Kameido Tenjin Wisteria Festival 2022
The Kameido Tenjin Wisteria Festival 2022 was great. I‘d wanted to see Japanese wisteria lit up in the early evening for many years. Well, I finally did. It was good to knock them off my bucket list. And I got to photograph the flowers at their peak.
In total, I spent about four hours there. I arrived around 2:30 and stayed until 6:30. So I got to photograph the wisteria throughout the day. Which was better, the flowers in the daylight or under artificial lights? That’s a tricky question.
Honestly, I preferred the evening as the colors came out more. Some areas of the pools were rather dark, though. The wisteria pergola needed more lights. It’s a low-light situation, and photographers would surely appreciate it.
It’s impossible to illuminate the flowers from above. That’s because they are vines and need to hang from pergolas. In my opinion, the lighting system at Kameido Tenjin is insufficient. More lights need to be added. At any rate, the current plan should be rethought.
As for the crowd, it was big. The event was canceled for the last couple of years, so the grounds were empty after sunset. It was good seeing lots of people come back to Kameido Tenjin’s wisteria festival.
There were quite a few women in kimonos. One had a rose on her obi. It was stunning. I tried to photograph it, but the results looked pretty bad. The photo was good enough for Instagram, but not here.
The number of Pentax cameras surprised me. I’d never seen so many in one place. Once again, I felt nostalgia roll over as I used to own one. I’ve often heard about the imminent demise of the brand recently, but that talk seems premature.
One thing annoyed me. Food stalls were on the edge of the pools. They blocked some photo spots. It would be better if they were restricted to the temple’s perimeter.
Kameido Tenjin Wisteria Festival 2022 was fantastic. After spending fours there, I probably took far too many photos. But it was good to see the flowers lit up. I had wanted to see that for many years.
This visit to the festival gave me one idea. In the past, I rarely incorporated people into my photographs. But after seeing the women in kimonos, I realized they could add so much life to my photos. Now I’m wondering how difficult it will be to accomplish in practice. Anyway, if you have any questions or comments, leave them below.
Kameido Tenjin Wisteria Festival 2022 photo gear:
- Body: Fujifilm X-T3
- Lens: Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR
Rohan Gillett
Rohan has lived in Tokyo for 30+ years. He loves photography and plans to capture the entire city.
For more wisteria articles, look at:
External related websites:
- Kameido Tenjin (official website)