Jan 25

Jan 25 Around Zojoji

I finally got back to explore around Zojoji. I have lived in Tokyo for too long to not have gone and shot here. I first came here last year for Tokyo Photo and since I have wanted to come back. The break over new years gave me a lot of down time to catch up on my shooting. I had a good laugh when I pulled into this very empty parking lot that had almost all of the spaced coned off. People think I make up all of this stuff about cones or look for extreme examples but it is everyone in Japan. This is a country of excessive use of cones.

Today's configuration: Hasselblad 501cm with a Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8 shot on Tx 400.

Zojoji is a interesting temple. It dates back to 809. Six of the 15 Tokugawa shoguns are buried at Zojoji.

One of the interesting parts of the temple is the Unborn Children Garden. You see these in a lot of temples in Japan. Rows of stone statues of children representing the unborn children of Japan such as miscarried, aborted and stillborn. The statues are Jizo, the guardian of unborn children who ensures they are brought to the afterlife.