New Albums

Over the holidays I added three albums to my online photo gallery.

(Clicking on the links below will open the album in a new page).

Kyoto
53 images

Shrines & Temples
51 images

Autumn Leaves
28 images

Kamakura

With FC Barcelona due to play in the Club World Cup in Yokohama, I managed to get a game ticket for the big event on 17 December. I spent the day before in Kamakura, a seaside resort town 30 minutes south of Yokohama by train.

There is a bit of everything to suit all kinds of visitors: long narrow streets lined with snack food vendors and shops selling crafts, rustic temples with gardens and cemeteries, bamboo groves, hiking trails with hilltop views, and a one-of-a-kind mammoth buddha statue that is the town’s main attraction. Wherever I went, I wasn’t far from two or three hawks black kites (see edit) circling above, constantly cawing.

Shimogamo Jinja

I visited Shimogamo Jinja shrine in Kyoto last week. It’s another World Heritage site worth visiting. I decided to go there after hearing it was the last place in Kansai still good for viewing autumn leaves. There is a small, thinly-wooded area before the temple grounds with many Japanese maple and gingko trees. The Japanese maple trees were a mixture of red and orange, while yellow gingko leaves blanketed the ground. There is also a small stream that was very popular with the many photographers milling about. I used a “vivid” filter setting on my D80 for the first time, with satisfactory results.

The shrine itself isn’t like most others; it has a tall, brightly coloured torii gate and a number of small wooden structures in an enclosed area, including a stage, stream and pond. There is also an area with small mini-shrines for each animal of the Chinese zodiac. The shrine proper hosts a number of shinto ceremonies throughout the year, especially Kyoto’s famous Aoi Festival in May as well as a popular New Year’s celebration .

Just as I entered the shrine, there filed past a wedding party, with bride and groom in traditional garb. I followed it into an inner courtyard, where it soon disappeared into a huge hall, leaving a neat row of shoes outside.

Coupled with the small wooded area in front of the shrine’s entrance, Shimagamo shrine is a striking, peaceful place to visit. It is just 5 minutes from Keihan Demachiyanagi station.