Having used the torii from Takashima's Shirohige Shrine in two previous posts, I thought I should at least provide some context for the scene.

The shrine is tucked in a narrow strip of land sandwiched between the mountains and Lake Biwa. I'm sure the location seemed appropriate when it was founded (the main hall was built in 1605), prior to cars and trains and heavy weekend traffic, but now it's got a road passing between it and the lake.

A hundred years ago there was perhaps a footpath running along the lake, but by 50 years ago there was a [...]

On my way to see Anthony's first ski experience earlier in the month, I stopped by the Shirohige Shrine on the waters of Lake Biwa, in Takashima Japan, to take a few pictures. I posted a "washed out" picture of the shrine's main gate in the middle of the water that I'll repeat here:

I really like the washed-out effect in this shot, even though it's the exact opposite of what I generally try to get. I usually try to get the sunburst streaming in, like in these shots from my blog archive: Kouri Island (Okinawa) and Midwest America (Ohio) [...]

On my way up to the ski area for Anthony's first ski experience, I stopped by the Shirohige Shrine on the shores of Lake Biwa (Japan's largest lake, about a third larger than Lake Tahoe). It was somewhat dark with a cloud mostly in front of the sun, with nice streamers of light emanating from the edge of the cloud, but overexposing the frame gives this interesting result.

I have no idea why the shrine is named Shirohige, which means "white beard". (UPDATE: it's apparently related to how a white beard indicates longevity, and perhaps wiseness)

Okay, I looked it [...]

I took a ride out to the mountains in the south-west of Kyoto, where I'd not been before. Here's a summary...

I'd headed toward a road that looked like it wound up to the top of a mountain that should provide a commanding vista, but it turns out that the road has been closed to public traffic for the last 10 years. The road-closed gate was a perfect spot to dump your trash, apparently, because there was plenty all around. Sigh.

I had another mountain road in mind, but had to dip back into civilization to get to it...

(It [...]

In the Kyoto Winter Preview I posted the other day – about an uncommon snowfall in Kyoto last winter – the story left off with us arriving at the Heian Shrine....

Normally you can go up and through the big gate (such as done by these cute kids in kimono and these demons and this family), but this day it was roped off with "beware of falling snow" signs, as if there was actually enough snow to accumulate on the roof to a dangerous level. It seems sort of silly to me, but in any case, you can still enter [...]