The first time I visited Meiji Jingu was back in 2005, and the walls surrounding the inner shrine were filled with bonsai. It was like a bonsai museum. There were tiny trees hundreds of years old, and my camera was filled with pictures of the little grandpa trees, not the shrine itself. I've visited Meiji Shrine (Jingu) several times since 2005, and it has always felt empty. I've never been able to fully shake the bonsai exhibit.
Meiji Shrine gives me the opportunity to talk a little bit about the Japanese vocabulary and some little problems I've run into while working on the English entries for this site. Temples are generally straightforward—they end in "ji," or in rarer cases, "dera." An example of this ending style in action would be Todaiji. Sometimes people writing in English will say "Todaiji Temple," but this is redundant. It's probably better to say Todai Temple. But that can feel awkward to someone used to referring to it by the Japanese name.
Shrines are even thornier. Shrines have several different endings, and the endings show the rank. A normal shrine, like Jishu Shrine, is called Jishu Jinja. Jinja means shrine. But some places, like Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, are taisha, which means grand shrine. Then above the grand shrines are places that end in "gu," like Toshogu. Or Ise Jingu (which has gu AND jinja's "jin"!).
Shrines are harder to translate. Here I've thrown in the towl and just called it a shrine. What I will not do is be redundant. (And to any Japanese purists—the real name is in the title.)
Meiji Jingu is one of those big, important shrines. It houses the spirits of the deified Meiji Emperor and Empress, the imperial founders of the modern Japanese state at the turn of the twentieth century. There's a beautiful iris garden, collections of trees, and a treasure museum that I have attempted to visit on multiple occasions and that has always eluded me. Meiji Jingu is right beside Harajuku, so it's a good tourist exploration spot in Tokyo.
This charm is a straightforward protection-while-driving omamori. You're supposed to clip it on your key ring and it'll help keep you safe. Meiji Shrine's name is written along the bottom, and there are two kamon, family crests. One is for the Fujiwara family and the other is for the imperial family. I like the purple and gold colors, but it was bloody difficult to photograph outside. It also came with a sticker for your car. When I've got a moment, I'll upload that picture too.
Cheers.
(This is not the sticker, but a more traditional omamori from Meiji Shrine.)
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