Few people stopped to look at the Chinese lion attached to the torii gate of Yushima Tenjin
Yushima Tenjin Shrine in Tokyo, which I have visited many times, has an otoko-zaka (male hill) and an onnna-zaka (female hill), and I knew that the otoko-zaka is a steep staircase while the onnna-zaka is more gently inclined. However, until recently, I did not know that the torii gate on the approach to the shrine was casually decorated with Chinese lions. Although I had passed through the torii gate many times, I had never noticed the small Chinese lions. Now that I know of its existence, every time I pass through the torii gate, I wonder if the small Chinese lions are still alive and well. The more I try not to pay attention to it, the more I find myself in a paradoxical situation.
What impresses me about the world at large is that there are researchers who have studied such a simple phenomenon that everyone has experienced. One researcher has studied the phenomenon that "the harder you try not to think about something, the more you are unable to stop thinking about it." Daniel Wegner, an American psychologist, is the man. According to the ironic process theory he proposes, the human thought process is divided into an execution process and a monitoring process. In other words, he says, we fall into the paradox that in order to achieve the goal of not thinking, we need to think. This is exactly the situation in which I am concerned about Chinese lions.
| May 2023 STILL LIFE TOKYO | |
| DECORATION SHRINE TORII WORSHIPER YUSHIMA |
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PHOTO DATA
No
12487
Shooting Date
Feb 2023
Posted On
May 2, 2023
Modified On
August 8, 2023
Place
Yushima, Tokyo
Genre
Street Photography
Camera
SONY ALPHA 7R II
Lens
ZEISS BATIS 2/40 CF
