Hie-jinja

Neil had to go to work this morning, so we decided to meet up at midday and explore some of the area where his work is - Akasaka. We realised that there was a temple, Hie-jinja, in that area so trotted along there to check it out. To get to it you walk through a huge stone torii gate and then up a picturesque avenue of red torii leading up the hill to the temple. It was stunning, but I'm afraid I was a bit pre-occupied with the cicadas. They sound amazing when they are in the trees around you, but I suddenly realised they were also perched naughtily on the steps. They are big ugly buggers and I don't like them! Rather embarrassingly, I let out an almighty scream! But was very brave and made it to the top in one piece.... Once up there, it was very serene and a little haven amongst the surrounding buildings. We were impressed with the monkey statues flanking either side of the steps leading to the temple. These ones had red capes, rather than bibs, and we loved the mother and baby who both had a little cape on.