Photos: Kashima-jingu Shrine, Kashima, Japan
Some more in the series of my Japan-related photos.
I took these photos at Kashima-jingū 鹿島神宮 Shrine, one of the three main shintō 神道 shrines in the Kantō 関東 region of Japan. Traditionally founded in 600 BC and located in Ibaraki 茨城県 Prefecture, about one and a half hours north of Tokyo, it is probably most famous today for two things:
- it's connection to various schools of Japanese swordsmanship (kenjutsu 剣術), and in particular it's own style called Kashima Shintō-ryū 鹿島新當流 and dating back to roughly 1530
- the many deer who inhabit the shrine grounds, who are looked after and revered as messengers of the goddess Amaterasu 天照 and explain the characters used in the name Kashima 鹿島: literally "deer island."
The first particularity it shares with Katori-jingū 香取神宮 Shrine in nearby Chiba 千葉県 Prefecture, home to the famous Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū 天真正伝香取神道流 of fencing, and the second with Tōdai-ji 東大寺 Temple and Kasuga-taisha 春日大社 Shrine both in Nara 奈良市 City in the Kansai 関西 region.
Anyway, what I like best about the place is - once again - the architecture: all those lovely old wooden buildings and torii 鳥居 gates and stone lanterns. Kashima is also home to a little lake called the Mitarashi-ike 御手洗池 with a stone torii gate in it which always reminds me of something out of Tomb Raider, and to a special kind of dango 団子 sweets which I never fail to buy when I am there...
Hope you like the photos: let me know what you think!