In my previous post on our trip to Miyajima near Hiroshima, Japan, I showed the Itsukushima Shrine's main gate at low tide. This time I have a few pictures of the shrine itself at low tide.
The shrine is mostly over piers above water (high tide) or mud (low tide), and I should start of by noting that it's much more picturesque when over water (as in the shot at the start of my first post from the trip). To me, today's pictures are more “interesting” than “pretty,” and are probably neither to anyone else, but it's my blog so here they are.
(IMAGE: Shrine [...]
View full post »

(IMAGE: Shortcut)
As I earlier posted from our trip to Miyajima an island near Hiroshima, Japan, one of the main photographic attractions is the large main gate of the Itsukushima Shrine. It's off the coast in the intertidal zone, so when the tide is in, it's in the water and really pretty. There's a nice daytime shot of it at high tide at the end of this post, and on another post, some night shots.
Perhaps it's just the geek in me, but I think there's a certain interest to it even at low tide. I like to see how things work, and how they're built, and, [...]
View full post »

(IMAGE: The Five-Storied Pagoda on Miyajima)
One of the landmarks on Miyajima, Japan, besides the main gate of the Itsukushima Shrine, is a five-story tall pagoda called, unimaginatively enough, “five-storied Pagoda” (In Japanese: 五重塔, gojyuunodou).
There are a number of large pagodas on the island, but this particular one is centrally located on relatively high ground, so it gets all the glory. You could see it in the background of the “Side View” photo on a recent post.
We didn't actually pay it a visit, but passed by enough that I ended up with plenty of pictures with it. Here it's sort of peeking out from behind some [...]
View full post »

(IMAGE: Miyajima Island)from the car ferry crossing from the mainland
More pictures from our short trip to Miyajima Island, Japan two weeks ago.
The view above, taken on the ferry ride over, doesn't show much detail, but does show the relative positions of a few landmarks, including the famous main gate of the Itsukushima Shrine almost a mile away, the smaller stone gate for the foot path to the shrine, and our hotel. (Mouseover the bold words in this paragraph to see the items highlighted in the photo.)
You can also see Mt. Misen in the center, which I posted about recently.
As you get a [...]
View full post »

(IMAGE: Dark)
While taking long exposure night shots of Itsukushima Shrine's Gate in Miyajima, the brilliant illumination was turned off, and the area became quite dark. I thought I'd give it a try with the lights off, but as you can see above, my one attempt came out completely dark. Since it was late, I didn't want to spend the time trying again for a more reasonable exposure, so we packed up and returned to the hotel.
When I got home and loaded all the images into Lightroom, I intended to delete this one along with all the other rejects. More out of habit than anything [...]
View full post »

(IMAGE: Enjoying the View)Main Gate of the Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Japan
I mentioned in my post about the Kousuke Atari concert in Miyajima that the shrine (Itsukushima Shrine) had a big, famous gate (as many shrines tend to have, including the one near me).
After the concert, we walked around a bit taking pictures (actually running into the singer at one point, but that's for a different post), and I liked this guy sitting at the edge of the water.

I didn't have much time before the concert, but snapped this next picture from in front of our hotel just before we walked [...]
View full post »

After having seen a concert on Sunday night in Miyajima, we stayed overnight and enjoyed the town the next day.
Miyajima is a very nice, quaint area that's been popular for tourists for over a thousand years, so I was surprised to find that it was not hyper-commercialized and disgustingly crowded. I'm sure it helped that we were there on a weekday, but in any case, it was clean, pleasant, and real. The bench scene that I posted yesterday tells a lot, I think.
Since Fumie's mom was looking after Anthony (thank you, thank you, thank you!), Fumie and I were free to enjoy the area at [...]
View full post »

(IMAGE: Bench)Miyajima, Japan
The short path on Miyajima Island that fronts the ocean between the Itsukushima Shrine (where we saw Kousuke Atari in concert) and our hotel (Kinsuikan Inn — 錦水館) was lined with benches and large stone lanterns.
Deer run wild over the whole island.
View full post »

A small part of(IMAGE: Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Japan)during low tide
As I mentioned yesterday, we went to Miyajima on Sunday to see Kousuke Atari (中孝介) in concert at the Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社), a large complex almost completely over the water when the tide is in. In the picture above, which I took the morning after the concert when the tide was out, you can see the piers and such.
The concert was in the open air away from the building, on a little dais you can sort of see in the center of the picture.
Photography was not permitted during the concert, so I didn't bring [...]
View full post »

Fumie and I just got back from an overnight trip to Miyajima (宮島, an island near Hiroshima), having seen pop singer Kousuke Atari (中孝介) in concert last night on the grounds of the famous Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社).
(IMAGE: Outer Buildings of Itsukushima Shrine)after the concert
I say “on the grounds” figuratively, since the entire shine — first built about 1,400 years ago, but having taken its present shape only 840 years ago — is on piers over the water. Well, at least while the tide is in. The concert was held in the open, just on the other side of the center buildings in the picture [...]
View full post »