New Years 2002


For Christmas & New Years vacation this year I did a lot of things. I went to an onsen (hot spring) in Ise, went to Ise Sengoku Mura (a sort of Samurai/Ninja theme park), went to the wonderful Osaka Aquarium, and also went to a couple of shrines with friends.

To bring in the new year I went with some friends to Kitano Shrine in Kyoto. I wont go into all the details of that night since my coworkers have already done that for me. If you're interested in those details just CLICK HERE (and click on the 01/01/02 entry by Alex).

 

Kitano Shrine was erected in 947 in memory of Sugawara Michizane, God of Calligraphy and Literature. The present buildings were reconstructed in 1607. Michizane was so fond of plum-blossoms during his lifetime that worshippers dedicated a great number of plum trees to him. In march one can still enjoy the view os the plum-blossoms.


After Kitano I went out with some of the same friends to another shrine (Imamiya Ebisu in Osaka) on January 3rd. The interesting thing with that was that my friends dressed in kimonos. Their outfits were really beautiful even if they did seem a bit out of place on the subway train. Left and below are some pictures of my friends in their kimonos (which took 2 hours to put on).






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