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Trees for Christmas

At the end of last week I visited my local jinja, Shirahata Hachiman Daijin, and the autumn leaves were looking very good.

A red-leaved Japanese maple in front of a torii, against a blue sky.

The trees and other plants in the precincts at this jinja have been carefully planned so that there is something worth seeing at almost any time of the year.

A torii and sanctuary, seen from beneath a red-leaved maple.

Unfortunately, the gingko had to be pruned a few years ago, and the leaves are only just recovering. This year, they did turn quite yellow, so maybe they will be back to being photo-worthy soon.

I do not post many photographs here, because it is a bit complicated. This is not a personal blog. I might not make that much money from Mimusubi, but it is a commercial endeavour, and therefore I need permission from a jinja to use photographs that I took on the grounds. I have permission from my local jinja (although, thinking about it, I should probably check that they are still happy), but getting permission from other jinja is quite a lot of trouble. Indeed, a member of staff at one large jinja told me that it was too much trouble, and I should just post without asking. As I work for Jinja Honchō, however, I really can’t do that — it could cause a lot of trouble. It’s simply not worth the effort for a single blog post, or even for a single essay.

So, I hope you enjoy the photographs I can post, and apologise that I can’t post more.

I have a Patreon, where people join as paid members to receive an in-depth essay on some aspect of Shinto every month, or as free members to receive notifications of updates to this blog. If that sounds interesting to you, please take a look.

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