Join me on a a photowalk!

It's been unusually warm all summer and this continues now. But we can find some colored leaves if you know where to look. They are still mostly green, but you can see the hints of yellow in some of the leaves. This is one of my favorite views in the city, looking over a pond towards a traditional Japanese bridge. I have this same shot in all the different seasons. I should search through my Lightroom library sometime and get all four side by side.

Anyway I come here often because it is near by house and I almost inevitability take a photo from here every time I come.

Next I climbed some steps and found myself at the castle keep. It's not especially impressive when compared to some of the larger castles of Japan. It is on the small side and doesn't look as authentic as it might. It was rebuilt in a time when all the rage was to build a concrete structure that only vaguely resembled the old castles on the outside and was a simple museum inside.

Be that as it may, it still is nice to visit and adds a sense of history to the area.

I wondered around the area, just walking aimlessly, enjoying being outside. I passed a statue that I've passed hundreds of times, but this time I stopped and really looked at it for maybe the first time.

I call them the lost boys, using the label from Peter Pan, but it's actually a single boy in two different poses: Takechiyo, the boyhood name of the man who would go on to found the Tokugawa Shogunate that would rule Japan for 250 years, Tokugawa Ieyasu. There are several statues of young Takechiyo around here since he was born in the nearby castle.

The tree behind him is a cherry tree, by the way.

I then crossed a bridge (called the Takechiyo Bridge) and walked around in the neighborhood next door where I ran into this guy.

Finding small roadside shrines like this is far from uncommon. Some people pause and pray, many more ignore the shrine and pass by. Its just a random bit of good luck for most folks, a tiny sign that there might be an old Japanese god or buddha looking out for them.

I ended the photowalk by returning to the bridge we saw in the first photo. This time I was on the opposite side of it and it was dark. The setting sun was just slightly above the horizon. I liked how it turned out, with most of the shot lost in shadows, but with the bridge and the hint of an amazing sunset beyond.

Nice touch!

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org.