day out with Mizuho & Co.

Paid a visit to Hie shrine with Mizuho and her kids the other day. Hie shrines have been built and rebuilt since the 15th century, by various rulers seeking to enshrine their guardian deities. This particular one -- "constructed in the Gongen-Zukuri style with vermilion-lacquered finishings" -- was built in 1958 (replacing the previous Hie shrine which burned down during WWII, in 1945.) It's in Nagatacho 2-chome, west of the National Diet building, not far from the Imperial Palace.

The stairs we took back out to the main road (Sotobori ave., which separates Nagatacho from Akasaka, where Mizuho lives, and eventually runs into Roppongi dori) reminded me the Inari shrine outside Kyoto, the one famous for its 10,000 torii gates.

Hie shrine, July 2010
Inari shrine, December 2008