finding festival around oji : December 5 2024

one fine thursday night, @ohlnwwlknat mentioned something about a festival happening on the next day in a shrine in oji.
i have attended that same festival in a different venue last month and had entry of it as follows; but this one was said to be the last for this year.

prosperity festival on an auspicious rooster day : November 5 2024

my brain immediately had an idea, since i still do not have any destination for tonight's nightwalking, why not try visiting that venue instead?
so this night walker immediately put on some gear, opened pokemon go, and started to explore outside.

nishi nippori

yes, i have been enjoying pokemon go for a week now.
it is an addition to my nightwalking journey because of the route following capabilities.
and when i couldn't see any route, i would just create one.
i followed one going to nishi nippori, and from there i created a new one to my destination.
at one point, i passed through this park and was surprised to see people gathering while having some alcoholic drinks, that is a rare occasion in public areas here in japan.

the station as viewed from a footbridge, trains still fascinates me up to this point.
just look at that bluish hue.
and it makes me sad knowing that we do not have even one train line back in my hometown.

takinogawa

continuing my journey along residential areas, the pokemons i caught around these places were mostly the bird types and the sloth types, nothing noteworthy really.
the scenes were also pretty pale, and i badly needed a toilet break, i rushed through.
i am pretty sure that this was a private area so i stood from afar, but that christmas tree really caught my eye.
i almost forgot that i was in need of a toilet.

now this is a public building for sure, a community center and a library are housed in here.
and again i was amazed by the architecture, large circular columns supporting rounded structures.
this area sure love their buildings big, and i was ready to enter in search of the elusive toilet.
the building was closed for the day.

and here i am again distracted by the greeneries, or should it be yelloweries?
i am not sure if there are some reds in there, my colorblindness is at its worst in the dark.
but these autumn colors are very pretty indeed, even a normal parking area looks so elegant under these trees.
i should have went deep into the neighboring takinogawa park for the public toilet, but here i was stuck in this parking area instead.
oh the choice i make are sometimes questionable.

asukayama park

proceeded further, even the normal pathways looks very pretty around these places.
the magic of autumn leaves against those dark blue sky, very very eye catching.
i finally entered asukayama park perfectly knowing that there was a public toilet near the entrance.
i have been here a couple of times and have always used that same toilet in all of those times.
the park also hosts a lot of pokemon gyms and stops, it would have been wise for me to stay for a bit.

right in front of the park was one of the few places where this tram line intersects with the public roads of tokyo.
one of the two surviving tram lines in tokyo, the toden arakawa line, is still well loved and widely used to this day and you can read much of it below.

POBphotocontest : OLD yet charming tokyo tram line

otonashi water park

oh yes, i am here again.
and yet again, the innermost portions of the park is closed off at this time.
it is very hard to see things down there too.

at this point i was trying to explore the neighboring area.
oji station was just beside the park and i stayed in that area for a bit, the pokemon gyms were just too hard to resist.
i participated in 2 raids, and pokemon trainers were still active in this area, making it easier to conquer raids.

without knowing were it led, i climbed up this well lit path until i reached this very large ginkgo tree with a trunk circumference of 5.2 meters.
apparently, it was 600 years old and designated as a tokyo natural monument.
it was quite dark though and the bright pathway overshined the tree silhouette.
and this path led me to my end destination.

oji shrine

it is my first time to be in this shrine, i saw it once from outside and promised to be back someday.
that day or night finally came and the night definitely added to the drama.
now, no one exactly knows when this shrine was established but it was believed to be in the 1300's around the same time the very large ginkgo tree overlooking the river below was also planted.
according to its website, the shrine was destroyed during the war; only the large tree miraculously remained.

the shrine has its mikoshi, portable shrine used during festivals, on display in a glass room near the entrance.
it is about 550 kg in weight and was a new addition to the shrine donated in 2017.
just look at the close up details of this mini shrine, this probably took a long time to complete.

the main entrance to the shrine is also grand.
this main torii gate is made of granite and at 8.6 meters tall, it is one of the largest torii gate in tokyo.

now, i have looked around this shrine but couldn't find any activity at all.
where is the said festival?
festival is scheduled tomorrow, so probably all the preparations will also happen tomorrow.
knowing how efficient and time conscious the japanese are, that is very much possible.

the road home

i ended up traversing a different path on the way home.
quite disappointed to see no festival, i informed my housemate about the absence of any activity in the shrine.
to my surprise, he asked which oji shrine i went to, there were two shrines in oji.
the festival seemed to be in the other shrine just a few more meters away, the oji inari shrine.
oh well, that was a bit anti-climactic.

i guess it was not meant to be.
and it was pretty late and i'd rather be home, there was no turning back.
if the tram was here when i passed by, i would have hopped on and got off near home.
i still have pokemon go to distract me though.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY!