  • Peak at 80%. Usually about two weeks later.
  • Speed. The front slides south ~20–25 km a day.

Culture to know

Same tree, two names

Tree日本語한국어

Don’t get fooled

Look-alikes and the tell

Dashed circles mark the detail to check.

For the trail

Fun facts

Check yourself

Name that leaf

Ten questions: drawings, real photos, turning order and names across the two languages. A new mix every round.