Last Tuesday we went to 日光. Photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jundai/sets/72157601628191939/.
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A strange thing occurred towards the end of our trip. In front of a shrines that was not open at the time, there was a dragonfly sitting on the handle of the ladle that was sticking out of the 手水舎. It seemed to be afraid of nothing, and didn’t react when I approached it or even waved my hand in front of it. It did fly away when a couple came washed their hands, but when they finished the dragonfly returned a scarcely a second after the handle had been let go.
As remarkable as this was to me, what made it really 不思議 was when I noticed that there was a dragonfly sitting in the exact center of each segment of a rope fence behind 手水舎, some seven in all. The sun was about to set, and the air was very calm though still warm and humid, and all of this created a very strange effect.
As we walked, I noticed that there were a lot more dragonflies that were sitting, dormant, atop various objects–rocks, posts, statues, and especially there was one on each segment of rope in every rope fence we passed. This made the shrine seem a little less special, but did leave me with a very curious feeling as we walked back into town.
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