The theme of today was “walking”. We went to three temples (Buddhist) and one
shrine (Shinto). We took two trains to
Kamakura. The first temple was visited
was The Great Buddha Kamakura. It is an
insanely big seated Buddha that is a Japanese national treasure. We learned that as you walk into a shrine or
temple many wash their hands. Since
temples and shrines are sacred places, they usually "clean"
themselves before entering. In front of
each statue there would be a donation box one could toss a coin into which made
a lot of noise as it fell. After
donating the people would bow and clap or just put their hands together. I am still not clear exactly on the process,
but they do this to make a wish to the gods.
In the places where there was incense, people burner it and fan the
smoke towards themselves. Smoke is
believed to have healing power.
The second place we went to was the Hasedera Temple. This was one of the most interesting Temples
to me. It has so many places to explore,
I wish I had a guide to tell me what each statue and section meant. I do know that they believe in many gods so I
am assuming each section was for a different god. The temple was built on a hill and we climbed
all the way to the top. There was an
amazing view of the ocean, but I was surprised that there was no statue at the
top. The grounds were amazing. There was all kinds of plants and small
ponds. We did enter a creepy little cave
with multiple gods. It was dark with
only a few candles and the ceiling dropped half way in so you had to lean over
and keep walking to get out. It was
funny to see our tallest guy (Ray) almost have to crawl out. In the main hall there was the largest wooden
sculpture in Japan (Kannon-Bosatsu).
Then we went our separate ways for lunch. I again followed Dr. Laurence with five
others and we found a small “restaurant” that only had room for eight people. The “restaurant” was operated by one 90 year
old lady and we all sit right at the bar (the only seating) and watched her
cook. The “menu” was spoken and we had
two option; chicken onion and noodles or spicy noodles. Everyone but Dr. Laurence ordered the chicken
onion and noodles which was really good.
The meal came with all you can drink tea and seaweed. The tea was way too hot and I did not care
for the seaweed. The old lady only spoke
Japanese and was joking with us as Dr. Laurence translated. She gave us all complements on our chopsticks
skills. It was a very unique experience.
Next we walked to our first shrine, which was open to the
public. Shinto is a way of thinking and
not a religion. A person can be Buddhist
and practice Shinto. The shrine was very
open and had a large fleet of steps leading up to it. At the center of the grounds we were able to
watch a wedding taking place. The women
was dressed in a fancy black silk dress.
Back in Taiwan we were told that a bride would not wear white because it
is the color they associate with death.
Many Taiwan brides wear blue, the color of purity. We were told in Japan they will wear white,
but the bride we saw was not. I am still
curious about this.
Then we walked for a while (up hill) to another temple which
was a Zen training monastery (I think it is the oldest Japan). The Kencho-Ji Temple had a few places to
visit and grounds to walk around. They
had an amazing black gate (Karamon – Chinese Gate) that is currently not in
operation, but really cool to see. We
also saw the Dharma Hall which is the largest wooden Buddhist structure in Eastern
Japan. In this hall was a Fasting Buddha
statue and an elaborate painting of a dragon on the ceiling. After seeing this we then took our longest
walk to the train station and went back to the hotel.
At night we walked to one of the most busy crosswalks and
got to experience the crowds on the train again. After crossing the busiest intersection
twice, Carol and I took the subway to the Tokyo Tower. It looked a lot like the Eiffel Tower. The top of the tower was closed, but we went
up half way and saw all the lights of the city.
We even were able to stand on a glass floor and look down. I liked Taipei 101 better.
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