Kamakura 6-15-07
These are pictures from my trip to the center of Japan's first Bakufu (tent-government), known as the Kamakura Bakufu, which ruled Japan (at least in part, see _my plan_ for more info) from 1185 to 1330. Didn't do much by way of history-seeing, which was too bad, but did lots of temple-seeing, which was beautiful.
Our first were two small temples near our station. I learned something interesting about these stone dogs: the one on the right is called A(ah) and the left is UN. They symbolize the beginning and end, and are part of a saying that Yuko taught me that means a very close relationship. I completely forget the rest of the saying, though.
Crows on a sign. Almost caught this wonderful hawk on camera, with golden wings, sorry I missed him Jimmy. Got any idea what he was? Definitely had that "hawk" look...
These are statues for the salvation of children who died before they were born. I washed one's head.
Some views of Tokyo bay from the same temple
Umm... so this place was absolutely beautiful, just stunning. It's a famous spot for flowers, especially this time of year, with these gorgeous hydrangeas known throughout Japan. I was quite impressed.
Probably the sight of all in Kamakura, if you had to pick one. I'm supposing that even these pictures don't really give one the feeling I had standing in front of this monolithic testament to human religion and the alleviation of suffering. As weird as I found it, we climbed down inside Buddha (giving my inner Dylan a hearty chuckle) and took some more pictures.
Belly of the Buddha
Next O-Inari-San, a temple for the fox and rice Goddess. Lots of foxes here, including these A-UN.
More O-Inari-San stuff...
Zeni-Arai-Benten-San, another shrine to Benten (you may recall the one in Ueno park that I have a picture of, with the tower in the background). Many people come here to wash their money (Zeni-Arai means money-wash in older Japanese), which multiplies it, but only if you spend the money you washed in the same day. I washed money in these baskets, you see...
In that last picture you can see the three-triangle symbol of the Hojo clan, who ruled from Kamakura in the name of puppet Minamoto Shoguns after the death of Minamoto Yoritomo in 1199. Their reign ended with the beginning of the Ashikaga era, in which the seat of government was moved to the Muromachi district of Kyoto and the Ashikaga clan ruled Japan, if weakly. During the final days in 1330, the vast majority of the Hojo clan committed Seppuku together at a shrine near (but not in) Kamakura.
Perhaps all of you out there can tell me how I felt standing at the grave of Minamoto Yoritomo, the first Shogun of Japan?
A rather strange detour, we got directional assistance from this woman who lived between Minamoto's grave and the Buddhist Temple where we were going to practice Za-Zen. She gave us some very interesting advice, which took us over the "mountain" between the two by means of this little path. The run up the hill was great, but the bugs and sweatiness weren't so great by the time we took these pictures.
The temple where we practiced one hour of Za-Zen meditation. I got whacked with a stick! Can say I was ultimately fulfilled by the experience, but I did end up in that trance-state I sometimes do when meditating. Nothing like people who are really good at it report, with their minds going blank and arriving at a state of "no-thought", but my mind definitely explores itself and my senses do go somewhat haywire, so I can't complain.
Our last temple visit, the name of which I don't remember, sorry. I was tired, and wanted to go to a Sento (public bath) but the closest was far, far away, so we didn't. Instead we had great curry and took a final picture of the collection of stuff we were about to bring home:
I great, tiring day. If I could find someone to show me what I didn't see that day, the former noble residences and such, I'd go back in a heartbeat. Hell, I'd go back for the food...
-Jason
Our first were two small temples near our station. I learned something interesting about these stone dogs: the one on the right is called A(ah) and the left is UN. They symbolize the beginning and end, and are part of a saying that Yuko taught me that means a very close relationship. I completely forget the rest of the saying, though.
Crows on a sign. Almost caught this wonderful hawk on camera, with golden wings, sorry I missed him Jimmy. Got any idea what he was? Definitely had that "hawk" look...
These are statues for the salvation of children who died before they were born. I washed one's head.
Some views of Tokyo bay from the same temple
Umm... so this place was absolutely beautiful, just stunning. It's a famous spot for flowers, especially this time of year, with these gorgeous hydrangeas known throughout Japan. I was quite impressed.
Probably the sight of all in Kamakura, if you had to pick one. I'm supposing that even these pictures don't really give one the feeling I had standing in front of this monolithic testament to human religion and the alleviation of suffering. As weird as I found it, we climbed down inside Buddha (giving my inner Dylan a hearty chuckle) and took some more pictures.
Belly of the Buddha
Next O-Inari-San, a temple for the fox and rice Goddess. Lots of foxes here, including these A-UN.
More O-Inari-San stuff...
Zeni-Arai-Benten-San, another shrine to Benten (you may recall the one in Ueno park that I have a picture of, with the tower in the background). Many people come here to wash their money (Zeni-Arai means money-wash in older Japanese), which multiplies it, but only if you spend the money you washed in the same day. I washed money in these baskets, you see...
In that last picture you can see the three-triangle symbol of the Hojo clan, who ruled from Kamakura in the name of puppet Minamoto Shoguns after the death of Minamoto Yoritomo in 1199. Their reign ended with the beginning of the Ashikaga era, in which the seat of government was moved to the Muromachi district of Kyoto and the Ashikaga clan ruled Japan, if weakly. During the final days in 1330, the vast majority of the Hojo clan committed Seppuku together at a shrine near (but not in) Kamakura.
Perhaps all of you out there can tell me how I felt standing at the grave of Minamoto Yoritomo, the first Shogun of Japan?
A rather strange detour, we got directional assistance from this woman who lived between Minamoto's grave and the Buddhist Temple where we were going to practice Za-Zen. She gave us some very interesting advice, which took us over the "mountain" between the two by means of this little path. The run up the hill was great, but the bugs and sweatiness weren't so great by the time we took these pictures.
The temple where we practiced one hour of Za-Zen meditation. I got whacked with a stick! Can say I was ultimately fulfilled by the experience, but I did end up in that trance-state I sometimes do when meditating. Nothing like people who are really good at it report, with their minds going blank and arriving at a state of "no-thought", but my mind definitely explores itself and my senses do go somewhat haywire, so I can't complain.
Our last temple visit, the name of which I don't remember, sorry. I was tired, and wanted to go to a Sento (public bath) but the closest was far, far away, so we didn't. Instead we had great curry and took a final picture of the collection of stuff we were about to bring home:
I great, tiring day. If I could find someone to show me what I didn't see that day, the former noble residences and such, I'd go back in a heartbeat. Hell, I'd go back for the food...
-Jason