Surprise in a Cemetery in Japan's Kiso Valley - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

For obvious reasons, I don’t seek out cemeteries in my travels. 😊 If I happen to be at one such location, I usually don’t make photographs, out of respect for the spirits that may be around.

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When we arrived at Kozenji Temple (興禅寺) in Kiso-Fukushima in rain, my legs followed my eyes to the cemetery in the back of the temple instead. While there, I found myself fighting the strong urge to photograph. In the end, the urge won.

Kozenji Temple was established in 1434 by the 12th Kiso lord Nobumichi (木曾信道), who himself was buried there, along with the 19th lord Yoshiyasu Kiso (木曾義康). It’s the name on the grave stone next to his though that gave away the family origin - Minamoto no Yoshinaka (源義仲), the last name that traces back to one of the four noble clans during the Heian period in Japan. It is from there I was able to learn the history of the family and the stories of this Kiso clan.

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By the time we left, we were covered in as brilliant of colors as those rain-saturated maple leaves. I couldn’t believe that I enjoyed photographing in a cemetery so much. I was even more nicely surprised to have happened upon one for people with stories from hundred of years ago.

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I hope I did the cemetery justice while respecting privacy.

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