Sumiyoshi Shrine (住吉神社)December 16, 2023 in Japan, Photo Post, Temples, Travel

While planning an eight-day long trip to Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, I was quite ambitious and placed a large number of destinations on a customized Google Map. Prior to our departure, I was fully aware that it was highly unlikely that we’d have enough time to visit them all, but having options and backup destinations is always an important consideration when traveling. With only a few days in Fukuoka before setting off to other parts of the island, I had to prioritize and carefully plan where we’d visit within the city, especially since we planned two excursions out of the city to the Hakozaki Shrine (筥崎宮) and the Dazaifu Shrine (太宰府天満宮), both of which would take about half a day to visit. We’d eventually have to return to the city after our tour around the island, but our time on that day was reserved solely for taking part in the Fukuoka Cherry Blossom Festival.

Suffice to say, time was short and there is way to much to see and do in the beautiful port city.

A few days prior to our departure, we became a little concerned as the forecast was looking quite dire for pretty much the entire duration of our trip. With rain forecast for every day that we’d be in the country, it seemed like some of our schedule might have to be altered, depending on how much rain was coming down. Fortunately, even though it did rain, it wasn’t that bad, and we were able to visit almost all of the spots that were high up on our list. Sadly, we did miss out on the opportunity to visit the city’s famed Kushida Shrine (櫛田神社) due to the weather, but in its stead, we paid a visit to another of Fukuoka’s most important places of worship, the Sumiyoshi Shrine (住吉神社).