Image search results - "yama" - JAPAN PHOTOS by Philbert Ono

Image search results - "yama"

Matsuyama Castle

Fukuyama Castle tower

Sign for Tomonoura. Tomonoura is a National Important Traditional Townscape Preservation District (重要伝統的建造物群保存地区).

Kakegawa Castle as seen from the train

Inuyama Yuen Station. Closest station to Inuyama Castle on the Meitetsu Line.

Road to Inuyama Castle

Kanagawa Prefecture's largest Awa Odori is held annually during the last weekend in July in this city of Yamato. Preview event near Yamato Station.

Road marker. Established in 1642, Moriyama-juku was the sixty-seventh of the sixty-nine stations or shukuba post towns on the Nakasendo Road. It is the eighth Nakasendo station in Shiga (following Musa-juku in Omi-Hachiman).

On the Sunday before the second Monday of Jan., 33 hectares of a hill called Wakakusa-yama (seen in the distance here) next to Nara Park is burned at night.The burning hill looks more spectacular from afar, but we went up close.

Kanayama Jinja Shrine is a small shrine within the grounds of the Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine near Kawasaki Daishi Station. On the first Sun. of April, it holds this now-famous Kanamara Festival nicknamed the Phallus or Fertility Festival. Festival starts at 11 am. But a large crowd was already there well before that time. Entrance to shrine on the day of the Kanamara Festival. (If you're below age 18, please leave now.)

Ainokura can be reached by bus from Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture. Some scenery along the way by bus to Ainokura.

Toyama Castle 富山城

JR Kofu Station

Entrance to castle tower

Fukuyama Castle tower

Ferry between Tomonoura and Sensui island.

Yotsuashi-mon GateMain gate to enter the castle grounds. A reconstruction.

四足門

Kiso River with Inuyama Castle in the distance

Inuyama Cultural History Museum犬山市文化史料館

Road marker. Go right for the Nakasendo Road. MAP

Wakakusa-yama hill in JanuaryWakakusa-yama hill actually has three hills. We see only the first one here.

Shrine banners and cherries in full bloomThe red banner says "Kanayama Jinja" with an phallus (erect) logo on the top.

Park in front of Kofu Station.

View from castle tower

Steps to the castle tower

Inuyama Castle

Pre-festival event held in the afternoon, Yamato Awa Odori

Karakuri Doll Museumからくり展示館

Rear of road marker

Dry grass ready to burn...

Pumping (or humping) the...

Looks like Suganuma, another village in Gokayama area.

Reconstructed in 1954, modeled after Hikone and Inuyama Castles. Renovated in Nov. 2005.

Statue of Takeda Shingen.

View from top floor

Fukuyama Castle from the train

Castle tower

Inuyama Castle

Karakuri Doll MuseumThe karakuri dolls, set atop ornate floats, are controlled with strings.

Marker for the Kabuto-ya inn

Volunteer firemenThe hill set alight by 300 volunteer firemen and prefectural workers who climb up the hill.

The festival is wildly popular with people from overseas.The shrine had various phallus props to pose with.

View from top floor

Bentenjima island near Tomonoura.

Fukuyama Station (shinkansen)

Stairs to Kakegawa Castle tower

Haritsuna Shrine

Yamato Station

Entrance to Urakuen GardenThis garden has a few tea houses including one called Jo-an, a National Treasure. THe garden is close to Inuyama Castle and worth a visit. Admission 1,000 yen.

有楽苑
営業時間　9:00〜17:00（3/1〜7/14 ・ 9/1〜11/30）
9:00〜18:00（7/15〜8/31）
9:00〜16:00（12/1〜2/末日）
休日　無休　　　入場料　大人1,000円（呈茶別500円）
〒４８４−００８１
愛知県犬山市御門先１
ＴＥＬ０５６８（６１）４６０８
交通名鉄犬山線犬山遊園下車徒歩７分

Old Nakasendo Road and Dobashi Bridge. Supposedly, this is the bridge from where Hiroshige drew his print of Moriyama-juku.

Bamboo torches and bamboo broomsThe bamboo torches is filled with kerosene and plugged with cotton cloth. They are used to set the hill afire. The bamboo brooms are used to spread the fire or extinguish it. The brooms burn up by the end of the festival.

Dickhead hat. Actually, I don't know what they call it, but that's what I call it.

Entry road to Ainokura village. Bus stop shelter on right.

Toyama Castle

View from top floor

Fukuyama Station (shinkansen)

Sanko Inari ShrineThe shrine provides a short cut to the castle.

Balloons, souvenirs and trinkets sold near the train station.

Urakuen Garden水琴窟

Dobashi Bridge

Carving daikon. Anybody can join in and carve. 大根削りLater to be auctioned off.

Way to Ainokura, one of the gasshou-zukuri villages in the Gokayama region designated as a World Heritage Site. Ainokura has over 20 houses with steep thatched-roof houses amid high mountains. Ainokura is also a National Important Traditional Townscape Preservation District (重要伝統的建造物群保存地区).

Carving daikon (old photo). These men were really good at carving the daikon.

Fukuyama Station (shinkansen)

Final gate to Castle tower

Steps to castle gate

Urakuen Garden tea ceremony house

Tomon-in temple built by Buddhist Priest Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) to protect his Enryakuji temple on Mt. Hiei from demons from the east. 東門院

Bamboo torchesThe bamboo torches is filled with kerosene and plugged with cotton cloth. They are used to set the hill afire.

What you see first is a big parking lot for tour buses. Then you see the hordes of tourists.

Carving daikon. Since some activities are conducted on the ground, the festival is also called Jibeta (Ground) Matsuri.Once upon a time, the festival was still mostly a local event with much fewer people.

Fukuyama Station (shinkansen)

View of castle palace

Steps to castle gate

Main drag and shopping arcade called Yamato Chuo-dori大和中央通り

Inside Jo-an tea ceremony house, a National Treasure

Kaeru frog to wish you a safe return. 東門院

The deer have no idea what danger they are in...

Ainokura monument

Forging a steel phallus (old photo)The demon living in the vagina of the women bit the man's phallus each time. So one guy made a steel phallus and the demom broke his teeth.

View of Honmaru

Reconstructed Honmaru Gate

Spectators wait for the parade to begin.

Jo-an tea ceremony house, a National Treasure. Built in 1618 by Oda Uraku, one of the greatest tea ceremony masters and younger brother of warlord Oda Nobunaga.Jo-an is one of Japan's three most famous tea ceremony houses. 如庵

樹下神社

Water bagsThe third item the volunteer firemen carry are water bags. The water bag is filled with water weighing 20 kg or so. A nozzle is also attached. It is used to extinguish the fire.

View of Ainokura which is also a National Important Traditional Townscape Preservation District (重要伝統的建造物群保存地区).

One of Japan's three Big Buddhas (after Nara and Kamakura). The statue was built by local coppersmiths in 1932, taking 30 years to complete.

Entrance to Iimoriyama Hill, site of the Byakkotai "White Tiger" Battalion gravesite. In 1868, a unit of teenage warriors called Byakkotai (White Tiger Battalion) fought against the Emperor-backed Imperial forces encroaching their domain of Aizu

Seibu Ikebukuro Line train station entrance at Ikebukuro, Tokyo. It takes about 90 min. from Ikebukuro to Yokoze Station via Tokkyu express train. Cheaper trains take 2 hours.

Sumiyoshi Shrine is on the west side of JR Moriyama Station. This side has an area called "Fuke" written with the same kanji for "uwaki" (cheating on your partner).I wonder what married couples think of living in this area...

Road to Mt. Yukinoyama, an ancient mountain and home to over 200 tumuli built during the 5th to 7th centuries. In 2013, it was designated as a National Historic Site.

Inside Castle tower

Inuyama Castle tower

The festival/parade starts before dark.

Omatsuri is actually a place name. The small settlement has a lodge and restaurant.

Bus to Taba. The bus runs from Okutama Station in Tokyo. It is the only public transportation link with the village.

Bon fire site

JR Takaoka Station (north side) 高岡駅

Standing room only at Wakamiya Shrine

The old JR Takayama Station. This building has been replaced by a new one. 高山駅

Gate to Takayama Jinya

View of Ainokura from a hill

The Takaoka Daibutsu stands 15.85 meters high, weighing 65 tons. Japan's largest copper statue. Takaoka, Toyama

The Byakkotai were outnumbered and forced to retreat. Twenty of them escaped to Iimoriyama Hill where they saw what looked liked a burning Tsurugajo Castle. Photo: Pay a small fee to take the escalator up the hill. Or climb up the steps for free.

Sumiyoshi Shrine torii. Notice the torches inside the shrine. 住吉神社 MAPEvery Jan., both this shrine and Katsube Shrine light giant torches for the festival's climax. Unfortunately, you cannot see the festival at both shrines since they are held around the same time. Sumiyoshi Shrine's fire festival is smaller with fewer (six) torches which represent the head of the slain dragon.

Approaching Kawamori. 川守

Seibu Ikebukuro Line train with shibazakura design.

Inside Castle tower

Castle tower

Tea ceremony house

Omatsuri bus stop for Okutama.

I was in Okutama and noticed that the bus goes on to Tabayama village in neighboring Yamanashi. I got really curious and rode the bus to Tabayama. This is central Tabayama.

Deer on the hill

Inside Takaoka Station passage

Packed path to Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine

JR Takayama Station

Entrance to Takayama Jinya. A Jinya was a regional government office during the Edo Period. The Tokugawa government dispatched magistrates to administer the region. About 60 jinya existed and only this one survives.

In despair, the boys decided to kill themselves rather than die in the hands of the enemy. Photo: Escalator to go up Iimoriyama Hill.

Seibu Ikebukuro Line Yokoze Station. Get off here for an easy walk to Hitsujiyama Park where the Shibazakura moss pink hill is. A tourist info office is on the left. 西武池袋線横瀬駅

Sumiyoshi Shrine and the six giant torches.

Kawamori bus stop, nearest to Mt. Yukinoyama.

Top floor of Castle tower

Inuyama CastleNational Treasure

Inside tea ceremony house

Omatsuri bus stop for Taba.

When I walked around, my planned 20-min. stay turned into a 2-hour walking tour of this pacifying place, full of mountains and a clear river. A delightful discovery. Suigen Park

Stone for safe childbirth

Volunteer firement gather before going up the hill.The hill set alight by 300 volunteer firemen from all over Nara and prefectural workers who climb up the hill.

In front of JR Takaoka Station (north side)

Prayers to the Kanamara Boat portable shrine かなまら舟神輿　神輿御霊入れ式Before the portable shrine is taken out to be paraded around town, the god of the shrine must be transferred to it. This is what the head priest is doing.

There are three portable shrines (called mikoshi). The Kanamara mikoshi (the original portable shrine), Kanamara-bune mikoshi (shaped like a boat), and Elizabeth mikoshi (pink giant). All three are carried during a procession around town. The Elizabeth mikoshi is carried by she-males. ("New half" in Japanese. Go ahead and laugh if you want.)

In fall 2007, it underwent major renovation.

Turnstile at JR Takayama Station

For 176 years or 25 generations, the building housed government administrators, accountants (rice tax collectors), and the police.

Bird's eye view of Ainokura 相倉展望台

Escalator to go up Iimoriyama Hill. Their tombstones are on this hill near where they killed themselves. Their story has become legend.

You can buy a park entry ticket (300 yen) at a booth in front of Yokoze Station. Maps also available. Underpass at Yokoze Station.

Sumiyoshi Shrine and the six giant torches.

To Mt. Yukinoyama

View of Honmaru from Castle tower

Castle tower entrance

On the side of the road near the bus stop, there is a trail going down to Tama River.

Completely surrounded by mountains with a clear river running in the middle.

Tenmangu Shrine

Volunteeer firemen and staff hike up the hills.

Sculpture in front of Takaoka Station (north side)

Prayers to the Kanamara-bune mikoshi かなまら舟神輿Before the portable shrine is taken out to be paraded around town, the god of the shrine must be transferred to it. This is what the head priest is doing.

Waiting room at JR Takayama Station

Byakkotai Gravesite. It is on a flat area which also has several other Byakkotai monuments including those from other countries.

Side view of torches.

View of Kakegawa city toward the station (shinkansen)

Inside entrance

A suspension bridge over the river.

A few bridges span the river.

Tenmangu Shrine

Sacred torch arrives at the foot of the hill.The sacred torch is lit at Kasuga Taisha Shrine and brought to Nogami Shrine in a torch procession. It is a small shrine at the foot of the hill.

Sculpture in front of Takaoka Station (north side)

The shrine's head priest transfers the deity to the Kanamara Boat portable shrine (boat-shaped loaded with a phallus) かなまら舟神輿Before the portable shrine is taken out to be paraded around town, the god of the shrine must be transferred to it. This is what the head priest is doing.

Magistrate's (governor) office 御役所

JR Takayama Station

Ainokura

View of Administrator's office from the veranda

Approach to the Byakkotai gravesite.

Entrance to Hitsujiyama Park. Show your ticket or buy it at the booth nearby.

Head of torch. Different shape from Katsube Shrine's torches.

More stairs

Tama River as seen from the bridge.

Ceremony at Nogami Shrine

JR Takaoka Station (south side)

A representative of the shrine parishioners offer prayers.

JR Takayama Station

Castle tower (local history museum) admission is 210 yen. 富山市郷土博物館

Torch stem

If you go early in the morning, there are fewer people.

Mt. Yukinoyama and Hino River 雪野山と日野川

Castle tower balcony

Tama River

Tama River, looks very inviting in summer.

The crowd

Shopping street near Takaoka Station

Prayers to the Elizabeth portable shrine エリザベス神輿Before the portable shrine is taken out to be paraded around town, the god of the shrine must be transferred to it. This is what the head priest is doing.