Located in the city of Kitakyushu, Japan, Kawachi Fuji Garden is home to an incredible 150 Wisteria flowering plants spanning 20 different species. The garden’s main attraction is the Wisteria tunnel that allows visitors to walk down an enchanting tunnel exploding with colour. Source: Pinterest / Twistedsifter
Kawachi Fuji Gardens in Kitakyushu, Japan ( 5 hours from Tokyo, if you take the Nozomi high speed train) is where you will find this pastel-colored fairytale tunnel. The gardens are home to about 150 Wisteria flowering plants spanning 20 different species (white, blue, purple, violet-blue and pink). This is the reason why the Wisteria tunnel is so colorful and graceful. Check out more in this link ( http://www.tourismontheedge.com/place…)
Best time to visit is from late April to mid May (depends on the weather each year). The peak is normally at end of April to the Golden Week. Not every year wisteria blooms so magnificently. To get to the garden from JR Yahata station, take Nishitetsu bus #56 and get off at Kawachi Elementary School. Then walk 10-15 min to the garden.
American Survey Team Member pauses in front of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall 1945. The 4 square miles of densely built-up area in the heart of the city — residential, commercial, and military — contained three-fifths of the total population.
If there were about 245,000 people in the city at the time of the attack, the density in the congested area must have been about 35,000 per square mile. Five completed evacuation programs and a sixth then in progress had reduced the population from its wartime peak of 380,000. In Hiroshima the dwellings were of wood construction; very few were more than two stories. There were no masonry division walls.
Large groups of dwellings clustered together. The type of construction, coupled with antiquated fire-fighting equipment and inadequately trained personnel, made even in peacetime a high possibility of conflagration. Nearly seven percent of the residential units had been torn down to make firebreaks, but the firestorm jumped the human-made breaks and the rivers as well. Many buildings were of poor construction by American standards.
The principal points of weakness were the extremely small tenons, the inadequate tension joints, and the inadequate or poorly designed lateral bracings. Reinforced concrete framed buildings were not uniform in design and in quality of materials. Some of the construction details (reinforcing rod splices, for example) were often poor, and much of the concrete was definitely weak; thus some reinforced concrete buildings collapsed and suffered structural damage when within 2,000 feet of the hypocenter, and some internal wall paneling was demolished even up to 3,800 feet. Other buildings, however, were constructed far more strongly than is required by normal building codes in America, to resist earthquakes.
Since the 1923 earthquake, construction regulations in Japan have specified that the roof must safely carry a minimum load of 70 pounds per square foot (708 kilograms per square centimeter) whereas American 1945 requirements did not normally exceed 40 pounds per square foot (405 kilograms per square centimeter) for similar types. Though the regulation was not always followed, this extra strong construction was encountered in some of the buildings near ground zero at Hiroshima, and undoubtedly accounts for their ability to withstand atomic bomb pressures without structural failures.
Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺, literally “Temple of the Golden Pavilion”), officially named Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺, literally “Deer Garden Temple”), is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan.It is one of the most popular buildings in Japan, attracting a large number of visitors annually. It is designated as a National Special Historic Site and a National Special Landscape, and it is one of 17 locations making up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which are World Heritage Sites.
Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社 Itsukushima-jinja) is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima), best known for its “floating” torii gate. It is in the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. The shrine complex is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Japanese government has designated several buildings and possessions as National Treasures.
History
Itsukushima jinja was the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) of Aki Province.
The shrine has been destroyed several times, but the first shrine buildings were probably erected in the 6th century. The present shrine dates from the mid-16th century, and is believed to follow an earlier design from the 12th century.That design was established in 1168, when funds were provided by the warlord Taira no Kiyomori.
The shrine was “devoted to the worship of goddesses to whom Kiyomori owed thanks, he felt, for his success in life.” Originally it was a pure Shinto shrine “where no births or deaths were allowed to cause pollution. Its treasures include the celebrated Heike NĹŤkyĹŤ, or ‘Sutras dedicated by the Taira House of Taira’. These consist of thirty-two scrolls, on which the Lotus and other sutras have been copied by Kiyomori, his sons, and other members of the family, each completing the writing of one scroll. Kiyomori lavished great wealth upon Itsukushima, and he liked to show the place to his friends and colleagues, or even to royal personages…”[6]
The Itsukushima Shrine at high tide, when it appears to float on the water
The shrine was designed and built on pier-like structures over the bay so that it would appear to be floating on the water, separate from the sacred island, which could be approached by the devout.
Near the main shrine is a noh stage which dates from 1590.[2] Noh theater performances have long been used to pay homage to the gods through the ritual acting out of key events in Shinto myth.
The dramatic gate, or torii, of Itsukushima Shrine is one of Japan’s most popular tourist attractions, and the most recognizable and celebrated feature of the Itsukushima shrine, and the view of the gate in front of the island’s Mount Misen is classified as one of the Three Views of Japan (along with the sand bar Amanohashidate, and Matsushima Bay). Although a gate has been in place since 1168, the current gate dates back only to 1875.
The gate, built of decay-resistant camphor wood, is about 16 metres high. The placement of an additional leg in front of and behind each main pillar identifies the torii as reflecting the style of RyĹŤbu ShintĹŤ (dual Shinto), a medieval school of esoteric Japanese Buddhism associated with the Shingon Sect.
The torii appears to be floating only at high tide. When the tide is low, it is approachable by foot from the island. Gathering shellfish near the gate is also popular at low tide. At night, powerful lights on the shore illuminate the torii.
Religious significance
The shrine is dedicated to the three daughters of Susano-o no Mikoto, Shinto god of seas and storms, and brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu (tutelary deity of the Imperial Household). Because the island itself has been considered sacred, commoners were not allowed to set foot on it throughout much of its history to maintain its purity. To allow pilgrims to approach, the shrine was built like a pier over the water, so that it appeared to float, separate from the land.The red entrance gate, or torii, was built over the water for much the same reason. Commoners had to steer their boats through the torii before approaching the shrine.
Retaining the purity of the shrine is so important that since 1878, no deaths or births have been permitted near it.[9] To this day, pregnant women are supposed to retreat to the mainland as the day of delivery approaches, as are the terminally ill or the very elderly whose passing has become imminent. Burials on the island are forbidden.
The islet of Akajima is popular among Japanese day-trippers during summer, but foreign travelers are a rare sight. It retains a sequestered charm even during peak season. The beaches are spotless, usually dotted with just a handful of surfers.
Highlight: Further inland, a quaint Ryukyuan heritage house is open to visitors.
