Shrines and Temples – how they differ In difference to the West, the Japanese do not identify with a specific religion. In fact, there’s a common saying that the Japanese are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist. Because of this fluidity, it’s 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. They represent the wisdom of…
Nõkyõchõ – 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 Nõkyõchõ. 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 Niō 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 Niō-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 LP’s through mega loud speakers for breakfast. First stop…
Day 44: Shirakawago We spent the morning in Takayama, quickly walking through the morning market along the river, which didn’t have a lot to offer. We then followed a path on the edge of town passing different temples and shrines, most of which were small and also didn’t have much to offer. At one point there was a…
Day 43: Takayama This morning we left Osaka for Takayama with a single change in Nagoya. Takayama lies at 600 m in the so called northern alps, and is surrounded by snow-capped mountains up to 3.000m. It was a beautiful tour through the mountains up to Takayama, which beyond the beautiful scenery is famous for its old town…
Day 42: Nara Japan’s first permanent capital in 710, Nara is full of World Heritage temples and shrines, six in all. On top of that, only 10km away, Horyuji Temple, with the oldest wooden buildings in the world, remaining in tact since the 8th century. On our one day visit we managed to visit three temples and a…
Day 41: Himeji I write this as we sit on the train back to Osaka, after spending the day in Himeji, with its wonderful white castle. The first fortifications were built on this spot in the 14th century, whilst the castle that stands today is from 1609. It is one of Japan’s 12 remaining original castles, never destroyed…
Day 39 and 40: Osaka I think I’d forgotten how big and noisy Asian mega cities are and after 30 odd days in the countryside, Osaka came as a shock. There are people and noise everywhere. After 2 days on trains back and forth to Tokyo, Thursday was a see Osaka day, which in essence pretty much means walking the…
Day 38: Off to Tokyo and Conclusion I write this final blog post sitting on the train to Shin-Osaka, on my way to Tokyo Narita airport where I will stay tonight before meeting my daughter for my final week in Japan. The train to Osaka left at 12.49, so I had a free morning to visit the Wakayama Museum of Modern Art,…
Day 37: Ceremonies in Koyasan and hidden temples and shrines My alarm was set for 6.00 and I was ready for the two Bhuddist ceremonies at 6.30 and 7.00. The first was for my ancestors and started by us all, in turn, burning incense – first bowing, the taking the incense from the pot, lifting it to your forehead and putting it on the incense…
Day 36: Koyasan Koyasan is the center of Buddhist study and practice and founded by Kobo Daishi in 816. Koyasan was chosen as he wanted a monastery in the mountains, far from worldly distractions, a place where Buddhist monks could concentrate upon practicing and praying for peace and welfare of the people. It is situated at 900m in…
Day 35: Japanese breakfast Finally on day 35, I had no choice, it was either Japanese breakfast or no breakfast. I half expected breakfast to be a set menu when they wanted to know what time I would be eating breakfast, so I wasn’t that surprised to find rice, fish, a half boiled egg in vinegar, seaweed, various pickled…
Day 34: Kumano Kodo Day 2 on the Kumano Kodo didn’t result in a lot of walking, but a lot of beautiful sights. Anybody going to Japan and not taking in the Kii peninsular, is making a big mistake. The nature is not quite as extraordinary as southern Shikoku, but it is close, and based on the three shrines…
