{"id":1398,"date":"2009-12-16T10:16:19","date_gmt":"2009-12-16T01:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-12-16\/1398"},"modified":"2009-12-16T10:16:19","modified_gmt":"2009-12-16T01:16:19","slug":"visiting-the-back-mountain-hiyoshi-shrine-with-jon-van-dalen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-12-16\/1398","title":{"rendered":"Visiting the Back-Mountain Hiyoshi Shrine with Jon Van Dalen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>800 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSomeone With Their Work Cut Out For Them<\/span>\nGuy with a weed whacker, off the road in the rural mountains of northern Kyoto, Japan\n<\/div>\n\n

Chipping away at the backlog of things I want<\/span> to share, here are some\nphotos from a short<\/span> outing with vacationing American Jon Van Dalen<\/a> in July. He was traveling\nJapan<\/a> with his wife and her sister, and while in Kyoto I took<\/span> them on a\ndrive<\/span> in the mountains north of the city.<\/p>\n\n

Along the road in a small village, we noticed a shrine<\/span> gate over a path<\/span>\nleading away up a hill.<\/span> It was visible<\/span> from the road only for a moment<\/span> as\ndriving by, so we were lucky to spot it. I'd driven<\/span> by many times in the\npast but had never noticed it before, so we stopped to investigate...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 40 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nView from the Steps<\/span>\nleading from the road\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHonest Living<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The pathway wasn't obvious, nor was our right to take it, so I asked<\/span> an\nold lady working the fields whether it was okay. She seemed<\/span> to be about 200\nyears old, with 198 of them having been spent in arduous but fulfilling\ntoil of the land. I'm sure she<\/span>'s in much more robust health than I, and\nwill certainly outlive me by a few<\/span> generations.<\/p>\n\n

It is not lost on me when I meet people of a certain<\/span> age that they were\nteenagers or adults during WWII, likely with vivid memories. In this case<\/span>,\nthough, it wouldn't surprise me if the entire era of war passed unnoticed\nwhile she worked the fields. (I'm exaggerating. Slightly.)<\/p>\n\n

Sadly, she declined my request to take her portrait, though did so with\nan endearing smile, a wave<\/span> of the hand, and a muttered<\/span> comment along the\nlines of “a photo<\/span>? of the likes of me? Naaaah, you don't want to\nbother with that, you silly man.”<\/p>\n\n

She did say it was fine to head back to the shrine we couldn't see but\nknew must be there, so Jon and I left<\/span> his wife and sis-in-law at the\nrelatively bug-free steps leading from the road, and forged up the\nbug-filled path past terraced fields toward the mountain treeline...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooking in at the Treeline<\/span>\nit was dark under the trees, but appears less so in this styalized version\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAdjusting to the Darkness<\/span>\nthere were lots of tall trees\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRelentless Expansion<\/span>\nbig tree outgrowing its enclosure\n<\/div>\n\n

The shrine, I learned<\/span> later (from finding it labeled on Google Maps) is\ncalled Hiyoshi Shrine (\u65e5\u5409\u795e\u793e),<\/span> and seems to be fairly simple, there just\nto serve the local community. A large<\/span> tree to the side of the main building\nsort of stole the show, though it's hard to capture the grandeur in a\nphotograph.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Didn't stop me from trying, though....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThe Only Thing<\/span>\nthat perhaps might be older and more robust than the lady working the fields\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOld Standby<\/span>\nThe stock “At an Angle” view\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 42 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAmbiance<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + 28-300mm f\/3.5-6.3 @ 300 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBound<\/span>\nThe lack of focus in this shot is bound<\/b> to annoy.\nOtherwise, it would have been a nice<\/span> desktop-background photo\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBosom of Nature<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It wouldn't surprise me if the site was very old, but the current shrine\nbuildings were fairly modern work-a-day structures. They lacked in\n“character”, but the aura of being cloistered away under the trees gave\nthe area a quite<\/span> pleasant feel.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDeparting for Civilization<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nView from Below the Treeline<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It's hard to see, but if you look closely, you can see Jon's wife and\nsis waiting in the distance, to the lower-left of the dark roof. The dark roof<\/span> is actually quite a distance<\/span> beyond them, as the photo below shows,\nbut distance is compressed in the long view above.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSharing Photos<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMe*<\/sup> and Jon<\/span>\nphoto by Teresa Van Dalen<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

*<\/sup>My appologies to the grammar Nazis; I should<\/span> have thought about proper word order\nwhen posing for the shot.<\/p>\n\n

This outing was just a small slice of the day for Jon, which itself was\na small<\/span> slice of his whole trip. Jon has an<\/span> account\nof the day<\/a> on his blog, as well as the\nfull rundown of his many adventures<\/a> that make for good reading.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chipping away at the backlog of things I want to share, here are some photos from a short outing with vacationing American Jon Van Dalen in July. He was traveling Japan with his wife and her sister, and while in Kyoto I took them on a drive in the mountains north of the city.<\/p>

Along the road in a small village, we noticed a shrine gate over a path leading away up a hill. It was visible from the road only for a moment as driving by, so we were lucky to spot it. I'd driven by many times in [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}