A Walk around Shimokitazawa and Kitazawa Hachiman Shrine / 下北沢と北沢八幡神社

My wife and I decided to have lunch in Shimokitazawa and afterwords decided to walk around before heading home. We had lunch at one of our favorite seafood restaurants where I ordered a aji-furai (horse mackerel) set.

ある日僕と妻は下北沢でランチを食べに行った。その後は近所の散歩を実行。下北でいつものシーフードの店に行きました。僕はこの日にアジフライのセットを注文しました。

The set included a salad, rice, oshinko, and miso soup. Great value for less than a 1000 yen.

アジフライセットはサラダ、ライス、お新香、と味噌汁付きでした。１０００円以下でお手頃の値段。

We had passed by this shop many times on our walks around Shimokita and decided to try a couple of their curry buns.

下北でこの店を何回も通りすぎていつかこの店のカレーパンを食べてみようと話したら今日は２種類のカレーパンを購入。

They all look so good!

全種類が美味しく見える。

So we ordered the melty cheese curry.

そしたら、とろけるチーズカレーを注文。

And the butter chicken curry.

とバターチキンカレーも注文。

We tried the butter chicken curry first. So delicious!

先に食べたのはバターチキンカレー。とっても美味しい！

This was the melty cheese curry. Kind of hard to tell by the picture but this was great as well.

これはとろけるチーズカレーですが、写真であんまり伝わらないですね。

However, you can't go wrong with cheese.

やっぱりチーズも正解だね。

We decided to explore one of our neighborhood shrines as well and went to Kitazawa Hachiman Shrine.

近所の神社にもお参りしました。うちの近くにある北沢八幡神社。

It started to rain when we came to Kitazawa Hachiman Shrine.　These are the stairs leading to the main shrine.

北沢八幡神社に来てから雨が降り出した。階段を上ったら本堂が目の前にある。

Prayer boards / 絵馬

There are many smaller shrines surrounding the main hondo. This is the Ubusuna Shrine. You can pray here for success.

本堂の周りほかの小さな神社もあります。これは産土社。ここの御利益は出世と上昇運。

This is a shrine to one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Fortune - Benten or Benzaiten, Goddess and patron of performing arts, music and knowledge.

この小さな神社は弁天社、七福神の一人。

This is the Noyashiki Inari Shrine.

これは野屋敷稲荷社。

This is the Atago Inari Shrine.

これは愛宕稲荷社。

And this is the Choei Inari Shrine.

そしてこれは長栄稲荷社。

Waiting patiently to receive my shrine seal. I believe my seal was written by one of the miko (shrine maiden).

御朱印を待ってる私。多分一人の巫女さんが書いたかもしりません。

This is the Koratamadare Shrine.

ここは高良玉垂社。

I did say there were a lot of smaller shrines surrounding the main shrine. This one is the Enkai Inari Shrine.

小さな神社が境内にいっぱいあるとおしゃいましたよ。これは円海稲荷社。

It was raining today but on a clear day you are able to see Mount Fuji from here as shown by the picture above.

今日は雨だったが、晴れた日にこの神社から富士山が見えるスポットらしい。境内に富士山の写真も飾られてる。

I just love the shrines such as this are so close to our home. It was only a ten minute walk back to our house from this shrine as our walk came to an end.

近所にこういう立派な神社があるのはありがたいですね。ここから家に戻る距離は１０分程度でした。帰って散歩終了。