Shinto shrines

As today is "Respect your Elders Day" here in fair japan and i had the day off work, i figured i take a walk around and take some pictures of one of the Shrines in Uchinada. Every town has at least one "jinja" or shinto shrines. Uchinada has 3 or 4 of them, and this is the one closest to my house. Many people stop by very quickly to pay their respects to the shrine and to ring the bell and burn a stick of incense.

This circular symbol is found all over the shrine, it also can be found all over the place here in Japan. Most of my japanese friends have small little good luck charms in their cars with this symbol to try and ward off bad luck and keep away accidents. Of course, no shrine would be complete without stone beasts and monoliths with hand-carved kanji, look at the very precise detail in the written prayers.