Red Colors In Naritasan

This is a part two entry of Naritasan Shinshoji temple that features red colors I've seen there.

Inside the Great Main Hall

Goma (Sesame) fire ritual ceremony takes place twice a day and the ceremony has never ever been discontinued since the foundation of the temple. Over 1000 years!!! That's terrific! Fudo/Acala (不動明王) is worshipped there.

Niomon Gate

The 800 kg weighed big lantern (提灯) is hung in the Niomon gate (仁王門). It says "Uogashi (魚がし).

Three storied Pagoda

The 25 m tall three-storied pagoda (三重塔) was built in 1712.

Inari Shrine

Naritasan is very complex. Inari shrine (稲荷神社) is located in the temple.

This is Ruby Tuesday Too and Our World Tuesday - Back to School Edition entries.

           

Lime Factory Part 4

Once again, this is a photo taken in the industrial area in Tochigi city. I found two shrines by the lime factories. This red torii gate at the entrance of this shrine looks as exhausted as the old factories there. I couldn't figure out the enshrined deity at this anonymous shrine, however, the deity could be related to the prosperity of this industrial area, I guess...

If you want to see more photos of these lime factories, here we are.

                 

This is a That's my world and Ruby Tuesday entry.

           

Old Factory in Tochigi City

The factory looks like it is covered with ash...

Well, we did have a volcano eruption at Mt. Kirishima (霧島山) but it's way too far from where I took this photo. If you are curious about the eruption, here we are.

The building shown in this photo is a lime factory in Tochigi city. It was unfortunate that the sky was fully covered with thick clouds when I was there, and because of that almost everything looks just GRAY. And a little bit red from the rust... It's not an abandoned building but it does look so exhausted...

View Larger Map

A series of industrial factories related to the lime is located along Route 202 and I am beginning to like this bizarre looking place! I will definitely visit there once again when the sky is blue!

This is a That's my world and Ruby Tuesday entry.

           

Five Storied Pagoda

Five storied pagoda (五重塔) is located between the big Torii Gate and Nio Mon Front Gate (仁王門) of Toshogu shrine (東照宮), at the World Heritage site in Nikko city, Tochigi prefecture.
Toshogu shrine is a shinto shrine complex at which Ieyasu TOKUGAWA (徳川家康) is enshrined with the name of Tosho Daigongen (東照大権現).

Ieyasu Tokugawa (Image from Wiki)

To fully enjoy what Toshogu shrine has to offer, you, as an individual, got to pay 1300 JPY (around $15), however, taking a look at this 36 meters high pagoda is absolutely free of charge!


This is a That's my world and Ruby Tuesday entry.

       

Bidara

Part 2 of Buddhist Guardian series.

His name is Bidara (毘陀羅), one of the four Guardians at Yashamon Gate (夜叉門) of Taiyuin (大猷院) at the World Heritage site in Nikko city, Tochigi Prefecture. Taiyuin is a Buddhist temple at which the 3rd Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu Tokugawa (徳川家光) is worshipped.

Hi my name is Umarokya! Click on me to enlarge.

He is as scary as Umarokya (烏摩勒伽), who appeared in the previous entry. Bidara has red skin, curly brown hair,  sharp gold fangs, shining gold stick in his right hand, and his left hand is ready to punch your face. Also note that he has catfish heads for knee pads. He wears slippers with the same color as his knee pads... Is it made of catfish skin??? That I am not sure... One of his roles is to guard the "South", whereas Umarokya is guarding the "North"


This is a Ruby Tuesday entry.

Daruma Doll On Fire

Photographed at Futaarayama Shrine (二荒山神社) during Otariya (冬渡祭) festival. In my old post, I already described why Daruma dolls are put into the fire.　

    This is a B&W version of Daruma dolls on fire. Click on the photo to enlarge.

This is a Ruby Tuesday entry.

How do you interpret this image?

Figure 2 FM4-64 Internalization in Living Cells
DNA is visualized with CFP (Cyan Fluorescent Protein)-Histone (in blue) under its own promoter and a fluorescent probe, FM4-64 (in red or ruby), is treated to monitor endocytosis. It is photographed 10 min after the treatment of FM4-64 at room temperature....

Once again, sorry for the confusion. I found this object, illuminated by Ruby laser beam from the bottom, at Nasunogahara Harmony Hall (那須野が原ハーモニーホール) in Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture.

As my blog title says, I will be posting abstract images from time to time. If the description of the image starts from Figure legend (like this post or previous one), be prepared! I warn you.

What does this image remind you of??? Please let me know!

If you want to see more photos taken at this place, please click images below:

           

This is a That's my world and Ruby Tuesday entry.

      

Winter Illumination

During Christmas season, you can find light-ups and illuminations taking place almost everywhere. So I bundle myself up with layers of clothing and photograph. In order to have the biggest and round "bokeh" (= blur), the aperture of my lens is always the widest. This was taken at Nasu Harmony Hall in Otawara city, Tochigi Prefecture, sometime in December 2009.

This is a Ruby Tuesday and That's my world entries.

           

Kagura Performance

At Nakamura Hachimangu (中村八幡宮) in Moka city.

If you are curious about this performance, click here. If you want to know who that long nose, red face, blondish hair guy is, go visit here. He is a Shinto deity named Sarutahiko (猿田彦).

This is a Ruby Tuesday and Moody Monday entry.

            

Here is the video of this performance.



If you want to know more about Shinto dance Performance, click here.

Light-Up in Nikko

It takes place at Sho-yo en (逍遥園) Garden in Nikko. It belongs to Rinnoji (輪王寺) temple. Lighting up the garden starts at 16:00 and ends at 19:00. It costs 300 JPY (around $3 bucks). Once you get a ticket, you can enter anytime. I entered at 16:00, took some pictures, my battery was dead, went out for dinner, charged the battery, and went back to the garden at 18:00.
Using a tripod or monopod is prohibited there. What I did was to sit down on the ground, hold my camera in my lap, hold my breath, extremely gently and slowly press the release, and not care what other people there thought of me.

Here is the website of this event (Japanese only).


This is a That's My World, Ruby Tuesday and Photo Friday Challenge entry. The current challenge of Photo Friday is "Dark". And one more Thursday Challenge. The theme is "AUTUMN".