feel sad on a gravestone

feel sad on a gravestone, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

The first front side of gravestone was graven to mourn for one's child who died in 1791.
On the surface of stone, some characters can be seen like "幻消童子" that means "disappeared child as a phantom" in literal translation. It is understandable message that the parent's deep sad and their pray for the repose of their child's soul. The image was taken in the old Buddhism temple.

a Shinto ritual in snow

a Shinto ritual in snow, originally uploaded by photoholic image.

The photo above shows a Shinto ritual held on 3rd February that is the day of SETSUBUN. The SETSUBUN is the day of the winter and spring break and/or divide, and next of that day will be the first of spring which called RISSHUN based on our (East Asian) traditional calender.
The celebration for coming spring was held in lot of snow at Yunishigawa-Onsen where is the famous hot-spring resort in NIKKO, Japan.