Shrine Trippin'

It occurred to H and myself that our wedding date was fast approaching and yet we had not a single plan written in stone. This is what happens when squealy friends are not present to carry me along on their excitement train, flipping through wedding magazines and going to bridal shows and the like... I suppose I would do it myself, but I know (and have been able to find out so little of the things I want to know) so little about Shinto weddings that I'm rather lost. I know that magazines exist for Shinto weddings in Japan, the problem is that the kanji are far too numerous and I cannot read them well enough to make them useful. Thankfully, once we got on the ball, H broke out his organizational skills and we are well on our way to having a plan.

The other day we checked out some shrines in person. You might recall that, from way before, I was in favour of Hakone shrine. Well, we drove about two hours to get there, waited in a line of idling cars (and yes, our car was idling, too...don't even get me started on the Japanese and car idling) and finally got a parking spot. Of course, people were still getting their hatsumode on, and  once January is over, things will quiet down.

Hakone Jinja

 

Must say, I was a little disappointed with the shrine - I had built it up in my head to be this amazingly magnificent collection of buildings when in reality it is quite a small shrine. It's beautiful, and the surrounding trees, lake and view are stunning, but still, I was a little let down. But, I got over it and in the end, after much mulling over of things, chose Hakone.


Reasons I had aplenty. For one, the sando (the pathway leading to the shrine, right), is just fantastic. It is in the forest and comprised of quite a few steep, stone steps. The trees are so tall - it makes me feel like I'm in a fairy tale. It's lined with stone lanterns and has a few bright, orange buildings off to the side, including a dojo and kyudo (Japanese archery) range. Another winning point is that it is located on the shore of Lake Ashi, in which it has a large torii (below, left). On a clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji peeking out from above the other hills of Hakone...It's brilliant. Did I mention there are pirate ships sailing the waters of Lake Ashi?? Even better.

Hakone also lends it self well to a weekend adventure. It is just crawling with hot springs (to be enjoyed in birthday suits only), is home to an old, red train (the Hakone Tozan Railway) that switch-backs its way through the mountains, has a cable car that glides over a volcanic valley spewing clouds of white and yellow volcanic gasses (Owakudani - this link has a video and even shows the pirate ship!), is the site of one of the old check-points to enter Edo (the old name for Tokyo) and still has part of the original Tokaido (the ancient road connecting Kyoto to Edo) winding through its woods. And pirate ships. Oh, I already mentioned those, didn't I... 

The Other Contenders (AKA - The Losers...I kid, I kid...) 

After Hakone, we sped back towards the ocean for a stop in Kamakura. H was gunning for Kamakura's Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, but as light was fading fast, and we figured Hachimangu would have better lighting than some of the other myriad shrines in Kamakura, we decided to save it for last and instead dropped in to see Kamakura-gu. 

Kamakura-gu

It was cute, it had miko (shrine attendants dressed in red hakama and white haori) and it was slightly off the beaten track, but it was, well, meh. I blame the lack of orange paint, not to mention the blatantly visible pop machines. It just didn't scream "fairy tale" to me.

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu 

This shrine is truly something. It is HUGE, absolutely beautiful and a little too popular for my liking. It you do a search of 'Tsurugaoka Hachimangu weddings' on Yahoo or Google, the number of tourist shots of brides that pop up is enough to sober any excitement one might feel at having their wedding there. And me being 'gaijin' (a foreigner) pretty much guarantees that not only will other foreigners be snapping my picture, but scores of Japanese tourists will be doing so as well. Yikes. Like I won't already be stressed out enough worrying about tripping over my zori (traditional sandals) and ruining a freakishly expensive, rented wedding outfit (expensive to the point that very few people can afford to buy their own).

 

Hachimangu did have something very powerful that nearly swayed me, though: Cherry Blossoms. Early April is peak sakura season and the sando that leads to the shrine is lined with cherry trees (right, but lacking blossoms). It would be pretty darn beautiful, especially a picture taken by one of the bridges at the entrance of the shrine, with water lilies in the background and sakura petals fluttering around... But then again, camera-wielding tourists...

Anyway, Hakone won, as already mentioned. The other shrines will just have to deal with being visited in a less formal manner.