Two Japan-Related Desktop Backgrounds

I had an unexpectedly interesting day, photography-wise. In the morning there was a rare ceremony to close down a Shinto shrine, and then I got an invite to meet an old friend at Nijo Castle, a wonderful World Heritage Site about two miles away that I've driven by a hundred times, but until today had never visited.

I'm sure that photos from both events will be filling my blog for a month, but for the moment, a desktop background from each....

desktop background image of a plate of burning offering sticks at the feet of a Shinto priest -- Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70 -200mm f/2.8 @ 125mm — 1 / 400 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos Wishes for Good Health -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125mm — 1/400 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Wishes for Good Health
Desktop Backgrounds
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The shrine being closed down was a very small one (about the size of a single parking space) about 100 meters from my place. As part of the ceremony, they took a bunch of sticks with people's names and ages written on them, stacked them like Lincoln Logs, and set them ablaze. It was explained to me that it was a wish for good health, and I was invited to add a stick of my own (which I gently declined).

Update: there is now a post about the shrine-closing ceremony.

Although Kyoto's Nijo Castle has cut-stone ramparts and dual, concentric moats like the much larger Osaka Castle, the buildings are really more palatial than castle-like (the Nijo-Castle buildings all one- or two-story buildings not built to withstand attack).

Unlike Osaka Castle, most of the Nijo-Castle site is original, dating back 350-400 years (except for the Inner Palace, which dates back to 1847, having replaced the original which had been struck by lightning a hundred years earlier).

desktop background image of inner moat and west grove of Kyoto -- Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17 -55 f/2.8 @ 30mm — 1 / 640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos Nijo Castle — Inner Moat -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 30mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image datanearby photos
Nijo Castle — Inner Moat
Desktop Backgrounds
Standard: 1024×768  ·  1440×1080  ·  1600×1200      Widescreen:  1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600

All 3 comments so far, oldest first...
— comment by nils on November 11th, 2007 at 11:31pm JST (16 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

Jeff,
Love the images and story.

On an unrelated matter, can you email me?
Thanks
Sean.

— comment by Sean McCormack on November 12th, 2007 at 2:31am JST (16 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

Love the good wishes photo… hope you are well.

— comment by Jon on November 12th, 2007 at 3:29am JST (16 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink
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