So, I haven’t posted as often and as much as I should have, so now while I’m recovering from my “ouchie”, I’ll pass along some of the things I did a couple of weeks ago.
Back on April 7 I decided to head down to the Harajuku area, which is close to the Meiji Jingu Shrine, dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his wife the Empress. The Emperor was restored to the throne in 1868 when the last of the Shoguns was overthrown, and he was the driving force behind modernization of Japan to 19th Century Western standards, in industry, technology, science and politics. The movie “The Last Samurai” was set in the early Meiji Era, heavily fictionized of course, but many aspects were based on actual historical events, like the last of the samurai who wanted to maintain the traditions of the feudal era, some of which conflicted with the Emperor’s modernization effort. Emperor Meiji is revered to this day for laying the groundwork for the modern Japan.
The entrance to the shrine is a very large torii gate, since the shrine was basically a place to worship the spirits of the late Emperor and Empress. It’s really nice, going in there’s a long path through the trees, which looks like a small forest, you can hardly tell that you’re in the heart of the biggest city on Earth. There are a couple of interesting things, there’s a huge collection of sake barrels, each wrapped in straw and marked with the brewer’s names and family crests. There’s also a huge rack of barrels of burgundy from France, which are being aged and consecrated on the shrine grounds.
To get to the actual shrine, you pass under a really huge torii gate, one of the largest, and it’s amazing that it’s made of wood from 1500 year-old trees.
The main shrine grounds are very neat, and inside there are a few sacred camphor trees. One pair of trees is tied together, and represents a married couple, supposedly to help bless the couple. There’s also a tree around which prayer tablets can be hung, and selling blank tablets and good fortunes are how the shrine can make money to keep the shrine going, as well as to feed and house the shrine staff.
Moving out from the shrine proper, I followed various paths around the rest of the grounds, where I saw various lawn areas and a huge flower garden. Unfortunately not all the various kinds of flowers were blooming, yet, although they may be by the time I leave. I may go back here, if I get the chance. There were a couple of cherry trees still in bloom, and other bushes I couldn’t identify.
As the sun was getting ready to set, the skies cleared up and I took more pictures on my way back to the entrance. The lanterns were being lit, as some parts of the grounds were getting dark. From here, though, I left the grounds and made my way literally next door, to the entrance of Yoyogi Park, which is where I got to see a lot more flowers, including a lot more cherry blossoms.
But that will wait for the next post!
