Kameido Tenjin’s wisteria on a beautiful evening

people photographing wisteria display

Kameido Tenjin’s 2023 Wisteria festival was amazing. The flowers were beautiful in the evening. Up until this year, I had only ever seen them during the day. Finally, I saw them under lights. I also got to experience a new food.

Tokyo Skytree over Kameido Tenjin wisteria

What can I say about Kameido Tenjin’s wisteria? They were good. The early evening brought out the purple in the flowers. Still, they were a little difficult to capture with a camera, though. It was low-light flower photography after all.

pool wisteria and Kameido Tennjin at night

How to photograph wisteria?

These flowers aren’t huge, and they hang from trellises. So if you enter the shrine over one of the drum bridges, you won’t be faced with a sea of purple. You’ll mostly see green. You need to get under them and photograph upwards.

wisteria and azalea with torii gate behind

The highlight of the festival

Judging by where most cameras and phones seemed to point, I’d say Tokyo Skytree. Everyone wanted to get that tower behind the wisteria. I’m not surprised as it was beautiful in the clear night sky.

Kameido Tenjin with worshippers at night
People praying at the shrine.
wisteria hanging over pools of water

Photography problems

Wisteria are small, and they hang from trellises. That can make them hard to photograph in dark conditions, of course. So, walk around and find the best patches of light if you go in the evening. Even doing that, you will still need to boost your ISO.

people on walkway over water photographing wisteria
wisteria hanging from trellis

What I’d like to see at the Wisteria Festival

The lights aren’t great. I’d like to see more. They should be in strategic positions to bring out the best in the flowers.

wisteria

What was the new food?

The festival has many stalls that sell street foods. One of them had Shapin (シャーピン). I’d never seen it before. I talked to the vendor, and he said it was like gyoza. That sounded great, so I bought one. Let me say I wasn’t disappointed. I can’t wait to eat it again. If you know the correct English word for it, please let me know.

Taiwanese street food shapin
Taiwanese "Shapin".

Wrapping up

Kameido Tenjin’s Wisteria festival at night is good. I highly recommend it. Just realize that the grounds can be dark, so prepare for that. Anyway, I hope you get some nice shots of these beautiful flowers if you go one day.

trellis wisteria over pools
hanging wisteria

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