Hike in mid September、Oiwa shrine, and hidden falls

After walking for about 30 minutes along car busy road, all of a sudden the entrance of a shrine appeared. 

Walking in the midst of bamboos...

This site still keeps its primitiveness or it turned to it after abandoned and forgotten for a long time... 

Then we encountered wild, mysterious, gate. I am sorry to see this ravage, but It might invite more spiritual entity here. 

On the way to another shrine... The tunnel can be a symbol of many things. 

Love autumn sky... 

Compared to the other well-known touristic place, just 30 minutes walk away, here is the place where you feel more something, which is the very one I am sure you wish to encounter. 

Numbers on bamboos... 

Fushimi 2 Meiji Emperor's burial ground

This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. 

Fushimi１ Fushimi Momoyama Castle

On the way to the Castle. The vermilion Torii is in the middle of the road. 

After the Torii gate, 10 minutes walk leads you to a sacred property. 

Beautiful Boulevard

Both sides are the forest. 

We reached to a parking lot, as well as seemingly the entrance of an amusement park... 

Toy-like bridge is a connection between here and there momentarily

The castle is not the original which was completely terminated in 1623. Recent years, though it was reconstructed and stood there as a part of an amusement park, it also was closed in 2003.  Now it is a park.  When we visited there, only a few people were walking around.  This is one of the interesting places where you feel double traces of dream from Samurai period and from the time where hundreds of families got together here.  

Yawata Shrine 9.3.2016

The approach to this shrine are several. I like the one which has steep stairs. Both sides of the narrow path are accompanied by thousands of, if not millions, of cicada's singing,. I was so excited to go up the hill step by step surrounded by those powerful chorus. At the top, there is a sacred place Iwashimizu Hachimangu, or Yawata Shrine.  Recently, it was designated as National Treasure. We are lucky to have a place like this to pray for something invisible but essential to us because we are surely social animals but at the same time spiritual beings.  Here you can get back your inner strength. Each culture has different way of treating spirituality. I want to visit all sacred places in the world. Until then, I visit the locals after cleaning and purifying my own surroundings.  

Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle is visited by so many tourists all year round.  I like the co-existence of a city and the historical architecture.  Although the castle itself was reconstructed and the inside is pretty modern for the safety of visitors and for the exhibition to entertain and knowledge, it is still marvelous to see the fruit of our ancestors' all wisdom and unthinkably hard works.  The stone walls were amazing. Please find the biggest stone, (should I say rock?) beautifully embedded next to the others.  There were several stones exhibited. They were called "Zannen Ishi" or "Unlucky Stone" Why are they unlucky? Because they were brought all the way from the county sides to be used for the wall around the castle. But they were not used... It's very charming and affectionate for them to name them like this.  The statue in the middle is Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the first founder of Osaka Castle. 

One of the photos show a time capsule from 1970. It is supposed to open in 5000 years!

Lotus

Lotus

Layers of skins

buds 

one big sheet

leaf 

Two are inseparable 

like you and me 

 exchange roles

from time to time

Hold me, hold you

bud condensed feeling

a sheet of mat accept it 

ah 

lotus 

                                                               love

                                                               overwhelming

                                                               triumph

                                                               universal

                                                               synergy