11 May 2007

The Ruins of the Shinto Shrine (Syonan Jinja)


At the summit, I saw the dimly remembered stone cistern which I saw seen twenty-six years ago at night.




Around the cistern, there were some moss-covered circular stone slabs with squarish pegholes. We had figured that these were originally for wooden pillars for an enclosure of some sort.



There were about six of these circular slabs.

Another quote from the National Library Board website:

"At the base of the pylon, in a small shed-like shrine were the remains of the fallen Japanese. In front of the monument was a font which visitors would take a sip from using a long-handled ladle. Shinto meaning "the way of the gods" is the native faith of the Japanese and is primarily pantheistic. It is necessary to cleanse oneself before approaching a Shinto Shrine for prayers, thus the provision of the font."

This would be the shed-like shrine where the font was located.


Posted by Picasa

No comments: