J in Japan

ジェロニモン！

Vintage matchbox bought in Tokyo. The God with these nice earlobes is Ebisu, one of the Seven Gods of Fortune.

One of the mikoshi. Yasaka-jinja, Kyoto.

Gion Matsuri. Yasaka-jinja, Kyoto.

Susanoo-no-mikoto, the storm god, is worshipped in Yasaka-jinja. He was born when Izanagi washed his nose from the pollutants of Yomi, the underworld.

Gion Matsuri. Yasaka-jinja, Kyoto.

Carrying one of the Mikoshi, portable shrines to Yasaka-jinja, Kyoto.

Carrying one of the Mikoshi, portable shrines to Yasaka-jinja, Kyoto.

A ceremony during Gion Matsuri. Yasaka-jinja, Kyoto.

A ceremony during Gion Matsuri. Yasaka-jinja, Kyoto.

Mossy kitsune. Fushimi Inari-taisha, Kyoto.

This fox is one of the messengers of Inari Ōkami the Shinto god of fertility and business. Fushimi Inari-taisha, Kyoto.

View from Harakiri-maru in Japan’s largest castle Himeji-jō, another World Heritage Site. It is believed that Harakiri-maru was a place for ritual suicide, with its stage-like structure, sword racks and drains possibly filled with blood. Hyōgo prefecture.

Statue in the Tō-ji temple area. One of the numerous World Heritage sites in Kyoto.