Hikawa Jinja

Hikawa Jinja.

Just outside Tokyo, in the city of Saitama, an extraordinary avenue stretches almost two kilometers in a straight line, lined with massive trees. At its far end stands one of the oldest shrines in eastern Japan.

This is said to be the longest shrine approach in the country.

Walking that avenue, the trees rise so tall on both sides that the sky narrows above you. Cars and houses are still nearby, but the avenue itself feels like a corridor in a different time. People walk slowly here, even those who came for the first time. They cannot help it.

The city around the shrine — Omiya — takes its name from the shrine itself. The two characters mean "great shrine." A whole city, named for the place at its center.

For centuries, families across the Tokyo region have come here for the major moments of life. The blessing of a newborn. The seven-five-three festival of childhood. Weddings. New Year's first prayer.

Many people in this region cannot remember the last time they came. They came as children, brought by parents. They came as parents, bringing children. The pattern repeats so quietly that it seems automatic.

But it is not automatic. It is a thread. Walked into being, year after year, by hundreds of thousands of small footsteps.

Stand on that long avenue. You are walking on the same thread.