After the intense amount of walking and shopping in and around Harajuku, I decided to take a detour towards the Meiji Shrine.  To get from Harajuku to the Shrine, you typically cross the Jingu bridge.  Supposedly, on the weekends, the bridge will host a number of people who are dressed in cosplay, gothic, or some other style.  If you haven’t seen it, Google “Harajuku”, and I’m sure you’ll find a few if not a good bit of photos regarding the people and trends of Harajuku.

Anyways, once you cross the bridge, and begin heading to your right, you’ll see a large torii and what looks like a long trail with a few people heading in and out of the shrine grounds.  I stopped over and took a look at the map and information regarding the shrine and its history.  There is a lot of walking involved, and what is great is that, you are surrounded by vegetation and low light, so it feels like you are miles away from modern civilization (shopping arcades, trains, buses, cars, etc).  You know, I had thought of wearing my new shoes around since they kind of matched what I was wearing at the time, but instead, I decided to keep on the pair I had since I was walking on rocks and gravel (not good for new shoes).

The train tracks that the Jingū bridge looks over

The VERY large torii that you go under to enter the pathway leading to the shrine

so you're saying I have to walk all that??

General info regarding the shrine and sanctuary grounds

Another look at the torii. I really like how the sun came out long enough for this photo.

Don't wear good shoes here! I don't know how that guy (by the white sign) is wearing sandals!?

These trails are seem to curve around the entire shrine area.  On my way, I passed barrels of sake, reminding me of the sight I saw in Kamakura.  After about 5 minutes, I arrived at an intersection where I could keep going or turn to my left.  I went left and headed towards the main shrine sanctuary.  Once there, I saw a place to wash my hands.  I did and then walked into the sanctuary itself.  Once inside, the first thing I saw, was a large tree with fence of sorts around it and then a lot of pieces of wood hanging from the posts.  Upon further examination, I saw that these pieces of wood had custom messages written on them.  In fact, there were a good number of the messages not written in Japanese, such as in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, and Korean.  The messages that I could read (the English and Spanish ones) were sometimes serious in nature.  People gave thanks for their life or current status and were also asking for guidance in future endeavors.  Others were a bit funny and I suppose people didn’t know what to write, so they put a message to a friend who was in another country – telling them, “hope you find this block, let me know if you do on your visit.  Take a photo and I will give you $100!”  Of course, that was pretty funny considering, that those blocks are probably removed every now and then so that there is always room to place more and more blocks, oh well!  So, where do you get these wooden blocks form?  Well, nearby, there is a stand or store that is selling all kinds of sacred items, including the blocks of wood for you to write your message on.  I thought about it, but thought I’d rather use the $ to get something to eat later…I was running low on cash, haha.

The barrels of sake that line a small portion of the path

Zoomed out to see all those barrels!

The barrels of wine that from wineries in Bourgogne, France

Provenance of the Bourgogne Wine for Consecration at Meiji Jingu

Another torii, this time leading to the main shrine. These things are tall!!

O'torii - The Grand Shrine-Gate of the Meiji Shrine

yup yup, another torii. This one leads you right into the main sanctuary...wash your hands before going in!!

I almost forgot to wash my hands!! So I went back...and took a photo for you guys, haha

Those posts are interlocked together without the use of any kind of substance

One can enter the main shrine from different directions...or get lost w/ all the paths and entrances around!

Those are very big trees. The sanctuary itself is much larger, look @ the space b/w me and that entry!!

You just feel so small in here, with everything taking up a lot of space or being tall

The prayer tablets. I wonder how many have been written (counting all of history). So many I bet!

The entrance that I cam through...looks like that guy is happy to be here, hahaha

After taking in the scene, I decided to walk back to Harajuku station.  So once I reached the streets of Harajuku again, I began looking for the entrance to the metro station below.  As I was walking, one Japanese gentleman came up to me and asked me if I was interested in partying and was trying to give me a flyer, but I was tired and didn’t have any free hands.  So I played the real ignorant card…no I didn’t say I don’t speak Japanese since he was speaking English after all   No, I actually decided to speak in Spanish and tell him that I understood no English at all.  Of course he had no clue what I was saying, so he had a surprised look and stopped walking beside me, hahaha.

As I entered the subway station, I realized that I was dead tired.  So I headed back to the hotel, picked up a bunch of snacks from the 7-11 nearby, and then decided to call it a night.  Boy, shopping can be tiring!  But it was awesome to see all the independent shops at Laforet with all the colors and prints, and then comparing that to the traditional colors and designs of the Meiji Shrine (明治神宮).  One thing about Tokyo that I just love is the dichotomy that is presented in so many locations; the historical with the modern…and sometimes the futuristic!

Filed under: Travel by Giancarlo Deleon