Walking Trip to Jindaiji Temple

[gmat]

My wife suggested that we go back to Jindaiji Temple. It's near Chofu station. We know it as the turtle temple as will be seen.

 

We cycled to Setagaya Station on the Setagaya Line and took it to Shimotakaido Station and took the Keio Line.

 

Spring has brought blooming flowers. Poppies just below the opposite platform at Matsubara Station.

 

Then off to Fuda Station.

 

Where I took a photo of a passing train, but I was traveling on my wife's schedule, so it was off to the first of two shrines and a temple.

 

Taiyaki stand. In this case, a fish shaped waffle filled with red bean paste.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiyaki

 

 

 

The banner is unfortunately reversed and the bottom corner folded..

 

People often have flowers growing on their fences or in pots next to the fences.

 

 

We arrived at Kokuryojinja Shrine. It's famous for its hanging wisteria flowers. Since it was the first day of the Golden Week Holidays, there was a produce sale and a crepe stand there.

This is the shrine. My wife is very budget conscious (she is retired and I have only a few students) so we only threw in a very small sum into the donation box.

 

A large taiko drum is housed here.

 

 

 

 

 

Wash your hands and rinse your mouth to purify yourself here.

 

The main trunk of the wisteria tree is here.

 

 

 

More to come.

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

A couple more shots of the wisteria flowers.

 

Some info about the shrine.

 

 

Next was Futa-Tenji Shrine. This was on the way. It seemed to combine the old style wooden top with a more modern base.

 

The entrance to the shrine. Many parts of shrines and temples are the same so I've only shot a few things.

 

 

The old wooden plaque that probably is a dedication to the shrine.

 

Some plants that were protected by a bamboo fence. Perhaps they were flowers that haven't bloomed yet.

 

A list of sponsors or people who made donations to the shrine.

 

The cleansing water basin.

 

The shrine.

 

A small noh stage with seats.

 

Why was the stone lantern fenced in?

 

The sign says don't climb the stone lantern. Seems to be directed to children.

 

 

A temporary tent to sell fortunes.

 

 

The concrete overpass connects the cemetery on the left with a small shrine to the right.

 

 

 

 

More to follow.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

Continuing to Jindaiji Temple.

 

These mini buses are popular and are often decorated with cute characters. Shigeru Mizuki, famous cartoonist lived near here. He did a manga about a boy called GeGeGe no Kitaro. NHK's Morning Drama several years ago was about his wife, which prompted my wife to suggest that we come here the last time.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeGeGe_no_Kitaro

That's GEeGeGe no Kitaro, (the boy) on the bus. The small eyeball man is his father.

 

 

Some extra use for land under a highway viaduct. There is a small children's park. Couldn't stop to take better photos. My wife was far enough ahead as it was.

 

 

Hashibashi Bridge.

 

 

Shots of the highway above. The park is to the near left.

 

 

An onsen/hot spring.

 

This truck brought the hot spring water to your house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've also started taking photos of manhole covers, especially ones connected with the subway or rail lines. This one is for the Chofu City sewer system, I believe.

 

And I take a general shot to establish the location. This was several blocks before the Jindaiji temple.

 

More later.

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

Next we arrived at Jindaiji Temple. Temple as it's buddhist. The shrines are Shinto. Like many popular temples, they have many souvenir and food stands before the temple. The tea house on the right was decorated with characters from GeGeGe no Kitaro.

 

A map of the area.

 

 

GeGeGe no Kitaro specialized in traditional ghosts, monsters and spirits in Japan.

 

That's him again in the little tree house.

 

 

The large wooden getas or clogs are one of the weapons used by GeGeGe no Kitaro. Kind of like Thor's Hammer.

 

 

The man in the yellow, Nezumi Otoko or rat man, is like main villain, or rather sympathetic anti-hero like Dr. Zachary Smith from Lost in Space, if you are old enough to remember the TV Show. He is probably the second most popular character in the comic series.

 

There are several ponds on the temple grounds with turtles. This one next to a teahouse/restaurant had a japanese garden and had the most turtles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The temple itself.

 

Possibly for children's spirits.

 

 

 

 

 

More to come.

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

Next to the temple was the Jindaiji Botanical Park. It is built around some rice paddies and a pond. There is an old castle ground on the high ground next to the park. You can see the forms of the ramparts and ditches.

This way goes back to the front of the temple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably the footprint of an egret.

 

The pond. The water was rather scummy.

 

 

There are patches of spring flowers.

 

 

 

 

More to come.

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

After lunch at the park, we walked towards the Nogawa River. We would follow it and walk South back toward Chofu City.

 

More manhole covers.

 

 

 

The bird mark for sewer covers this section of the city.

 

 

The covers to the rain gutters also had the bird mark for this area.

 

I've started taking a photo of the block information on the nearest telephone pole as a way to record the location of my photos. But it is easier to remember if I use more descriptive terms like second street from the bridge.

 

 

The Nogawa River.

 

Looking North.

 

Looking south. We walked in this direction on the right bank of the river.

 

You could see plenty of ducks.

 

An occasional egret.

 

 

A kingfisher, the quarry of a number of bird enthusiast that we saw on the river. we saw three different groups of photographers with large telephoto lens. They were staking out roosts or perhaps nests. This one had a number of old folks and were using point and shoot cameras to snap a photo of this bird. I think that one was a guide who knew where the birds liked to roost. When my wife and I first started walking along this river many years ago, i saw a flash of green and orange and a low whirring sound that I briefly glimpsed. It took a couple of times but I finally got a good look at one.

 

 

A swallow is just a blur in this photo.

 

More ducks silhouetted.

 

 

The swallow had been on the opposite bank either drinking or getting mud to make a nest.

 

 

 

Some portions of the river where people often had picnics or went fishing had flowers planted on the side walls. In other places the flood waters seemed to have washed them away.

 

Another egret.

 

 

These ducks were resting.

 

Nagashima Bridge.

 

There are steps leading down to the river banks, but they are not frequent and in the last stretch, we passed four or five steps on the opposite bank before we found one on our side. It wasn't easy to cross the river either. You can see the steps we used to the left.

 

Boys Day carps.

 

We walked to Shibasaki Station and went back to Shimotakaido Station.

 

At Tsutsujigaoka, we waited for an express to pass. This was a Shinjuku Line train running on the Keio Line.

 

As it was in the late afternoon, I thought I might get a photo of the Setagaya Tram coming in with a passenger silhouetted.

 

 

 

 

 

But a few more people came up to clutter the shot.

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[miyakoji]

Loads of great pics gmat, many thanks.  I'm always interested to see Keio trains.  They've got that weird gauge, and I was never on it!  Too bad.  Those little mini-buses, built on the Isuzu NPR chassis I assume, seem really practical and economical.  I was often a little surprised that they usually build buses on frames that would be suited for North America.

[KenS]

All great photos, Grant.  I particularly like the Setagaya trams (I collect the Modemo models of those), but it's great to just see the temples, shrines and nearby parts of the city.

[Eisenbahn]

A great series of cultural and rail photos  of places where  many western tourists wouldnt know about.

[westfalen]

Nice photos. I can see why you like going there.

[ToniBabelony]

Loads of great pics gmat, many thanks.  I'm always interested to see Keio trains.  They've got that weird gauge, and I was never on it!  Too bad.  Those little mini-buses, built on the Isuzu NPR chassis I assume, seem really practical and economical.  I was often a little surprised that they usually build buses on frames that would be suited for North America.

 

It's actually a Hino Poncho of the 2nd series, based on the Hino Liesse chassis: http://tractors.wikia.com/wiki/Hino_Poncho

 

Btw, very cool photos by the way. Very inspiring for my future T-Trak modules! :D

[gmat]

Thank you for all of your comments. I'll try to post some Setagaya and Keio Line shots that I have taken.

 

Right now I'm culling a set of GW day trip train shots. A few interesting trains showed up.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[scott]

Nice pictures, Grant--I really enjoy seeing all the details of the places you go.

 

That's a Common Kingfisher that you saw, I believe.

 

<<<----- kingfisher geek

[Mr Frosty]

Excellent photos, thanks for showing.

[gmat]

Thanks Scott and Mr. Frosty.

 

You're right, Scott.

Here's another site for kingfisher photos. I didn't realize that kawasemi meant river cicadas.

http://torihenro.com/kingfisher2/index.html

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[The_Ghan]

Nice pictures, Grant--I really enjoy seeing all the details of the places you go.

 

That's a Common Kingfisher that you saw, I believe.

 

<<<----- kingfisher geek

 

scott,

 

You might be interested in this:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/kookaburra-back-yard-black-magic/story-e6freuzi-1226352509647

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[marknewton]

Grant, great story and pictures! Thanks for taking the time and effort to post these.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[scott]

You're right, Scott.

Here's another site for kingfisher photos. I didn't realize that kawasemi meant river cicadas.

http://torihenro.com/kingfisher2/index.html

 

Nice page--thanks!

 

scott,

 

You might be interested in this:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/kookaburra-back-yard-black-magic/story-e6freuzi-1226352509647

 

Weird-ola. Thanks!

[JR 500系]

Wow!

 

Nice pictures! Very nice!

 

Thanks for the effort in taking and posting all these beautiful pictures! While i was looking through the pictures, i suddenly recognised the playground under viaduct and the mini bus being Kato/ Tomix products immediately. Very accurate!