Shichi-Go-San at Mishima Taisha

Families in formal dress, an ema wall thick with wishes, and a main hall carved wall to wall in keyaki wood — one November morning at a shrine in Shizuoka.

November 14, 2010Mishima Taisha, Mishima, Shizuoka, JapanNikon D90 · 18-105mm zoom · f/5.6-10, ISO 200-800

I didn’t plan this trip around Shichi-Go-San — I just happened to be in Mishima on November 14th, and it happened to be the week families bring their three-, five-, and seven-year-olds to the shrine in their first formal kimono. I ended up shooting a lot more of that than I did the architecture I came for, which was the right trade.

Arriving

The approach to Mishima Taisha runs under a row of weeping cherries, bare by November, with toy and snack stalls set up on both sides for the occasion.

Approach path to Mishima Taisha lined with festival stalls under bare weeping cherry trees — Nakamise-style stalls along the sando, 1/100s at f/10.

Visitors at the Shinmon gate of Mishima Taisha, with a Shichi-Go-San banner hanging inside — Arriving at the Shinmon gate, banners up for Shichi-Go-San.

View looking outward through the Shinmon gate at Mishima Taisha, with a chrysanthemum-crest curtain overhead — The same gate an hour later, looking back out.

The Main Hall

Mishima Taisha’s Honden dates to a mid-19th-century rebuild, and it’s busiest exactly where you’d expect on a day like this — the steps up to the hall, where families were queuing to have their kids blessed, chrysanthemum pots and all.

Families and children in kimono gathered in front of Mishima Taisha's main hall for Shichi-Go-San — Families waiting their turn at the Honden, 1/100s at f/9.

A family walking across the courtyard, a child pushing a tricycle, in front of Mishima Taisha's main hall — A tricycle made it further into the shrine grounds than I expected.

Upward angle of the main hall's curved copper roof and eave brackets — The eave from underneath — hard to get this angle without a crowd in frame.

Close-up of gold chrysanthemum crests on a carved wooden gable ornament — Gilt chrysanthemum crests on the gable ornament.

Porch of the offering hall at Mishima Taisha with gold-fitted railings and hanging lanterns — The offering hall's porch — gold fittings on every joint, lanterns still lit at midday.

Even standing back from the steps, the Honden is hard to fit in one frame — the roofline keeps going wherever you point the camera.

Front view of Mishima Taisha's main hall with a thick shimenawa rope and a Shichi-Go-San banner tent to the side — The shimenawa rope and gate banner, straight on. 'Celebrating Shichi-Go-San,' the sign on the right reads.

Families gathered in front of Mishima Taisha's main hall, a more relaxed moment between ceremonies — A quieter moment in front of the hall, between blessings.

Visitors queuing under a white tent in front of Mishima Taisha's main hall — Queuing under the tent for a blessing, main hall behind.

Wide view of Mishima Taisha's main hall and offering hall together, with visitors in the courtyard — Honden and Heiden together, one visitor in a robe I didn't recognize the origin of.

Carved in Keyaki

The reason to slow down at this particular shrine is the woodwork. The Honden’s exterior is covered in relief carving — dense, unpainted keyaki panels of figures, horses, and clouds that most visitors walk straight past on their way to the steps.

Detailed wood relief carving on Mishima Taisha's main hall, showing a robed figure on horseback and a dragon — A rider and a dragon, carved in a single panel. 1/60s at f/5.6, 105mm.

Wood relief carving of a large group of robed figures on Mishima Taisha's main hall — A whole crowd of figures in the next panel over.

Prayers and Drums

Off to the side of the main hall: a wall of ema, the small wooden plaques people write wishes on and leave behind, and — in a separate building — the drum and paper streamers used in the shrine’s own rites.

A stone path lined with persimmon trees near Mishima Taisha, with a sign for the treasure hall — The path over, persimmon trees just starting to turn, treasure hall sign pointing the other way.

A wall covered in wooden ema votive plaques at Mishima Taisha — Ema plaques, several rows deep, most too personal to read closely.

Wooden ema votive plaque stands under a large tree at Mishima Taisha, with visitors nearby — A second, smaller set of ema stands under one of the shrine's big trees.

Sacred paper streamers (shide) and a drum arranged on an altar inside Mishima Taisha — Paper streamers and a drum, set up for a ritual I didn't stay to see.

A wooden drum pavilion at Mishima Taisha next to a maple tree in red autumn color — The drum pavilion, framed by the only maple that had really turned that week.

The Garden Pond

I ended the visit where the crowds thinned out — a pond garden at the edge of the grounds, a red-railed bridge, and enough koi to keep a long lens busy for longer than I meant to spend there.

A red-railed bridge over a pond at Mishima Taisha, with a family feeding ducks — A family feeding the ducks from the bridge.

A red bridge and a small red sub-shrine surrounded by pine and greenery at Mishima Taisha — The same bridge, closer, with a small red sub-shrine behind it.

Orange and grey koi swimming close to the surface of a pond at Mishima Taisha — Koi in the same pond, 1/80s to mostly freeze them.

This was one shoot out of a much longer roll — the honest version of that morning includes a lot of near-identical shots of the same roofline, taken while I waited for the crowd in front of it to thin out. These are the ones that were worth keeping.