You don’t have to go to Kyoto to experience a tunnel of torii gates. Today’s photo is from the Sanno Inari Jinja (山王稲荷神社) in Tokyo’s Akasaka district (東京赤坂). This shrine is basically on the same property as the Hie Shrine (日枝神社).

Posted on March 25th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: shinto, torii. Comments: 1

Giant torii gate entrance at Toshogu Shrine in Nikko, Japan

The first visit to a shrine after the new year is called hatsumode. The shrines are packed for the first few days of a new year. I haven’t done hatsumode in Nikko, but I’m guessing it is pretty crowded. I have done hatsumode at Meiji Jingu twice and both times it was teeming with people.

Posted on January 3rd, 2012 under Japan. Tags: nikko, shinto, shogatsu, torii, toshogu. Comments Off on Hatsumode (初詣)

王子稲荷神社

If you are in Tokyo for New Year’s Eve you may find the festivities to be rather tame as most people stay home and watch TV. However, there are several places where there is some action and this shrine is one of them. Oji Inari Jinja is the head Inari shrine of the eight provinces of the Kanto region (greater Tokyo area). On New Year’s Eve, foxes, who are considered to be the guardians and messengers of the god Inari, gather here from all over the Kanto region. There is an annual Oji Fox Parade on New Year’s Eve to honor the foxes that gather here on this night. Everyone dresses up, and it is said to be quite the affair. I haven’t actually been there on New Year’s Eve myself.

I have been in the Tokyo area on two New Year’s Eves. For the first (in 1988) I went to Kawasaki Daishi (川崎大師). For the second (in 2009) we celebrated the new year at Zojoji (増上寺). I would recommend either of those places as well.

Posted on December 19th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: lanterns, oji, shinto, shogatsu, torii. Comments Off on Oji Inari Jinja (王子稲荷神社)

Takeda Shingen approaches Takeda Jinja in Kofu, Japan

When taking pictures in Japan, it is helpful to be 6′ 4″. The next best thing is to have a dad who will put you on his shoulders for the same effect. I went with the first option, but the kid in the Oshkosh jacket in this image went with the latter.

I took today’s photo in April of 2010 in Kofu at Takeda Jinja (武田神社).

Posted on October 14th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: kofu, people, shinto, torii. Comments Off on Shingen Ko Matsuri (信玄公祭り)

At first glance, I wasn’t sure when I took this photo. The Japanese maples have green leaves, yet there are leaves on the ground and on the shrine roof. In well-populated parts of Japan the leaves are swept up so quickly that autumn doesn’t seem like autumn for long once the leaves fall. However, this isn’t autumn at all or the maple leaves wouldn’t be green. Someone just got a little “lazy” with the leaf sweep the prior fall. I took this photo of the most rear structure in the 王子稲荷神社 complex in early May of last year. The angle is a bit unusual. Normally you don’t find yourself above a shrine and above the torii.

Don’t confuse Oji Inari Jinja with Oji Jinja. This one is better even though Oji Jinja is one of the “Tokyo Jissha” (東京十社 or ten shrines of Tokyo).

Posted on April 28th, 2011 under Japan. Tags: oji, shinto, torii, water walks in the suburbs of tokyo. Comments Off on Oji Inari Jinja