Harajuku Meiji Shrine

I decided I needed a nice walk in a less congested area, so I headed back to Harajuku (which is pretty much the opposite of less congested) to check out the Meiji Shrine. I think I posted a pic of the entryway's arch the other day, but let's take a stroll through the park. The thing that surprised me the most is just how large this park is. It's in the middle of this ginormous, over crowded city, but there is this vast expanse of calm, peaceful and relaxing woodlands. It actually reminded me a lot of New Hampshire at some points.

Starting at the beginning... This is the entryway arch, just over the bridge at Harajuku station. It goes from insanely crowded to VERY peaceful and relaxing in like 25 yards.




Just inside the entryway arch.



You can make out the railings for a small bridge over a brook running underneath. We'll get there in a minute.



This is looking over the left hand side of that bridge. This is where it really reminds me of NH, particular near The Basin pathway. The blurry line at the bottom is the edge of the railing. Great job, Kev! But you can see the stream meandering down the hill.



About halfway to the shrine, you come across two, uh, shelves? The one on the right contains jars or sake wrapped in straw, because why wouldn't you. And the one on the left containing wine dedicated from France. These are used in some sorts of ceremonies which I am too lazy to look up. But they were interesting.

First, the sake casks, with a close up of the plaque describing them right below (you can see it on the far right). Note that I took this pic from the far end of the path, as the lighting was better. This is actually on the right side of the path as you are approaching the shrine.



And here are those wine casks. No picture of the accompanying plaque because I just didn't care that much.



After about another ten minute down the path, you get to the actual Meiji shrine, which seems to be some kind of fort. Another very tall archway just before arriving at the gates.



And a little closer now. I'm not centered because there was a family of tourists. Pfft, tourists. Always getting underfoot.



I'm working on stitching together a panoramic photo of the inside. For now, just use your imagination.

Anyway, after walking into the shrine, I took the exit to the left, which led to another awesome pathway. This, too, really reminded me of NH. I was amazed at all this empty land in the middle of Tokyo! Note that having Stevie Ray Vaughn's version of Little Wing playing on the iPod really enhanced the experience. Of course, that would enhance any experience (best. guitarist. ever.)



Let's get a little closer to that tree, shall we?



That pathway went on for about 10 minutes or so. At the far end there is the Tokyo Riding Club. And at the club there were two young ladies leading a seemingly docile pony in a ring. Atop that pony was one adorable little girl. She was SO excited. The pony seemed indifferent. For some reason, I had trouble framing this, with those trees in the way. The second one is also a bit blurry. It was actually overcast and dusk was setting in, so the flash wanted to go off. I kind of thought it wouldn't be cool to be taking pictures with a flash in the pony's face, so these are what we get.





So that's about it for the Meiji shrine. A really beautiful walk, and one I will definitely revisit while I'm here.