Traditional Japanese Wedding Dress by Wow Japanese
Brides host their wedding ceremony at a shrine wear a shiromuku, a white wedding kimono, which represents “the purity and sacred of the bride,” and a wataboshi, a white hat (acts as a veil), is often worn, too.
While western style of wedding and bridal gowns have become quite popular among Japanese brides over the years, Shinto Wedding remains significant as:
Shinto Wedding is often held on a small scale involving the couple, immediate family members and close friends. So not only it is more convenient but more affordable to hold a reasonably extravagant traditional Japanese style wedding.
Na in het noorden van Kyoto te hebben gereisd zijn we in het zuiden naar Fushimi Inari Taisha gegaan. Deze staat bekend om zijn duizenden torii’s (naar schatting 40.000). De shrine is geweid aan Inari, de Shinto god van de rijst.
Naar het schijnt moet je onderweg opletten voor je nagels, omdat de vossengeesten (waarvan vele beeldjes rond de tempel staan) onder je nagels kruipen en jou beheersen.
The Sessho-seki, a famous rock in Nasu, Japan that was said to have imprisoned the evil nine-tailed fox demoness Tamamo-no-Mae, was found broken in half.
After nearly 1,000 years, the demon vixen is presumably once again on the loose.
In 2019, German photographer Ronny Behnert travelled the length of Japan photographing traditional Torrii gates. Despite capturing some of Japan’s most photographed landscapes, the resulting series won Behnert first prize in the Sony World Photography Awards, 2020.
Using an involved process that combines neutral density filters and long-exposure times to carefully control the light, Behnert’s otherworldly portraits capture Japan’s Torii gates like never before. Pictured in sharp focus against a bleached-out backdrop of hazy greys, Behnert’s Torii appear to float – hanging in mid-air or cast out to sea, anchored in a tiny slice of land. Isolated like this, the significance of Japan’s iconic gateways are more keenly felt as sacred portals to the spiritual realm.
For more of Behnert’s atmospheric travel photography, find him on Instagram