Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 61mm, 1/250 sec, f/9.5, ISO 500.
Takayama Inari Shrine, and its senbon torii (thousand torii), are decidedly not easy to get to without a car: three buses, a long walk, and about two-and-a-half hours later we were exploring the grounds. The “thousand” torii is symbolic, rounded up from the just over 200 torii that are actually there. Regardless, they are striking and impressive and totally unlike anything I have ever seen before. Yes, I know there are a lot more than this in Kyoto, but I have never seen those. And these are doubly impressive for being in the middle of nowhere—I am sure that they get 10,000 times fewer visitors than their more famous big brother in Kyoto. I wanted to say that it was like finding these in the middle of Kansas somewhere, but regardless of how you feel about Kansas as a destination—and I mean no disrespect because I like Kansas—Kansas is on the way to lots of places; this isn’t on the way to anywhere.
The torii wind through the valley like a massive, crazy croquet course. I made about 65 different exposures and chose six to share here. As usual for these posts, I strove to share six with a variety of compositions. There are so many compositional possibilities that I would be happy to visit again.
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 24mm, 1/90 sec, f/9.5, ISO 500.
The sky was overcast so the light was very soft, as were the shadows. On a sunny day, there would be hard shadows in the mix, which would make for very different images. Again, another benefit of visiting again despite it being so far out of the way.
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 57mm, 1/90 sec, f/9.5, ISO 500.
There were only a few other people visiting. In this next image I only had to remove one couple—I’m sure this would have been much more challenging in Kyoto.
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 120mm, 1/500 sec, f/9.5, ISO 500.
I didn’t do anything to enhance the colors of the torii; if anything, I was worried that they were naturally too over-the-top already.
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 120mm, 1/750 sec, f/9.5, ISO 500.
This last view, back up the valley towards the start, is likened to a dragon. It is undeniably picturesque, but I imagine another ten days and the trees would have all been bursting with fall color. As it was, there were just a few trees starting to turn.
Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 24mm, 1/350 sec, f/9.5, ISO 500.
There are some fun pictures of this place online in the snow—the bright orange-red and white snow make a pretty amazing combination. If I ever take a winter trip to Hokkaido, I will try to detour here.
And next time I think I will take my fisheye to Japan, too, because I have to wonder what I could do with it here.
