To the Secret Hill Shrine ~ Hidden Japan

Say hi to all the stone monks as you climb the path.

I've probably posted photos from this place before. It's one of my favorite temples. This path winds up the mountain in several wide S loops. The entire way up, the inner loop has monk statues one after another. There must be hundreds all in all. I don't know how exactly this temple handles things, but usually things like this are paid for by members of this temple. You donate so much money and the temple puts up one of these in your name. Kind of a way to ensure you have good karma and will get a nice rebirth.

Unfortunately with the exception of Zen Buddhism, which regards things such as donating money to buy karma as silly and a waste of time, Buddhism in Japan is mostly a funeral business these days and engages in a lot of these money grabs. There is a reason for that, and maybe I'll get into it sometime in the future.

At any rate, it's not a long hike up, maybe about 15 minutes. It's not exactly steep, but steep enough that if you walk at a decent pace you will be winded when you get to the top. There usually aren't very many people up this way, so I enjoy coming and enjoying the peace.

Which do you prefer? Color or monochrome? For this shot, I prefer color. I shot this for color. I shot it at a fairly narrow aperture, so the many of the leaves are out of focus; had I intended for it to be in monochrome, I would have opened up the aperture as wide as I could go . But anyway, that's me. What do you think?



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Hi there! 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.

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