After leaving the interior of the shrine, there was a place to buy things like incense and to get a reading of your fortune for the coming year.
Here is a video of mom getting the paper who shows her fortune for the year.
As we were leaving the shrine, there was a wedding taking place with the priest reading from some sort of scroll - it was very solemn and appeared to us to be a very traditional ceremony.
As we were leaving, we stopped by a large pond filled with carp and goldfish and surrounded by cherry blossom trees.
On our way home mom did a good impression of a typical Japanese train commuter. We have been amazed at how so many Japanese can sleep on the train - especially as they are going to and coming back from work.
Have you ever felt a place as ancient, the Shinto Shrine was one of those places for me. It was like all the souls who had prayed there left part of themselves there for future visitors to commune with. Another place I felt that was at Delphi in Greece.
ReplyDeleteThe remains of a huge Ginko tree stands near the entrance, Ginko trees were saved from extinction by the monks at the temples. The family was not impressed with the roasted Ginko seeds I bought, but then again the pigeons did not like them either!