June 2, 2007
Hi Family,
Today I visited Sanjusangen-do. It was very interesting; there are 1001 Buddhist "statues" (they seem more like idols to me). 124 of them are from the 12th century and the rest are from the 13th century (there was a fire). And there was one enormous Buddha. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of them, but my camera wasn't working right anyway. (Hopefully it is okay now, because I plan on taking a train down to Nara on Monday.) I happened to be there right at the right time to see a Buddhist wedding. The only similarities it had with our weddings as far as I know was that the bride was wearing white (a big white kimono) and they exchanged rings. It was interesting. I got in trouble for trying to take pictures of the bride...but everyone else didn't, heheh. Anyway, it was the most horrific looking place in Japan to get married in my opinion. I guess it is 120 meters long and the longest wooden structure in the world, but don't quote me on that. I liked it when I came in because I happened to have taken a picture of it with my cell phone in some Japanese book at BYU's library and used it as my background, so it was familiar and now I actually know what the picture was of. But by the end of the wedding I was getting a bit creeped out. Google it, you'll see why it's weird. Maybe it was just all the bowing and worshiping to the enormous, freaky, not to mention uglier than the groom, Buddha statue (just being honest). I think I stayed for about thirty minutes, but there must be a million parts of their marriages because the priest stood up and said "they're not married yet" (in Japanese). They seemed to be done with the ceremony though so I left and went around to some little places like this mausoleum that was somewhat under construction, looked the same as every other place except people had suitcases (for all I know they planned on leaving earth...jk) and didn't have enough English for me to stand walking around looking bewildered and possibly going in to prohibited areas so I didn't stay there long. Plus my camera was broken. So I went to Mos Burger and felt right at home for a while. Well, if you haven't cleaned out the van could you check and see if the piece of cardboard with Brooke's email address is still in the drink holder? Thanks!
Love, Savanna
PS Yesterday I went to Manpukuji. It was only about 15 minutes from my home by bike. You should check those pictures out as well.
Today I visited Sanjusangen-do. It was very interesting; there are 1001 Buddhist "statues" (they seem more like idols to me). 124 of them are from the 12th century and the rest are from the 13th century (there was a fire). And there was one enormous Buddha. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of them, but my camera wasn't working right anyway. (Hopefully it is okay now, because I plan on taking a train down to Nara on Monday.) I happened to be there right at the right time to see a Buddhist wedding. The only similarities it had with our weddings as far as I know was that the bride was wearing white (a big white kimono) and they exchanged rings. It was interesting. I got in trouble for trying to take pictures of the bride...but everyone else didn't, heheh. Anyway, it was the most horrific looking place in Japan to get married in my opinion. I guess it is 120 meters long and the longest wooden structure in the world, but don't quote me on that. I liked it when I came in because I happened to have taken a picture of it with my cell phone in some Japanese book at BYU's library and used it as my background, so it was familiar and now I actually know what the picture was of. But by the end of the wedding I was getting a bit creeped out. Google it, you'll see why it's weird. Maybe it was just all the bowing and worshiping to the enormous, freaky, not to mention uglier than the groom, Buddha statue (just being honest). I think I stayed for about thirty minutes, but there must be a million parts of their marriages because the priest stood up and said "they're not married yet" (in Japanese). They seemed to be done with the ceremony though so I left and went around to some little places like this mausoleum that was somewhat under construction, looked the same as every other place except people had suitcases (for all I know they planned on leaving earth...jk) and didn't have enough English for me to stand walking around looking bewildered and possibly going in to prohibited areas so I didn't stay there long. Plus my camera was broken. So I went to Mos Burger and felt right at home for a while. Well, if you haven't cleaned out the van could you check and see if the piece of cardboard with Brooke's email address is still in the drink holder? Thanks!
Love, Savanna
PS Yesterday I went to Manpukuji. It was only about 15 minutes from my home by bike. You should check those pictures out as well.