Zōkyō

The next morning we started off at Ikuta Shrine. The Shinto shrine is located in the Chūō Ward of Kobe, Japan, and is possibly among the oldest shrines in the country.

According to Nihon Shoki, it was founded by the Empress Jingū at the beginning of the 3rd century AD to enshrine the Kami Wakahirume, and was used as the base for a festival welcoming warriors back from the latest attempt to invade Korea. It now apparently carries a reputation of being a place at which NOT to marry as many famous Japanese couples who have been married here have since divorced.

Raccoon Dog and Blowfish

Yasuko and I went on three trips recently, the first to Bali, the second to Kobe, and the third to Hokkaido. We had a great time in each place and it was good to get out of Tokyo for a while. As my Bali project is not finished yet, I’ll start with Kobe, which began with a 3 day weekend and Yasuko saying to me, “Lets go down to the Shikansen station with a backpack, some sneakers and film, and a map…no plan otherwise,” which is what we did. When we got to the station, we considered Chugoku, specifically Tottori where I am still dying to go, Kyushu, and Tohoku but finally ended up going to Kobe, followed by Hemeji, and then stopped at Isejingu in Mie on the way home. I love that Yasuko loves to travel despite our ways of traveling being so different.

Anyway, I’ll tell more of the story as it moves along. This is near below Mount Rokkō and all the old consulate buildings, a really cool area of the city.