Tranquil time out

Quite what the placing of coins on various parts of the foot is supposed to achieve is unclear.

Good health perhaps?

(click image for, ahem, big foot)

The properly done foreground-in-focus-and-background-not-quite effect still eludes me, with this being the best I can muster.

Still, it’s pleasantly peaceful despite the paucity of proficiency.

I think.

(click image for poorer pagoda pic)

Whilst spring may be just around the corner, even roadside figures (Jizo) still need protection against the elements.

The offered toys however are rather more significant, as a Jizo’s role — among other things — is to watch over the souls of dead and unborn children; the deity having the unenviable task of spending the majority of his time in Meido (the land of gloom) protecting his flock from nearby demons.

Yet perhaps helping to lighten his burden somewhat, the Jizo is also a protector of travelers, and as such, some people believe that lotus flowers spring from the ground wherever he steps. A notion that arguably takes a little of the sorrow from his doleful gaze, and also helps make up for the well-intentioned-but-aesthetically-unpleasing plastic bottle vases.

Japan’s most spectacular castle may well look its best when surrounded by spring’s generous bounty of blossom. But even on an overcast January morning — and with the extra burden of me behind the lens — the famous old building still retains its unique charm and beauty.

Proving it to be a very generous host indeed. Even if we were forced to walk around its interior in ill-fitting slippers, suffering temperatures barely above freezing.

The Japanese go as mad for the autumnal change in colour as they do for spring’s cherry blossom — almost. Meaning a peaceful day out in ‘the country’ has to be shared by hordes of leaf loving photographers; all happily snapping away, fastidiously filling another album with more red, orange and brown foliage.

Still, despite my rather forced cynicism, it is quite a pretty time of year.

I suppose.