Sundown in Matsushima

Situated in the east of the Tohoku region lies one of Japan’s Sankei (三景), Matsushima. Along with Miyajima and Amanohashidate, they make up Nihonsankei, the three great sights of Japan. The bay of Matsushima is about 15km from where I work, so I decided to take a trip down there to test out my new camera, the D90.

I’ve been down there before, so I understood the basic layout of the area. One of the things I wanted to see this time was the Entsuin temple light display, in which the temple was lit up at night with various coloured lights, rows of lanterns and fire torches. I was a little inexperienced with my D90, but headed out anyways.

As is usual, I didn’t make the most of the day. I got down for about 2pm, and seeing as it is now winter, that gives me roughly two hours of sunlight left. Curses!

Still, I wandered around the islands that are close to the shore. Matsushima literally translates to ‘Pine tree islands’ (‘matsu’ being Japanese for ‘pine tree’ and ’shima’ being Japanese for ‘island(s)’). The main attraction is over 100 islands of various shapes and sizes that adorn the coast of Matsushima, covered in Pine trees, temples, shrines and other tidbits.

I’d taken photos on and around the islands before, so this time, I wanted to focus on getting the most out of my camera, doing some sunset photography and getting some night photography done with the lights that were on display at Entsuin temple. I’m going to include a few photos from my previous trip too, so you can get an idea of the place.

One of the first things I took was this little critter here. I’m pretty disappointed, I managed to snap a quick shot of it, but I was being carried along with the crowd and I didn’t have a dedicated macro lens with the camera (I used the Fujifilm Finepix 9100 which is like a DSLR, but still a point and shoot and the lens can’t come off). I would have loved some time to get some good close shots, but alas I moved on. Light was starting to dim so I didn’t have time to diddle-dally about.

The bay has a small harbour and a nice park, and the main street runs parallel to it filled with omiyage shops (gifts/souvenirs) and restaurants specialising in the local meibutsu [名物 - specialities], beef tongue and fresh oysters. Cross the main street and you start going up hill slightly, reaching a number of small temples, including Entsuin temple I mentioned earlier. Next to the harbour by the pier is a tiny red bridge leading to a small islet housing the small temple hall ‘godaido’, which seems to have become a symbol for Matsushima.

I went to some of the islands and took some shots, including going over a large red bridge to get to a larger island (the name escapes me). You can see some of the islands from a viewing platform from here, as well as a few shrines and temples. I imagine that these islands have all sorts of fawn and fauna that can’t be appreciated in the barren chill of winter’s grasp. I’ll return in the spring to see how much has changed.

By this time, the sun was going down, and it was sunset time. I took some shots, and played about a lot with the white balance, especially the feature that allows me to change the kelvin temperature compensation or whatever you call it (which is especially evident in the last shot!).

By now it was dark and about half 7ish. I crossed the main road and found the entrance to Entsuin temple. I got some photos of the lanterns that adorned the gates of the entrance to the temple. This is where I found out my camera likes to throw fits in the dark. The Nikon D90 is a nice camera, but even with my f/1.4 50mm lens, I had real trouble taking night shots. Not just getting them exposed properly, but merely things like getting focus, or getting the damn camera to take the bloody shot when I did get it focused. My advice is to either go full manual, or focus with auto, and then switch to manual to take the pictures. Also found out that the remote I brought isn’t so great as I thought it’d be. Meh, oh well. I tried taking a shot of the long pathway that was lit by small lanterns and candles, but nothing came out properly.

One photo I’m quite pleased with is this fire picture. Not really for the fire itself, the image isn’t unlike hundreds of flame containing photos on the internet, but it requires a second look. I found something in the photo, the image of a phoenix. Maybe i’m looking for it, but I can definatley make some bird-like creature with a long beak coming out of the right hand side, looking left and downish. Can you see it?

The temple itself was alright, there was a pre-planned route that you couldn’t stray from, and there was a cost at the gate (400yen if I remember correctly). There were lights placed around the trees and plants, and some different colours as well. Small candles, lanterns and luminous ropes of coloured neon were also found in certain places. Some of it was overkill, but there was a nice atmosphere. Someone playing the flute in traditional dress was standing halfway around the course, which set a nice mood. And there is a small pond near the end, which in the dark make a perfect mirror reflection of the trees and the lights around it. That was spectacular, although It was crowded and I didn’t have a wide angle lens at the time (I took my S9100 which couldn’t cut it, and only my 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor which scales to 75mm on my D90), so no pics . Speaking of which, the place was really crowded, so there wasn’t much time for photos. I had to wait just off the route until the crowds died down before I took any photos. And since 3 legged tripods are not allowed in the temple grounds (which is a rule in many of Japan’s temples/landmarks) which is all I had, it made things harder.

I’ll leave you with the photos from the tour, after which I left for home, grabbing dinner from Mini Stop along the way. My current favourite is among them, the lantern used in the header image. It was such a quick shot, the staff were holding them and pointing people in the right direction, one of them put theirs down for a second and I siezed the chance! With the freedom of digital, you’ve got to try shooting anything your eye catches, even if the settings aren’t right. You’ll be surprised at some of the outcomes. Anyways, see you soon!