Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
at the under-renovation Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社)
Kyoto, Japan
Some friends are in town, and I joined them on a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine in south-west Kyoto this morning. I'd last visited three years ago (see “Kyoto's Dazzling Fushimi Inari Shrine”, and followups here, here, and here), and it seems that much has changed since: it's undergoing a massive renovation.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/8000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Entrance Path
The new paint was positively blinding in its richness, including the multi-colored detail seen in the first photo. I think I prefer the weather-beaten look that centuries tend to put on wooden structures, but the fresh-paint brilliance today was interesting and (for me so far) unique.
As it happened, as we arrived, they were taking the wraps off a newly-installed statue...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
friends from out of town, watching the statue unveiling
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
I'll post more later from when we walked the paths with thousands of shrine gates, but here's one gate that was getting a first/fresh coat of paint....
I wrote a bit about gate maintenance in the previous series on this shrine, here.
This is cool, especially since we’ve just visited it! Thanks for sharing.
Knowing nothing of the primary religion of Japan am amazed at the number of
gates in each shrine. And am thinking “if they rot in twenty years, why not manuafacture
said gates from another material, less likely to sucumb to the ravages of weather and time?”
Must admit though the stone carvings that you photographed a while back up the hill behind the shop to me are far more durable and positive than the numerous shades of orange for the gates.
And in my own world have just placed my own grave marker (hopefully well ahead of time) made of black granite for planting of my cremated remains; figured make it the way I want versus what somebody else may desire.
The cemetery where singular me shall be planted allows no above ground monuments so
a stone sculpture is out of the question! Sadly.