Hiking - Syonan Jinja

Good Morning Blog,

Yawning loudly... I only had two-three hours of sleep last night... Then I had to wake up to go for another urbex hike with Lyanna. So where will we be going?

It was so early that Mr Sun had not wakened yet

As titled, Mr Sun didn't know where I was heading and perhaps will give him a surprise later on.

Non stop yawning, had to push myself. Let's go!

This month itself, I had been in this attire too often because I was going out with the same group and not everyone can accept an eyesore

Good Morning Mr Sun. I am earlier than you! 😂

Yes! Mr Sun. Today I am going to this place, Syonan Jinja.

When I started my hiking journey, Mr K asked me to try to find Syonan Jinja but we can't find it's entrance. Then followed by some research and news, we managed to pinpoint its location but still can't it's entrance. Many years had passed, Mr K had moved on to newer activities and happy time with his girlfriend, and I hike on my own account exploring SG with fellow urbex friends, they wanted to explore Syonan Jinja today; that excited me!

Waiting for others to arrive and we might split into two teams

We were getting closer to its entrance.

Do you know where we are now?

Hey Mr Sun, hope you shine our way there. Will need your blessing.

After a while, they started to enter a thick foliage...

Right after the thick foliage, you will see a path but it is slightly unclear where the path is.

Last piece of warning to everyone

A rope was tied and led us along the path

That was a great method to reduce any lost sheep

Ooo blanks. It seemed like this place was served as a live range or training ground for military

Hmm... along the trail, there are many trees fall

The rope extends in some direction which really helps us in the initial stage

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Will I be able to visit this place myself alone? Hope it will be this smooth.

But the rope has its limit and ended here, the remaining trail we will need to seek for a clear path

And we will contact many thorny plants along the way

And I got punctuated by them...

Okay... The trail where is no more rope, seems challenging; there is no distinctive path...

...Like this! You answer me, will you be able to remember the path?

Mr Sun was trying to shine our path but he knew that is the only comforting approach and other than that, it relied on the truly experienced urbex members to lead us in the direction

After bashing, when I saw a clear path, it was such a relief.

And markers too.

No wonder not many people dare to advent here.

For now, it was smooth and easy.

Oooo there is these letters SJ - The title...

It seemed like we were on the correct path

Yes, Mr Sun. You sensed it. It was smooth :')

Come! Mr Sun, smile! 😊

The journey after this will start to change... No more bright and sunshine...

Now really tested my memory and theirs; I barely remember my way out! No wonder, there were about these two boys who lost their way inside here. (link)

Wow! Here we can see gigantic trees looking down and giving us a warning for moving ahead, but since we were already here, we just needed to find our way in and out.

The forest had changed its face due to many fallen trees and gave the urbex explorers a bit of challenge. Personally, I don't know the way so I just stand aside and documenting the whole experience

Wow interesting fruit here. I have never seen this seedpod before.

(Credit LS) He is so creative and created such an interesting artwork with it

It seemed like bashing through the foliage is the one and only method.

Oh my. There were a lot of fallen trees and making our journey tough - we had to leopard-climb under and climb over those logs and thorny plants. We took roughly 20-30mins just to cover a short area.

Our first stop was this water pump

It seemed like this place will be collapsed

I guessed I will just pose here before it was gone. I guess everyone will be interested to know what is inside.

Hmmm...

Hmmm Empty room and most of the water pump machinery were removed

It seemed the whole structure is still strong and intact

This room does not have a lot of stories to tell though, but the window here is quite large...

(Thanks WS) and perfect for photos which great for story-telling

Hmm... here connects another structure

It seems like there is no entrance to this structure

It said this is Syonan Jinja and the rest I don't understand. LOL

Hmm.. it is weird to have two signs here for no one.

Oh dear... our Nightmares had not ended...

We had to do the same things all over again...

(Thanks LS) I was the sweeper, the last guy, to ensure no one was left behind or dropped anything and usually the last person to be remembered.

I could hear people talking from another side of the lake

I guess lower our voices here was also needed

An unknown structure which I don't know what is it. But This place should be a shrine or a ceremony place... You can check out the link here, there is a precious video from NHK. The footpath just looked like this.

Feeling the past and nothing will remain, time is like a memory washing detergent to wipe out the bad stains in the timeline.

I believed there is something here before... They had burned down this place after the Japanese Occupation, in fear of the returning British desecrating this sacred place. (link)

(Credit to whoever owns this image) There was a flight of stairs to the main highlight of the place. You can read up more on Syonan Jinja's history (link and link) They got a lot of great precious images.

Aww! Seeing these long stairs in front of me, it was like my wish had been fulfilled.

Hmm... my camera can't do justice

Should be three-flights stairs

(Thanks WS) Yes! Need someone's help for a good shot.

Ah! I can see Mr Sun got excited! 😆

Slowly climbed up the stairs and I overheard the team comment, it used to be lesser fallen plants

I guess that is natural when we left it for Mother Nature.

Wah here got a lot of Viney plants

(Image credit to whoever owns this image) OKay! This is the impression of what the pavilion with the water basin looked like...

and now...

It was covered with fallen trees...

Oh dear... Just less than a month (these urbex experts came here in the last two months) the changes were so great!

Oooo! After climbing high low to get over the fallen trees, finally I got close up and personal to witness this legendary relic. I am glad the fallen trees didn't land on it.

Even a bear plushie has its best of its lifetime

One thing amazed me the most is how clean this basin is. (even though there is leaf debris) Just imagine that there is not many visitors, It will be filled with leaves. I overheard that there is some small group of people will visit this place and clean up the site; To confirm whether it is true, maybe my next visit?

Wow, there are a lot of transparent tadpoles swimming here. Based on their look, they are about the same stage, which means they were hatched roughly the same time/day, and no other living things shared the same pool with them, which also means this basic was dried up before and it collects rainwater these days.

Anyway since I won't be coming back to visit this place again, let's take as many pictures as possible I can.

Hmm 🤔 these three coins like structures are at the corners around the water basic. It should be used to hold these wooden poles to provide shelter for the basin.

Sharp pointy broken branches can kill a vampire

Please don't kill me, I am just a nerd not vampire.

(Thanks to the lady) a picture of me with the coffin-sized basin

One last look at this legendary basin

(Thanks for the group photo) Smile. One and might be my last hike with them. As I can sense the direction from the leader... She was slightly cold or rather impatient towards me... Well, I guessed it is just how other people usually react to me when they just want a silent exit. Take care Lyanna.

Next stop is just beside the basin, a hilltop.

Not sure what is this platform do, maybe it was another temple.

Wow! Wwhat a nice vine plant hanging here!

I wanted to take more pictures here because it is undisturbed evenly distributed lines.

Oh well, I was travelling with a group so I could not make them wait for me to set up my tripod

Before we moved on to other interesting lost ruins we found a jungle cockroach and they are more adorable than a city cockroach.

Nearby they said there is a ruin

Looks like a collapsed structure

A lot of sinking grounds here, I don't get too near.

I am not sure whether this ruin is related to the Japanese

I looked inside the hole and there is nothing inside this ruin but it is big enough to fit yourself in.

Now on our way out... I thought it will be easy, I tried my best to remember the route...

But it started to get hellish... No clear path, more fallen trees and bashing through...

I looked at my watch, we only covered a short distance... but we were still in the forest for like five hours!

Another water pump station and this one seemed intact but most of them claimed... there are a lot of fallen trees starting to rest on it.

I will try to remember the beauty of this.

They said we can enter the opening and have a nice picture but now it was a mess...

Looks like it was a water treatment room

nearby there is this three pillars structure which I don't know what it is

Looking like a relic site and the last beautiful thing for us to experience...

...The next thing waiting for us... was Wood-Hell!

It was afternoon when Mr Sun was at full strength... frying every one of us. I perspired so much especially when I was wearing the top shirt... I don't like it at all!

But we need to get out of here...

My water was running out... I could feel my body heat was rising... I can't faint now... I have to push myself forward.

It was not just me... our fellow team members also having problems moving forward, but they knew that they cannot stay here, letting Mr Sun to fry us or even call for help...

After bashing and climbing, and losing our way... the moment when we got to walk on a smooth and clear path like this... was a blessing.

After two hours... We cleared this last leopard-climb and climb over the trees...

I felt such a relief to find the rope!

But because I was the last guy in the group, I needed to ensure everyone gets out...

After I got out from the entrance... My vision was almost blurred... but with excitement!

I took off my shirt and waved goodbye to the team for early exit

and can't wait to return home...

Check this route out... I barely remember the route beside the guided rope at the initial part. I doubt I can come here alone...

The leader Lyana expressed on her FB statue on just how challenging the hike was...

And one of the members of the group, N, also expressed his experience...

Overall, visiting and finding Syonan Jinja is no longer an easy route and really, don't go there anymore. For those who insist on going there, I really urged you don't... I am not going to use illegal or fine to scare you off... The place has changed so much within months with all those fallen trees, no one will clear the path for anyone. Just let the place be forgotten...

Jeff