Koya-San: Buddhists Unite!

After many days of a fully packed itinerary, it was time to slow the pace a bit and get in touch with our spiritual side.  Koya-San is the place to go to get your Buddha on.  It is a mystical place in the mountains surrounded by eight peaks.  It is home to the headquarters for the Shingon school of Esoteric Buddhism.  Buddhism was brought to Japan in 816 when a young priest named Kobo Daishi returned from a trip to China with the new teachings.  Every since Koya-San has been the place to find your enlightenment.

Adding to the mystique is the fact that when you arrive on the train platform you actually then transfer to a cable car which then hoists you to the top of the mountain where you are engulfed by mist.  I half expected Yoda to be levitating at the summit!

We spent the night at Shojoshin-in a working Buddhist temple in order to get the authentic experience.  We woke up at 5:00 to join the monks in their daybreak chanting, and indulged in the strict Buddhist cuisine, shojin-ryori.  It was a great experience, and we left feeling peaceful (abeit craving a little Hida beef)!

The main attraction is Oku-no-in.  Any Buddhist worth their salt has a portion of their remains here.  It's a fantastically lush and gorgeous place set amongst huge old trees and stone pathways.  It's a great time to walk through and ponder on your thoughts this life and the next.

These deities are for the protection of children and pregnant mothers.  People often make sure that they are dressed and fed in order to keep them happy!

The path of cedars creates a dense canopy of trees that blocks most sunlight and drops the temperature a few degrees from outside the cemetery - it definitely has the feeling of a lot of souls milling about.

We happened upon a grooved tree stump where people had made small offerings.  Matt found the one coin that was not like the others.

Worshippers ladle water from the nearby river and pour it on the Jizo statues as an offering for the dead.

The size of the trees and the shines are huge and can make you feel very small, it's a good time to think about your place in the world.  (I was also sure that his one was an ent).  There is a neighboring, more modern part of the cemetery where companies place very interesting monuments based on souls loss in their industry, or at their jobs.  This rocket ship was for those perished in the space program.  One of the most entertaining monuments is the White Ant Memorial, which was build by a pesticide company to expiate its guilt for the murder of legions of little critters!

Our temple's central zen garden made for a great view.

East Asian "Buddhist" cuisine differ from Western vegetarian cuisine in one aspect, that is avoidance of killing plant life. Buddhist vinaya for monks and nuns prohibit harming of plants. Therefore, strictly speaking, root vegetables (such as potatoes, carrots or onion) are not to be used as this will result in death of vegetables.

The meditation area in the temple was certainly a place where you could find some peace.

This was our temple room, we slept on the tatami mats with small futons.  There were no locks in the temple and the rooms can be adjusted just by moving the paper screens.  Slide that door in the corner and we would be in our neighbor's room.

I told Matt that I did not think that creating an electrical fire in a temple would bode well for us.  He insisted that this was perfect safe.  As if I was not worried enough about being a future arsonist, I also encounter a few unwelcome guests in a our room.  These monks are worried about murdering vegetables, so I did not think that squashing this intruder would bode well for my reincarnation.  Matt thankfully delivered it to much more comfortable surroundings outside.

Not a bad view to wake up to if you have to be up at 5:00am!

One hour of monotone chanting in Japanese, was not the most stimulating time of my life, but at least I had a front row seat!

Who needs a pet rock?  This is a herd!  This is the largest rock garden in the world.  It is located in Kongobu-Ji the headquarters of the Shingon school.  According to the artist  it is supposed to give the effect of a throng of worshipers eagerly listening to a monks sermon.

These are probably the only pets we are qualified to keep!

We said goodbye to Koya-San by visiting the Dai-to or Great Pagoda.

Kanazawa: The Marsh of Gold

The name Kanazawa literally means 'marsh of gold' and that name certainly held true as this wonderful city was a treasure trove of interesting things to see, do and eat!  Situated on the coast of the Sea of Japan and bordered by the Japan Alps, this busting city is home to half a million people who are able to enjoy a city full of life since the early days.  After 1583 the Maeda (you might not know Maeda but you might know their chief retainers - Honda) clan took power over the province and it's bountiful rice harvests made it a pretty rich area, today it retains the best remains of the original samurai district and geisha tea houses.  The city was also spared in WWII leaving all the good stuff untouched - lucky us!

The age old question: can you be a 'Japanese tourist' in Japan?

Walking through the Higashi Chaya-Gai district is like stepping back in time.  Many original tea houses dot the cobblestone lanes.  This is a famous geisha house name Shima.

The Normura samurai house is one of the most impressive ones left standing.  Samurai houses share a similar basic pattern: a single-floored residence, usually fairly square or rectangular in plan, surrounded by a garden – both the vegetable and the decorative kinds. The roof was gabled, and faced the road.  This was the most beautiful central garden we saw on the entire trip.

Here you can see that the house is built to accommodate a view into the garden from almost every angle.  People also often moved around on the walk ways outside of the rooms and then entered, rather that traveling through the house.

Once again Japan gets me on a bike - and I couldn't be happier!  I'm also on my way to one of the top rated Japanese gardens in the world!

Kenroku-en, means the Six Attributes garden.  The six Chinese attributes for perfection are: seclusion, spaciousness, artificiality, antiquity, abundant water and board views.  They certainly hit this one on the head!  The garden is an absolutely stunning site, which each detail hand picked by it's creators.  It started in 1676 as the garden of an outside villa from the Kanazawa castle, but the liked it so much they annexed it! 

The garden has many claims to famous but one of it's proudest is that is has the oldest working foundtain in Japan, operated by natural water pressure.  (And a lot great photo ops, naturally!)

Many of the old trees have taken on a life of their own, twisting and turning over the years - the effect is really spectacular.

Prince Yamatotakeru was a Japanese legendary prince of the Yamato dynasty, son of Keikō of Yamato, a legendary monarch who is traditionally counted as the 12th Emperor of Japan. The tragic tale of this impressive figure is told in the Japanese chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.

 The Japanese know how to lend a hand, er, stake.  Just when the trees get too big for their britches they build them supports to hold up the weight.  Isn't it a little ironic to pop up a tree with another tree?

These gardens don't maintain themselves.  They've got a whole dedicated troop tending the yards - in orderly fashion of course.

The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is really a must see.  There are so many neat exhibits that are both entertaining and provoking.

The grounds of the art museum have these trumpets that come up from the ground that have a 'match' somewhere else.  The idea is to facilitate communication across boundaries. 

  

I tried to not be offended when no one talked back!

There was a great art piece called The Swimming Pool by Leandro Erlich.  When seen from the deck, the pool appears to be filled with deep, shimmering water. In fact, however, a layer of water only 10 centimeters deep is suspended over transparent glass. Below the glass is an empty space with aquamarine walls that viewers can enter.  You can look at the people from the bottom of the pool and they can see you from below.  It's really a bit mind bending.

The optical illusion is compelling.  Doesn't it look like he could climb out?

I was also really taken by this sculpture that stands on the museum's roof.  The Man Who Measures the Clouds by Jon Fabre.  For some reason it really touched me, and made me feel very optimistic :)

Kanazawa is known for it's lacquer and wood working, and it took all my strength to leave without these hand carved rice bowls.  The richness and color of the wood was really beautiful.  The Japanese tend to think that everything should look harmonious and lovely - which should explain how somehow I became obsessed with wood bowls during this souvenir stop, everything just looks so great together.

Not called the 'golden marsh' for no reason, Kanazawa produces 99% of Japan's gold leaf.  This merchant dedicated to wallpaper a tea room with it - no biggie. 

After a hard day's site seeing we found a friendly local izakaya (Japanese pub) to practice our pantomiming skills at - no English, of course.  The bonus was the option of floor and regular seating in one.  If you look at the table over Matt's shoulder you'll see mats on the floor, but your notice they are sitting above a cut out around the table, so you can actually sit with your legs extended - like a Western table - but still look like you are sitting on the floor.  I want one!

Shirakawa-go: Definitely-Go!

There are some places in the world that just look exactly the way you hoped they would.  For me, the only thing missing from Shirakawa was Mr. Miyagi.  It is the so-quaint-it-will-make-you-sick kind of beautiful - a remote mountainous town that small in size and big on charm.  After this aerial view I couldn't wait to see the town below.

The only way to access the village is a rope foot bridge.  Yup, I intrigued.

Although there are a number of travelers who come to see the village, there are just 600 people who live here and they each keep a beautiful garden.

It was like nature was just leaping out at us - literally!  Just as we arrived a little green frog promptly hitched a ride on Matt's backpack.  I like his style, zero carbon footprint.

Everything was so pretty, I couldn't bear to pick them (though tempted).

I'm a tree hugger, this cedar really deserved some love after surviving 600 years!

Serene or not, it was still extremely hot in Japan everyday we were there, so when Matt had the chance to soak up some of the run off from the cold mountain stream, kicked off his sandals and jumped right in.

No, it's not cream of wheat, much to my dismay!  This is a special and extremely rare unrefined sake made with sake mash.  It's not for sale anywhere, it is is made by the monks of the Hachiman Shrine in the village and they make a limited number of casks for personal consumption and ceremonial reasons.  It's so thick and creamy that bits of rice are still floating in it!  At about 30 proof it is surprising sweet and goes down like a sake-milkshake!

The famous architectural legacy of this mountainous area is the gassho-style farmhouses. These houses are known for their tall, steeply-sloped thatched gable roof with an angle of about 60 degrees. This roof shape, which looks like one's hands put together with the palms facing inward, is the origin of the name of the architectural style, "Gassho", which means to join one's hands in prayer. As it snows heavily in winter in this region, this steeply-sloped roof helps the snow to slip off and prevents the house from being crushed.  And the whole house is held together with pegs, grooves, and ropes - no nails!  They would rust with all the moisture from snow and rain.

The entrance to the Hachiman Shrine was a beautiful sight set amongst the ancient cedar trees.

The alpine forest ensured that the breeze actually smelled like pine needles!

You can see how many floors that steep roof accommodates, they need all the space they can get during the hard winters, where everyone lives inside - even the livestock!  Yup, they are on the first floor next to the kitchen.  Don't have to go to far for your milk.

Matt and I are wondering what the real estate market is like in the village...(is this a good school district?)

If you look really closely I think you can actually see Mr. Miyagi in the window - perfection!