Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/350 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wisteria at the Sandai Shrine
Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

The day I got back from camping, Fumie happened to hear from a taxi driver about a small out-of-the-way shrine not too far away that had a nice bloom of wisteria (or fuji – 藤 – in Japanese), so yesterday afternoon we made the 45 minute drive to Sandai Temple in Kusatsu to check it out.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

I guess wisteria is normally a climbing plant, but here they have them dangling from horizontal trellises. They were mostly purple/lavender, but there were some light pink ones as well.

There were a lot of big bumblebees among the flowers (two can be seen in the photo above), and one had to sometimes dodge them as they barreled along.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/45 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from Below

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/180 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wall of Wisteria

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Selective Focus

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 80 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shrine Entrance

The shrine is quite small and located in the middle of nowhere, grouped with a few houses but otherwise surrounded on all sides by field after field after field. (See any of the “map & image data” links under each picture for a satellite view of the area.)

It's free to enter, but they suggest a donation of 200 yen (two bucks) per person. I tried to give them more, but they refused. They've even arranged for free parking at a school or somesuch next door.

The parking lot had a slide and some swings, and other play activities that Anthony was much more interested in than the flowers.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 70 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Considerably Precarious

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 150 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mommy-Style is Easier