広島県庄原市にある丑寅神社。
鎮守の森に包まれた鳥居の様子は、いかにもかくりよの門。
いろんな神社に行きましたが、自然とここまで調和した場所はなかなか珍しいように感じます。

忠霊塔の雪の日と富士山。なんでも真っ白になり、美しいである。
富士山大人気の写真スポットです
山梨県富士吉田市忠霊塔新倉山浅間神社にて

茨城にある酒列磯前神社にドライブ
お金持ちになれるらしい

梅花黄連の咲く神社。
熊野市神川町の瀧神社です。
苔むした階段の先にある鳥居の風景が神秘的でした。
2022年2月27日撮影。

三木市伽耶院にある紫陽花
森の中の少女風に娘を撮影しここの紫陽花は数が多いので何処で撮影しても絵になります

三木市伽耶院にある紫陽花
森の中の少女風に娘を撮影しここの紫陽花は数が多いので何処で撮影しても絵になります

三木市伽耶院(かやいん)にある2月のみ光の反射によるヒカリモ中々出る時と出ない時があります。

茨城県ひたちなか市
大洗磯前神社 神磯の鳥居
良い鱗組が演出してくれた冬の朝

兵庫県丹波にある浄丸神社の姫ホタル
丹波はホタルの撮影スポットがたくさんあるのですが、水の上を姫ホタルはあまり見た事がなく他のカメラマンさん達もたくさんいたのですが、私は滝の前で撮影したくて、一人川を越え近くまで来たのですが、帰りは真っ暗闇の中手探りで来た道をライトは一切使用出来ないので引き返すの大変でした。
そして何とか元来た道に戻れたもののヒルに噛まれ血まみれに大変でした。

成田山新勝寺にて撮影しました。?初詣のときに敷地内にある五重の塔の造形美に惹かれて撮影。1500年の歴史を垣間見ることができました。

The shrine and its nearby area at China town, Yokohama were well decorated with lights and lanterns before the Chinese new year. It looks very beautiful and charming.

Just some more photos to wrap up our trip to Nikko.

I took a bunch of photos of different monuments and buildings that seemed important or had lavish decorations.
I can't make out what the writing on the monument says but I can at least make out the kanji for heart (心).

I also liked the golden palanquins inside the the building in the forth photo, although I'm not sure if they were used at some point or are simply for decoration.

The other photos are from Futarasan Chugushi Shrine (二荒山中宮祠神社) located in front of Lake Chuzenji.
Unfortunately we didn't have time to go inside the shrine but I was at least able to take some nice photos of the torii gate.
Apparently it has a kagura hall as well and the entrance to Mt. Nantai is located inside the shrine as well.

And finally, just an assortment of food that I haven't posted yet.
All of it tasted great.
It was definitely a trip I'm never going to forget!

Some more photos from our trip to Nikko.

There were so many awesome monuments, landmarks, and buildings that it'd be impossible to fit it all into one post.

I was so glad that I had my mobile battery with me because I was taking so many photos that I was just burning through my battery lol.
I really liked how the incense burner looked and I tried looking up how old it was but I wasn't able to find anything about it, only the one in front of Tokugawa Ieyasu's burial site.

I would have liked to use the chozuya as well, but unfortunately it was closed off due to covid.
I also liked seeing the sake barrels as well as they always brighten up shrines.

The "Ippon Toro" lantern was interesting as well.
I'd never heard of Empress Tofukumon'in before either, so it gave me some interesting things to read about Japan's Edo Period.
Apparently she helped rebuild prominent temple in Kyoto and collected art and pottery from famous artisans of the time and even those of the past.

Some buildings I'd have to look at a map to know their names but there was definitely no shortage of decorations.
Unfortunately we weren't able to take photos inside some of the main buildings, but a few of them had ceiling paintings done by famous painters.
Many of them were birds, and I'm not an expert, but I think they were mostly cranes and they were all really beautiful.

楊谷寺 花手水
2年前来たときは柄杓に「そうだ京都、行こう」のロゴは入っていなかったのですが、ここ数年でSNSで話題になり変わっていました。
相変わらず紫陽花が敷き詰められております観光客の方も多く来られておりました。

望遠で圧縮効果、不要な物を一切映さずシンプルに撮影しました。

Took a trip out to Nikko, Tochigi over the three day weekend and had an incredible time.
The purpose of the trip was to celebrate my girlfriend's sister's college graduation so we wanted to make it as memorable as possible.
I don't have enough room to fit this into one post so I'll post the rest throughout the week.

We started out from Tokyo and had lunch somewhere Nikko Toshogu Shrine.
I'm not sure if Yuba is a local specialty but it seemed like literally every single restaurant in the area was selling it so I'm assuming that was the case.
It was my first time trying it and it was pretty interesting I guess you could say.
It tasted alright with the soy sauce and radish but I think I prefer normal tofu instead. Either way it was a nice experience.

After eating we headed out to Nikko Toshogu Shrine nearby and man was it amazing.
Everything was so lavishly decorated that I couldn't stop taking photos.
The pagoda was incredibly beautiful as well and the snow covering the Nikko area made everything even more beautiful.

I was lucky enough to get a really nice shot of the corridor full of lanterns while no one was walking through the area as well.
I also took a photo of the torii gate at the top of the steps as it had a very strong presence and signaled the end of the long journey up the steps to reach the inner shrine.

Unfortunately the main gate was undergoing repairs so it was completely covered in tarp and surrounded by staging so I wasn't able to get a photo of it, but I did get some really cool shots of the main shrine.

I tried as hard as I could to get some good photos of the grave of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and while I think the photo of the gate isn't bad, I think I'd need a better camera to get a good shot of the crane and his tomb.
That being said it was still really awesome to see.

After checking out the shrine we headed out to Kegon Falls and I managed to get some really nice videos and some decent photos as well.
I can't post the videos or I would.
It was really awesome seeing the icicles surrounding the waterfall and all of the frozen scenery as well.
Even just taking the lift down to the waterfall was an experience.
After we left the waterfall observation deck and went back up the elevator we got some suiton (水団, flour dumplings in soup) and shared it between the three of us as a light snack before dinner later that evening.
We also visited Lake Chuzenji and admired the scenery there for a bit as well.
We didn't spend a ton of time here so this photo was the best I could do.
I like that I was able to get the sign in the shot though so I can't complain.

After enjoying the view of the lake we headed to our hotel and ate dinner and had some wine.
The place we stayed at was called "Lamb Chop" (ペンション・ラムチャップ日光).
The food was great and service provided by the the owners was top notch, so I definitely recommend checking it out if you're looking for a place to stay in the area.

After dinner we headed back to our room and I was so exhausted I fell asleep almost instantly.

And that was the end of day 1! I'll post day two tomorrow since this post is getting quite long now!

福岡県北九州市にある恵比寿神社でのお宮参りの様子です。
赤ちゃんの健やかな成長を願い、生後一ヶ月頃に御参りします。
その後も、七五三や成人等、人生の節目に御参りする人が多いです。お宮参りは、その1番初めにあたるもの、神様への初お目見えです。
見守ってくれる神様がいると思うと、何だか心強いですね。

初めて上まで登れた金比羅山!!
めっちゃ筋肉痛で痛いけど
登れて良かったなー?
リベンジ成功✌️?

秩父神社の「鬼やらい」
毎年2月3日に行われている秩父神社の「節分追儺（ついな）祭」のことです。
鬼がいっぱい登場し、年男・年女による「鬼やらい」や「豆撒き」が行われます。
年男・年女が「鬼は外～」といいながら豆をまくと、鬼は退散。

初詣の辞書的な意味は、「年が明けてから初めての神社やお寺へのお参り」ですが、初詣は、地元の地域を守ってくれている神様に新しい年になって初めてお参りし、旧年中の感謝を伝え、新年の祈願をするためのものです。
ただお願いだけにならないよう、感謝の気持ちを伝えることも、忘れないでおきたいですね。

Was passing through Komagome the other day and stumbled across this quaint little shrine in front of the station.

Apparently it was established in the Edo Period but didn't actually look like a shrine until the Meiji Period.

It's also dedicated to Okuninushi who has a lot of different mythology surrounding him, but according to what I could find, he was the head of the gods on earth.
There are also a lot of legends and folklore about him in the Kojiki as well it seems, the most interesting sounding one being 'The White Hare of Inaba" (因幡の白兎) where he apparently wins over a princess that his brothers wanted to married and then is subsequently killed by them with the use of a flaming boulder and he is then brought back to life by the gods after his mother goes up to heaven to ask another deity to bring him back, after which he is brought back to life as a handsome man.

And that's why I like reading about Japanese mythology lol. So much interesting stuff to read about

住吉大社、市戎・大国祭にて撮影

人の祈りは炎に、煙に、そして空へと昇る。

機材：FUJIX-A3 55ｍｍ-230ｍｍ XC50-230mmF4.5-6.7

初詣は日本の年の初めに行う大切な行事。
みんながこぞって参拝します。
コロナ禍で今は初詣分散参拝が主流となりつつあります。
どうにかしてみんなが初詣を行おうと工夫をこらして参拝しています。
それだけ大事な行事です。

場所は東京靖国神社 大晦日の早朝です。

前から訪れたかった天橋立智恩寺にて和傘のライトアップを見る機会があったので行って来ました。この後の花火大会も良かったのですがやっぱり個人的には日本の和が好きで凄く綺麗でした。

前から訪れたかった天橋立智恩寺にて和傘のライトアップを見る機会があったので行って来ました。この後の花火大会も良かったのですがやっぱり個人的には日本の和が好きで凄く綺麗でした。

日本の夏と言えば風鈴
この日は丹波にある高源寺で風鈴祭りがあり、娘と愛犬連れて風鈴に癒されに行ってきました。
聞いてるだけで涼しくなりどこか懐かしい子供の頃を思い出しました。

日本の夏と言えば風鈴
この日は佐用町の光明寺で風鈴祭りがあり、娘と愛犬連れて風鈴に癒されに行ってきました。
聞いてるだけで涼しくなりどこか懐かしい子供の頃を思い出しました。

11月の日本には「七五三（しちごさん）」という行事がございまして。

数え年で、男の子は三歳と五歳、女の子は三歳と七歳の時に、子供のこれまでの成長を感謝し、今後の成長を祈願するために、産土神に参拝します。

神奈川県の江島神社は早朝に参拝しますと、写真のように猫たちと対面できて、子供が大喜びします。

住吉大社、市戎・大国祭にて撮影
祈祷木の焚き上げです
祈り、届くといいですね。

Decided to donate some clothes I wasn't wearing anymore over the weekend so I decided to go to the Second Street in Minami-Senju.

Managed to find some cool stuff along the way.
I was walking from Minowabashi and saw this nice looking temple, apparently called Koshunin (公春院).
It was a really lovely spot and I would have liked to take more photos but I had some luggage with me and also wanted to avoid taking any photos of the tombstones as I thought it might be rude.
It seems the temple focus on memorial services though and looked like a nice place.

The next spot I came across was just a really small shrine that seemed so randomly placed that I wanted to take a picture of it.
There wasn't much space inside the shrine are so it was quite difficult to get a decent photo, but I did the best that I could and tried to take a photo from the side street next to it which was also incredibly narrow lol.

The last thing I ended up finding was a statue of Matsuo Basho!
I'd not been to Minami-Senju as I've never really had a reason to go there, but I saw the statue from the corner of my eye and thought "Hmm I wonder if that's Basho" and sure enough it was.
It even has "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" (奥の細道) written below it.
Also, apparently there is debate about which "Senju" he started at (Adachi or Arakawa), so this is one of the statues depicting the place where he started his journey!

It ended up being a pretty interesting walk.
I'd like to visit the area again as there was a ton of cool stuff.

新潟県の弥彦神社
6月に毎年、茅の輪まつりが行われます
災厄を祓うために毎年お邪魔しています