Usually in Japan people tend to meet with their families during New Year holidays. I’m no exception. I visited my mother’s house in Suginami Ward on New Year Day, and had a great time with my mother and family.
Next day, I went to a shrine named Omiya-hachiman, near my mother’s house to pray for a healthy and prosperous year. Omiya-hahciman was opened in 1063 for warding off evil. After praying, I saw a New Year’s ceremony named “Hikime-no-gi” was being held at the archery range in the precinct. When the special arrow was shot, it cut the wind and emitted a "whoosh" sound, which is said to dispel the devil. I fully enjoyed this traditional ceremony.
To get to this historical shrine, the nearest railway station is Nishi-eifuku on the Keio Inokashira line. Following the “Merry Christmas” plate, a train on the Inokashira line was displaying “Geishun (New Year’s greeting)” plate on the front in this season. It was Set 1751 of the EMU Keio 1000 series. Set 1751 was commissioned in 1996 as the first set of the 1000 series. It has blueish green-colored face. Incidentally, I’m going to show you a surefire topic for old-school trainspotters. The 1000 series trains have great variety not only their “face colors”. For example, the early 15 sets including Set 1751 have boxy destination signs on the front. On the other hand, the later 14 sets have smooth destination signs. Finding such subtle differences between trains is the greatest pleasure for trainspotters like me.
