A stroll to Kanda Shrine...

I took these on the 19th right after going to Iaido cutting practice with my girlfriend. I wanted to do some 'mini-exploring' of Tokyo and go to a historical place I have not been to before, so she suggested going to nearby (from the Gyokufu-kai dojo at Kudanshita) Kanda-myouji. Our walk to the shrine took us past this canal(?) river(?) brickwall and train track thingy that I thought was kinda cool...

Then we walked right past one of the Mikoshi (portable shrines)

...that Gyokufu-kai's kaicho Sakaguchi-san carried for the Kanda festival:

...then up to the main part of the shrine.

On either side of the entrance were these statues of Samurai with a full complement of weapons; bow, arrows, and swords, oh my!

It is never a god idea to piss off the Gods, so I made sure to stop by the fountain thingy (Gotta learn the proper name of this) to purify my dirty Gaijin hands and heart (via sipping a bit of it to rinse out one's heathen mouth) with the finest flowing tap water Tokyo has to offer. This is a dragon(!), by the way! I was eye ballin' homeboy up close and personal to try to find a good angle fore the shot, when some oji-san blurted out behind me, "It's dragon!" I'm glad he clarified that for me...I thought I was looking at a life-size statue of Barbara Boxer/Nancy Pelosi.

Ninja lantern!
The character on the right side of this pic is "Nin/Shinobu" - to endure/perserve/steathily enter

A more atristic shot...

"Here they come to snuff the rooster...You know he ain't gonna die...!"