These two camphor trees were planted in 1920. They are now known as "meoto kusu" (Husband and Wife) and are symbols of a happy marriage and harmonious life.
We have seen ema, the prayer boards, before. Interestingly, there were several asking that the Korean Kpop group BTS come to Japan!
On our way back out:
Post visit snack:
I've always heard the term camphor used in scent or medicinal related things but never new it came from a tree. According to Wikipedia, it is considered an noxious weed here in the U.S. and Australia.
ReplyDeleteEd, camphor oil is one oil that is used for oiling martial arts weapons.
DeleteInteresting that it is a weed tree here. As in the picture, they are rather spectacular.
Another day's post leads to further searching, one camphor tree in Japan is 700 hundred years old.....yowsa! What was the snack TB?
ReplyDeleteNylon12, that does not surprise me at all. One of the trees at the Hachiman Jingu (prior to its fall in 2010) was over 500 years old.
DeleteThe snack was a sort of sweet pastry. Japan has a love of baked goods ala French Pastries.
What a beautiful place!
ReplyDeleteSarge, I think it is one of my highlights of visiting Tokyo.
DeleteLooks like a popular place. Interesting about the prayer requests. Also interesting to see the closeup of the roof. Have to wonder how they made curved beams.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, several of the temples and shrines we visited were busy. I think part of that is due to the Festival of Setsubun, celebrating the last day of Winter.
DeleteModern curvature of wood involves heat and pressure. From a very brief view online, it appears traditional curved beams may be completely hand carved.