Kouyou
'Tis the season...
It's that time of year when the department stores go crazy - this is in the foyer of the building where I work, which also happens to have The Loft dept. store. All in all, pretty tasteful compared to some of the things I've seen lately. The saving grace is that, of course, here "Kurisumasu" is completely devoid of any Christian imagery or symbolism, focussing completely on the rampant commercialism angle instead.
However, things are just getting warmed up. Out in the real world, it's getting into the tail end of Kouyou, the season when the trees show their brightest autumn colours, the temperature starts dropping, and in concession to the cold weather, the girls, still wearing miniskirts, change from strappy heels to their best knee-high boots. Sorry, don't have any pics of the latter, so here's some of the former...
These were taken last week on the way to work. It was an amazingly quick change - over the space of one weekend, half the trees in the city changed colour! To admire the colours in a less urban setting, I made a trip to Atsuta Jingu and Shirotori Park last weekend...
The entrance torii...
Near the entrance to every shrine, there's usually a stone font like this. Before entering the shrine area, you use the dipper to wash your hands and rinse your mouth - to purify yourself before entering the sacred space...
Once again, barrels of sake to keep the gods (and the priests) happy!
I wish I knew the story behind this ancient gnarled tree. I don't know if there's supposed to be a kami living in it or not, but in the gloom, I felt like it would reach down and grab me if there was noone around...
The main shrine (sorry about the Batman angle - I'm still getting used to the new phone camera)
The inner sanctum, which is famous for being the resting place of one of the three great Imperial treasures - the Emperor's magic sword - which, alas, noone is allowed to sully with their gaze...
One of the outbuildings...
And a courtyard near the main plaza. A little disappointing, since only a few of the trees were showing their autumn colours...
Alas, it was already a pretty gloomy day, and although it was only about 4:30, it was getting even darker. There was only enough time for a quick look around Shirotori Park, which didn't really do it justice. Unfortunately, although the camera does an impressive job at light intensification, when it does so, it loses somewhat in resolution...
There were heaps of Japanese maples in all kinds of colours. I did my best to try and capture some of it, but it was just getting too dark...
This will probably be my last post before I go back to Sydney for the holidays - only two weeks to go! Those of you there I'm looking forward to catching up with soon, and everyone have a great holiday season!
It's that time of year when the department stores go crazy - this is in the foyer of the building where I work, which also happens to have The Loft dept. store. All in all, pretty tasteful compared to some of the things I've seen lately. The saving grace is that, of course, here "Kurisumasu" is completely devoid of any Christian imagery or symbolism, focussing completely on the rampant commercialism angle instead.
However, things are just getting warmed up. Out in the real world, it's getting into the tail end of Kouyou, the season when the trees show their brightest autumn colours, the temperature starts dropping, and in concession to the cold weather, the girls, still wearing miniskirts, change from strappy heels to their best knee-high boots. Sorry, don't have any pics of the latter, so here's some of the former...
These were taken last week on the way to work. It was an amazingly quick change - over the space of one weekend, half the trees in the city changed colour! To admire the colours in a less urban setting, I made a trip to Atsuta Jingu and Shirotori Park last weekend...
The entrance torii...
Near the entrance to every shrine, there's usually a stone font like this. Before entering the shrine area, you use the dipper to wash your hands and rinse your mouth - to purify yourself before entering the sacred space...
Once again, barrels of sake to keep the gods (and the priests) happy!
I wish I knew the story behind this ancient gnarled tree. I don't know if there's supposed to be a kami living in it or not, but in the gloom, I felt like it would reach down and grab me if there was noone around...
The main shrine (sorry about the Batman angle - I'm still getting used to the new phone camera)
The inner sanctum, which is famous for being the resting place of one of the three great Imperial treasures - the Emperor's magic sword - which, alas, noone is allowed to sully with their gaze...
One of the outbuildings...
And a courtyard near the main plaza. A little disappointing, since only a few of the trees were showing their autumn colours...
Alas, it was already a pretty gloomy day, and although it was only about 4:30, it was getting even darker. There was only enough time for a quick look around Shirotori Park, which didn't really do it justice. Unfortunately, although the camera does an impressive job at light intensification, when it does so, it loses somewhat in resolution...
There were heaps of Japanese maples in all kinds of colours. I did my best to try and capture some of it, but it was just getting too dark...
This will probably be my last post before I go back to Sydney for the holidays - only two weeks to go! Those of you there I'm looking forward to catching up with soon, and everyone have a great holiday season!
posted by Ia Ftaghn at 9:38 pm
1 Comments:
Hopefully coming soon. Just been crazy busy recently...
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