Torii gates Torii, the iconically Japanese gateways that typically mark the entrance to Shinto shrines are ubiquitous all over the country, and are even used as a symbol on maps to mark the location of a shrine. The torii marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The torri above and below is an icon of…
Kannon – goddess of compassion and mercy One of the most common figures encountered in Japanese temples is Kannon-sama, in English, the goddess of compassion and mercy and in Japanese as Kanzeon Bosatsu. Like Jizo, Kannon is not a Buddha, but a Bodhisattva, a being who is able to achieve Nirvana but delays doing so through compassion for suffering beings. Kannon is…
Japan is different – toilets In the same way that Japan is at the technological forefront when it comes to trains, so it is with toilets. Warm toilet seats, integrated bidet with sprinkle or shower, water pressure level, positioning (and much more), automatic flushing when you stand up, and even a water sound simulator to drown out the sound of…
Copenhagen – 42km training With 9 days remaining before I travel to Japan, today was my last big training sessions. Unfortunately, Denmark is flat, very, very flat, so no training in mountains here. Instead I walked 42 km’s in and around Copenhagen, visiting parks, cemetries, walking along the coast and through downtown Copenhagen – a fantastic trip. My wife…
Shitenno – the four heavenly kings The Shitennล are Buddhist protectors of the four directions. They ward off evil, guard the nation, and protect the world from malicious spirits, hence the Japanese term Gose Shitennล, literally โfour world-protecting deva kings.โ Each represents a direction, season, color, virtue, and element. They are almost always depicted wearing armor and holding weapons, and are…
Lanterns Lanterns come in many shapes and sizes in Japan, as through the most of Asia. They are used in temples, on the way to temples, at festivals and not least in front of restaurants and peoples homes during festivals. The featured picture, above, is taken from my trip to Japan in 2014, where lanterns are…
Japan is different – trains The Japanese love trains – no matter if it’s a ultra-modern high speed bullet train, or very slow local train – and local trains are very slow. You can see this in many different ways. Japan rail personel salute the incoming shinkansen, the platform supervisor salutes the leaving train. Train conductors bow and say hello…
Jizo – guardian of travellers, children, and motherhood One of Japanโs most beloved deities, Jizล is the guardian of travellers, the hell realm, children, and motherhood. Everywhere in Japan, at busy intersections, at roadsides, in graveyards, in temples, and along hiking trails, one will find statues of Jizล Bosatsu decked in clothing, wearing a red or white cap and bib, adorned with toys,…
Omikuji – Fortune telling At visits to shrines and temples, many Japanese draw a piece of paper called Omikuji, that tells their fortune for the next year. Omikuji has nearly 1000 years of history and is said to have started when people drew lots to hear a divine opinion on such things as predicting government decisions or choosing a…
Japan is different – white gloves Something I noticed when travelling around Japan was the number of people wearing white gloves. Almost all drivers – taxi drivers, bus drivers and train drivers and conductors, most often, but not always wear white gloves. But it’s not only drivers- the police and postal workers also wear them. When I looked into it, there…
Shrines and Temples – how they differ In difference to the West, the Japanese do not identify with a specific religion. In fact, thereโs a common saying that the Japanese are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist. Because of this fluidity, itโs not uncommon to see shrines on temple grounds and vice versa. The biggest difference between a Shrine and a…
Buddhist Statues Nobody can have visited an Asian country without wondering about the many different statues at temples, in parks, along paths etc. Along the Shikoku 88 route, within the main hall of each temple, there is a statue of the main deity, which is considered to be the central religious figure of each site. A deity…
Returning to Japan – 2019 On April 7th 2018, almost exactly a year ago, I started on an experience for life – visiting 88 temples on the Japanese island of Shikoku. It was a fantastic experience – seeing a different side of Japan, a rural side, far different from the mega cities I had previously visited. A fantastic scenery, both…
Godai – the five elements of Japanese culture The word godai combines the kanji for five (go) and great (dai), the name for one of the fundamental concepts in Japanese culture, the five elements: earth, water, fire, wind and void. The gorintou is the three-dimensional representation of the five elemnents, perhaps best described as a stack of geometric forms: at the bottom the square representing earth; above…
Fudo Myoo – the immovable wisdom king Myo-o is the Japanese term for Sanskrit “Vidyaraja,” a group of warlike and wrathful deities known in English as the Mantra Kings, the Wisdom Kings, or the Knowledge Kings. Myo-o statues appear ferocious and menacing, with threatening postures and faces designed to subdue evil and frighten unbelievers into accepting Buddhist law.ย They represent the wisdom of…
Nรตkyรตchรต – the stamp book Anybody that followed me on my trip to Japan in 2018 where I visited 88 temples in Shikoku, is aware that at each temple I collected a stamp in my stamp book or Nรตkyรตchรต. For 300 yen, I queued up at the temple office and received 3 stamps and Japanese caligraphy. Whilst collecting them, I…
Nio – benevolent kings The Niล are a pair of protectors who commonly stand guard outside the temple gate at Japanese Buddhist temples, one on either side of the entrance. The open-mouth version is commonly placed to the right of the temple, the closed-mouth version to the left. In Japan, the gate itself is often called the Niล-mon (literally…
Shrine etiquette Just as at Temples, there are a number of steps to follow when visiting a Shrine. The first thing one meets when visiting a Shrine is the Torri gate – the boundary of the shine’s consecrated grounds. The proper procedure is to bow slightly just before passing under the torii gate, and enter through either…
Day 46, 47: Tokyo and home Our hotel in Tokyo was in the sports area, overlooking the baseball stadium, rugby stadium, tennis courts and the new olympic stadium, currently under construction. We walked into Shinjuku, Yanmei shopping in Uniqlo and Gu, whilst I checked out electronics at BIC Camera. We ate lunch at Zanmai sushi, hidden away on the 3rd floor…
Day 45: Kanazawa We had a 17:55 train to Tokyo, so we needed to see as much as we could of Kanazawa in less that a day – which we now know is possible. We ate breakfast at the hotel, the first hotel I have experienced where they play LPโs through mega loud speakers for breakfast. First stop…
