Suwa

Nice quiet Shrine to visit if you are in the area. We only visited the main shrine out of the 4 in Suwa.

Visited this famous shrine in Nagano every new year these years. Love the atmosphere and you can eat and shop along the way to the shrine. Parking area is too busy during new year holiday but lucky enough to fine some vacancy a bit far from the spot.

We enjoyed this shrine very much, tranquilly located on the edge of a forest and seemingly in harmony with the grand, towering trees that surround it. It is hard to appreciate Shinto shrines if you are not Japanese, or don't have a cultural and aesthetic understanding of their meaning, architecture and significance. But this one is just naturally attractive even if, like us, you have little understanding of what you are looking at. So much beautiful wood in the construction, and a pleasing absence of the signage that seems ubiquitous at many such places and that so badly mars the aesthetics. Easy to get to by car, with free parking available nearby. Not sure how to go about getting here by public transport.

This was a huge complex. I liked how everyone was dressed in traditional clothes and taking care of the site. It was cool to see a blessing being performed for safe travels for a truck driver and his companion. I was able to get the shrine stamps here. Everything was so well kept. I liked the sumo shrines that where as well which was cool. After visiting here I ate some nice jelly like noodles at a nearby shop which was perfect for the very hot day.

This is the biggest of the four Suwa Taisha shrines. Lmts of interesting buildings and stuff. I enjoyed much here. The main god is famous for Sumo wrestling.