New Year's Day visit to the local shrine

 In most years we have gone to the Futakashira Jinja, the Two Pillar Shrine, just after midnight on New Year's Eve, but we were tired this year so we waited until just before noon on New Year's Day. When we arrived, there was a huge line waiting to get into the temple grounds. The shrine is in the middle of the picture but so far away that you can not see much of it unless you expand the picture to full size.

 After about 20 minutes we got near the entrance to the shrine. The little tent with the light blue roof is just inside the property. However, we discovered that the line turned to the left to follow the road.

 When we got around the corner, we found that it would be another 15 to 20 minutes to get to the point where the line turned and came back up the other side of the road. I should point out that it was quite cold, about 3 degrees Celsius,  but in the sun it was okay.

 When we got to the end, we found that everyone went all the way to the fence across the road and actually stood up on the raised area next to it. This was all done automatically by the people involved. We have had lots of practice at lines, waiting to buy food after the earthquakes, for example.

While waiting to get back to the shrine entrance, we noticed the strange shape of this large tree. The left side has been trimmed many times so that it does not interfere with the power lines. Usually when trees are trimmed, all the branches are cut back but for some unknown reason this has not been done with this tree.