Ema are wooden votive tablets found in all temples, used as lucky charms or to express gratitude to the God. There are pictures of animals or the people write on them. Below there are Omikuji, oracles written on paper. People give an offert and have this oracle giving advice on various matters, like exams, work, love .... After reading it people tide them up to a brunch or in organized space in the jinja courtyard.

In the Sensoji jinja compound there are many buildings, small and big temples, there is always a lot of people visiting and praying even in the small temples. All Asakusa area is full of turists, and around temples especially. This  was my first visit in Winter 05 and was raining, shame for the grey mood, but the whole area is very nice and interesting.

This is a side building housing a big bell, the green thing inside the window. The bell is used in buddist ceremonies by the priest. Is a very nice architecture, very clean, probably re-build not too long ago. in Japan traditional architecture is all made with wood structure, so after a certain number of years is not possible to restore it, must be rebuilt, keeping all parts that are not damaged, inside furnishing and architectural decorations. The courtyard is big and on the side of it there is a nice small garden very well kept. In the other picture we can see the innter temple, the altar with a statue of Lord Buddha and other accessories for rituals, like a big black bell on the left of the altar, tha wooden box on the floor in front of the altar is the Saisenbako, is an offertory box and people throw money into it before they says a prayer. 

In December 2005 I went for the first time to Japan in winter, that day was a very sunny but extremely and windy day, for that reason the sky was deeply blue (with a bit of help from a polarizing filter). This Temple is in Koriyama, a big town north of Tokyo on the Shinkansen (fast train) line half way to Okkaido. In this town there are very few old buildings, few Jinja, is all modern or just a bit old, modern urbanization devoured everything. Very little personality in the landscape. Just temple and graveyards are tokens of a great past with an incredible rich culture and art, even in the architectural styles. Probably only Kyoto has mantained the splendour of the past, in fact it was the ancient capital of Japan.

In Koriyama I found a miniature jinja in a niche cut in a commercial building. Is not so rare in Japan to find something lik this, probably it was the site of an ancient temple, may be destroyed, and the site remains holy land, the building develops itself around the site, to save space, and preserve the holy place. The temple is miniaturized (1 meter high), the wooden Torii (gate) is half way between life size and miniature, (1,5 meter) a child can get through standing, an adult should stoop, but is not a place to enter, just stop outside, bow and say a prayer..... I haven't meet a srinked priest, may be was gon for a little walk?

Tis is a Buddist priest celebrating a ritual of purification in Noghijinja in Asakasa, Tokyo. Is a great small temple on an hill ands surrounded by a park with very old trees in a modern residencial and commercial area of Tokyo. The big ves with large sleeves is called Hō. The wooden laquered clogs are called Asagutsu.

The Omikuji are little paper folded into a stripe and tied up to wires or little structures in Temples in Japan. The paper have an oracle written on it telling the future or giving advice on different subjects like love, work, study, family. Visiting a Jinja, especially on New Year's day, people ask for advice or fortune telling, after giving a small donation, people take a wooden box and after shaking it they extract from a little hole a numbered wooden stick and the Omikuji corresponding to that number is given by an attendant. After reading it, the paper is folded into a stripe and tied to a structure or a tree in the temple ground, in this temple, Nogijinja in Akasaka, Tokyo was shaped like a ball, interesting effect.

In Wakamatsu, on a back street I fount an old small Jinja suffocate by tall modern buildings, the site is very nice, shame for the surroundings. A red Torii and a Chozuya, a basin in stone filled with fresh (here very fresh, freezing) water to wash hands and rinse the mouth entering into the temple garden, to purify yourself before to enter the main temple, using the dipper on the right in the picture. Washing hands and mouth simbolise cleaning yourself from everyday life and worries and present yourself in front of God with clean, pure soul.

A stone lantern, Ishidoro, coverd with snow close to a temple in Kitakata, and around trees protected from the snow by a structure of wood and ropes to sustain the branches to avoid breking under the wait of the snow. Winter in this region is long and usually cold and snowy, in this moment is Febuary and in Milano the weather is  nice, not too cold (10C° in the day 0C° at night) and I saw on a web cam in Kitakata and Wakamatsu is snowing copiously and windy! Like to have a look for yourself? Go here. Fukushima region with many web cams locate in different locations, everytime I look Kitakata (top left on the map) or the Wakamatsu Station (JR on the map), I became nostalgic!

Cold day but sunny in Kitakata, in 2005 was my first time in Japan in Winter I was amazed to see how differen looks the landscape from Summer, especially because are very famous images of Japan in Spring or Autumn (the best seasons to visit) and rarely are seen pictures of Winter.Erroneusly we think of Japan of a warm country, always sunny and covered of cherry flowers ..... In fact Japan is a very long Country, longer than Italy considering only the main three islands, the there are tousand of small islands in the South, Okinawa is the most famous for the infamous battle in WW II. Torii are this pillars at the entrance of any temple (Jinja) in Japan, most of the times sre red, but an be raw wood or stone or concrete. They simbolize the passage, the division from the material world to the spiritual world. Somethimes a single Torii is found and somethimes a gallery forming  portico is found, very nice to walk inside and be inside this tunnel that reveal the temple at the end little by little, because are very rarely on a straight path, always forming a curve, a tortuose road like life is harduous journey to reach the true spirituality.

Winter time, again, and blue sky is ofthen seen in Japan, is nice to walk in the snow, smell the clear air, because in small town there is little pollution, and have the time to watch trees, roof and stones covered with snow. This is the main shrine in Kitakata, Teramachi Jinja, the architectural style is called Shinmei zukuri. Traditional buildings are all in wood and that make them more resistant to earthquakes, but have to be rebuilt every few hundred years, in art or completely, only statue end furnitures are very old.

This is the temple (Jinja) close to our house, is very beautyful especially in winter covered by snow, I like a lot the lanterns hanged at both side of the main building, here in the picture can see only one and the side building. Traditional Japanese architecture, like temples and also many houses, are all made in wood and are masterpieces of skill and craft. If you like Japanese architecture and like to know more I suggest you the great book of Edward S. Morse, he loved Japan and spend long time there to study not only buildings but also nature and drawing his illustrations. He wrote "Japanese Home and their Surroundings" back in 1886! Ias stil a fondamental tex for the understanding and appreciation of Japanese architecture.