I gave a whirlwind tour of little-known gems of Kyōto Prefecture to an Indian woman who teaches at a university up in Kanazawa. She was glad to update my outdated knowledge of India, although her context was urban and upper middle class. These photos are of southeastern Kyōto Prefecture, where we saw the unusual early-blossoming Kawazu-zakura (河津桜) in Yodo (淀) and the revered Shintō shrine Iwashimizu Hachimangū (石清水八幡宮) that covers a whole big hill.

The first batch of photos featured plum blossoms and a blue heron at the strolling garden of the shrine Umenomiya Taisha in the Arashiyama area of Kyōto, permalink: https://hcommons.social/@SteveMcCarty/116108903386406680

By the way, the banner on my profile page https://hcommons.social/@SteveMcCarty shows the most beautiful scene of plum blossoms to my knowledge, in late February at the Jōnangū former palace grounds in southern Kyōto City.

#Japan #Kyoto #India #Shinto #shrine #cherry #sakura #blossoms #nature #culture #architecture #sightseeing #travel #photography #photos

⛩️ Kicho Shrine (崎頂社) in Miaoli County, Taiwan

Lots of great photos and historical background about this Japanese era Shinto shrine

https://www.goteamjosh.com/blog/kicho

#Taiwan #Taiwanderful #Shinto #台灣

I gave a whirlwind tour of little-known gems of Kyōto Prefecture to an Indian woman who teaches at a university up in Kanazawa. The Shintō shrine Umenomiya Taisha (梅宮大社) is named after plums, ume, and you can see three varieties of different colors that blossom from mid-February in these four photos. I've noticed blue herons nesting in the big trees of the shrine, and caught one in the act of building its nest (3rd photo). They are gray, but their name in Japanese (青鷺) uses the character for blue. They are very common around fresh water in Western Japan and elsewhere, often standing still and looking pensive, letting you get as close as two meters before they fly away. In contrast, it's amusing that when nesting they are constantly squawking.

Publications and projects as a Professor in Japan: https://japanned.hcommons.org

#Japan #Kyoto #Shinto #shrine #plum #blossoms #nature #culture #heron #architecture #sightseeing #travel #photography #photos #travelphotography

More plum blossoms and other attractions of nature around the Kyōto Imperial Palace. The first two photos are of a venerable Shintō shrine on the palace grounds. Actually, few know that it is a shrine within a shrine, because the palace itself is a Shintō shrine (宮), as its official name indicates: 京都大宮御所.

Open access publications on Japan: https://japanned.hcommons.org/japanology

#Japan #Kyoto #Shinto #religion #Imperial #palace #nature #plum #blossoms #photography #photos

Before anyone complains, I'm not posting enough shrines or temples! Nedu/Nezu Jinja in Bunko, near the University of Tokyo.
Wonderfull Shinto shrine which is not overrun by tourists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nezu_Shrine

#japan #tokyo #bunko #shinto