The abandoned Shrine.

A five yen piece on the stone basin.
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On an unseasonably warm october day, exactly where you would least expect it, exists a shrine that was wrecked during an earthquake; yet was never rebuilt.

The shrine was surrounded on all sides by active civilization- a many-stories-high apartment building, a secluded, yet somewhat active street which sees both feet and cars and somebody's back yard. What makes it even more mysterious is that unless you knew where it was, chances are you would never find it.

In a small stone structure lie a single five yen piece (one of three to be found that day) reflecting eerily in the too-bright noon sun, gaurded by strands of silky, untouched spiderwebs.

The old, long untouched wash bin.
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The shrine itself was not very big and housed a few stone obelisks, two gaurdian inu (dogs), a stone wash basin for purifying oneself (though the water had long ago turned green with algae) complete with a broken down pioing system that once fed the structure fresh water.

While clearly abandoned, the shrine was still very beautiful, seemingly blending in with nature to an even higher degree. There were many odd things to see.

In a small stone structure lie a single five yen piece (one of three to be found that day) reflecting eerily in the too-bright noon sun, gaurded by strands of silky, untouched spiderwebs.

A large, stone, obelisk.
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A second five yen piece lie on a dry corner of the wash basin. the piece was still looked shiny and added a somewhat nostalgic feel to the day when people still visited. The third five yen piece was found in the dirt by somebody with good eyes; even stranger still was the stone next to it on which somebody had scrawled a star of david.

All in all it was a beautiful place to spend time. The group of us sat, talked and ate sticky rice with soy.