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....

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
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).

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
Great minds think alike?
Jeff,
Love the images and story.
On an unrelated matter, can you email me?
Thanks
Sean.
Love the good wishes photo… hope you are well.