photos prose & poetry
Category: Japanese Culture
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A surfer heads into the waves with Enoshima in the background. Nobody ever came to claim the surfboard above, which was a bit surprising. It’s perhaps not surprising that nobody came to claim any of the other objects below, although I feel like they all have a unique charm. Perhaps not enough of a charm…
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Lady Shizuka was a famous dancer in 12th century Japan. She was also romantically involved with Minamoto no Yoshitsune. If you know your Kamakura period history, you will probably recognise this name – he was the younger brother of Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japan’s first shogun. Yoritomo and Yoshitsune had something of a falling out and…
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As you may have surmised from the previous post, I took a trip back to Japan over Easter. Expect continued photo dumps for the next few Sundays. This week, it’s the turn of Meigetsuin, 明月院 – a little haven of peace set back aways from the trains that thunder through the temple grounds of Engaku-ji…
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A case of life imitating art as this swallow copies one of the dolphins on the roof of Katase-Enoshima Station.
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Only deer to be seen in this post. (Sorry Nara history fans.)
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I feel I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t have at least one blossom photograph in spring. This is from the Hikichigawa riverside park – one side of the river clearly gets most of the sun, and was pretty much nearly in full bloom. The other side will need to do some…
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The tale of Urashima Gero, a frog who did a good deed and lived long enough to wish he hadn’t.
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This statue of kanon is probably familiar to anyone who’s been on the shinkansen past Odawara in the Shizuoka direction. She stands above a temple not far from Hayakawa station in Odawara, and just across the road from the port… and the fish market. Appropriately enough, because this incarnation of kanon is gyoran kanon, the…