I am on vacation! I worked on Tuesday this week, but Wednesday was the start of Golden Week, and we don’t work until next Thursday. On Wednesday I relaxed a bit - I was still recovering a bit from being sick the week before - and then went to Harajuku (insane because a giant Forever 21 opened there that day and apparently everyone in the world was there trying to get in).
In between the relaxing and the Forever 21 madness, I spent a little time on the non-crazy side of Harajuku Station at Meiji Jingu, probably Tokyo’s most important Shinto shrine. Very understated, but really lovely. I enjoyed it very much, especially the pretty pretty pretty walk between the two ginormous torii gates (the largest in Japan).
The picture above is of a bunch of prayers. Below is the central sanctuary, a smaller torii, sake barrels, and the first of the large torii (taken as I was leaving).
I love the torii gate - it sure is huge!! What are the barrels of sake for?
ReplyDeleteThe barrels are actually empty, I think, but they were full when they were donated to the shrine by sake manufacturers. They use the sake during festivals and ceremonies.
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