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Places & Pieces

Stop 1/10Shirakawa-go

01Shirakawa-go2 frames
02Takayama2 frames
03Kanazawa2 frames
04Kyoto7 frames
05Hiroshima1 frame
06Iwakuni3 frames
07Miyajima3 frames
08Dazaifu4 frames
09Nara3 frames
10Tokyo1 frame

Chapter 01 Spring 2025

Japan

The snow came late. The spring came anyway.

10 stops 28 frames

Begin the route

Stop 1 of 10 Shirakawa-go 2 frames, Nos. 01–02

Two wooden farmhouses, one with a steep thatched roof, stand behind banks of snow and are reflected in a still pond while light snow falls. — 01Shirakawa-go
Snow I never planned for, settling on the thatch.

The route

It was late March, and the mountains were still holding on to winter. Snow I hadn't planned for fell on thatched roofs, on a still pond, between the cedars. Of everything on the trip, it is what stayed with me longest.

After the snow, the days grew quiet. I walked through towns with nowhere to be: a side street in the morning, an old street as the lamps came on, a bicycle resting against a wall. Then, somewhere along a canal, the blossom opened.

These twenty-eight frames follow that turn from winter into spring: the snow, then Takayama and Kanazawa, Kyoto in full blossom, and on through Hiroshima, Iwakuni, Miyajima, Dazaifu and Nara. They end in Tokyo, in a crowd, after all that quiet.

Shirakawa-go

Tall, straight cedar trunks rise from a bank of snow, with light flakes falling between them. — 02Shirakawa-go
Under the cedars, the snow kept falling.

02Stop 2 of 10

Takayama

The lamps coming on, one by one.

2 frames Nos. 03–04

A quiet residential street with a tiled-roof house behind a grey concrete block wall, a trimmed pine over the gate, and a bare tree at right. — 03Takayama, morning
An ordinary street, and the pine that keeps it.

A narrow street of dark wooden merchant houses with lit lamps and shop signs, leading to a pale evening sky, with a few tiny figures far down the street. — 04Takayama, dusk
The lamps coming on, one by one.

03Stop 3 of 10

Kanazawa

A bicycle at rest, pansies for company.

2 frames Nos. 05–06

A road passes under cherry trees in pale blossom and tall pines, with a lamp post and a pedestrian crossing sign beside it and two or three tiny walkers in the distance. — 05Kanazawa
Blossom arching over a road with hardly anyone on it.

A silver city bicycle with a front basket leans against a weathered wooden wall, with potted plants and yellow pansies beside it. — 06Kanazawa
A bicycle at rest, pansies for company.

04Stop 4 of 10

Kyoto

A small bridge, and the blossom closing over the water.

7 frames Nos. 07–13

A gold-covered pavilion with tiered roofs and a small bird ornament on top stands at the edge of a still pond, partly screened by a twisted pine in the foreground. — 07Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto
The gold half hidden by a pine, the pond keeping quiet.

A weathered stone fox wearing a red bib and holding a small object in its mouth stands on a plinth beside an orange torii pillar, with cherry blossom and trees behind it. — 08Fushimi Inari, Kyoto
A stone fox in a red bib, and one great orange pillar.

A stone staircase descends between two rows of closely set orange torii gates, with black lettering visible on the pillars. — 09Fushimi Inari, Kyoto
The stairs through the gates, empty for a moment.

A narrow stone-walled canal runs toward a small bridge under a canopy of cherry blossom, with a weeping willow at left and a few people and shop signs on the far side. — 10Kyoto
A small bridge, and the blossom closing over the water.

A woman dressed as a maiko, in a pale blue floral kimono with white face makeup and flowers in her hair, holds a pink parasol in front of a weeping cherry tree and wooden townhouses. — 11Gion, Kyoto
A pink parasol, the same colour as the blossom behind it.

Cherry blossom branches and a hanging willow frame a narrow canal lined with wooden townhouses and a low bamboo fence. — 12Gion, Kyoto
Where the willow leans into the blossom.

A tall tiered wooden pagoda rises above tiled roofs at the end of a lane, with weeping cherry blossom at left and a crowd of people in the street below. — 13Higashiyama, Kyoto
The old pagoda over a busy lane, the weeping cherry spilling in from the left.

05Stop 5 of 10

Hiroshima

1 frame No. 14

The ruined A-Bomb Dome, with its bare steel dome frame above damaged walls, stands across a river, framed by cherry blossom branches, with a few people walking along the far bank. — 14Hiroshima
The Dome across the river, with the branches reaching in from both sides.

06Stop 6 of 10

Iwakuni

A tiled gate above a quiet pond, the cherry trees at its shoulder.

3 frames Nos. 15–17

A branch of cherry blossom in the foreground, with a wooden arched bridge on stone piers softly blurred behind it, crossing a river below wooded hills with a few people on the bridge. — 15Kintai Bridge, Iwakuni
A branch of blossom in focus, the bridge a soft arch behind.

A curving river bank lined with cherry trees in bloom and a few small houses sits below steep wooded hills, with a pale gravel shore curving along the water in the foreground. — 16Iwakuni
Cherry trees all along the river bank, the green hills behind them.

A dark two-storey tiled gate stands on a stone-walled bank above a small pond, with cherry blossom beside it and wooded hills and a blue sky behind. — 17Iwakuni
A tiled gate above a quiet pond, the cherry trees at its shoulder.

07Stop 7 of 10

Miyajima

The gate at dusk, the water holding its breath.

3 frames Nos. 18–20

A deer lowers its head to feed among moss-covered rocks, with cherry trees in blossom and fresh green leaves behind it. — 18Miyajima
A deer feeding among mossy rocks, blossom overhead.

A cherry tree in full blossom stands on a hillside above a wide, hazy bay with distant islands and ridgelines. — 19Mt Misen, Miyajima
From the top of Misen, one cherry tree in bloom above the Inland Sea.

A large orange-red torii gate stands in smooth, still water at dusk, with dark hills and a few distant town lights behind it under a pale grey and pink sky. — 20Miyajima
The gate at dusk, the water holding its breath.

08Stop 8 of 10

Dazaifu

A small weathered hall with its straw rope, bamboo on the hill behind.

4 frames Nos. 21–24

A two-storey shrine gate with a dark sweeping roof and red pillars stands beside stone lanterns, with large trees behind it and a pale gravel courtyard in front. — 21Dazaifu Tenmangu
A red-trimmed gate under the camphor trees, the courtyard nearly empty.

A low bridge with red railings crosses a pond, its reflection in the still water below, with a large tree, two small roofed pavilions and stone lanterns behind. — 22Dazaifu Tenmangu
Red railings, doubled in the pond.

A moss-capped stone lantern stands in focus at left, with a red arched bridge softly blurred among green trees behind it. — 23Dazaifu Tenmangu
Moss on the old lantern, the red bridge soft behind.

A weathered wooden shrine building with a tiled roof and a straw rope hung with white paper streamers stands beside a small roofed shrine, with a bamboo-covered hill and parked cars behind. — 24Dazaifu
A small weathered hall with its straw rope, bamboo on the hill behind.

09Stop 9 of 10

Nara

A small stone bridge, still water, and a temple roof over the trees.

3 frames Nos. 25–27

A deer with a thick brown coat stands in the foreground looking up, with a pond, rocks, a pink cherry tree and a few blurred visitors behind it. — 25Nara Park
The deer looked up; the blossom went on behind it.

Pink-purple azalea flowers fill the right foreground of a garden, with a stepping-stone path leading toward a wooden hall with a sweeping roof among trees with new red-tinged leaves. — 26Isuien, Nara
Azalea at the edge of the frame, a wooden hall just through the trees.

A low stone bridge crosses a still pond in a garden, with trees and green banks beyond and the dark tiled roof of a large temple building rising on a distant hill. — 27Isuien, Nara
A small stone bridge, still water, and a temple roof over the trees.

10Stop 10 of 10

Tokyo

1 frame No. 28

A dense crowd fills a shopping street lined with shop fronts, red lanterns and striped banners, with a large gate at the far end. — 28Asakusa, Tokyo
Nakamise street, shoulder to shoulder, the gate still a long way off.

End of the route

If you go, leave room to wander. Pick a town, skip the plan, and let the neighbourhood show you what it's doing.

10 stops 28 frames Spring 2025

All 28 frames, by stop

01 Shirakawa-go
02 Takayama
03 Kanazawa
04 Kyoto
05 Hiroshima
06 Iwakuni
07 Miyajima
08 Dazaifu
09 Nara
10 Tokyo

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