A place to reflect, ramble, and rofl at adventures from my study abroad in Nihon...
Honestly, there could be shenanigans.

14.6.10

A Slightly Random Post

I've noticed a pattern in the monkey sightings. They visit the dormitory roofs when I'm not actually around to see it, but their little raiding parties always come out on beautiful, sunny Wednesday afternoons when I'm on my way to my religion class in. I'm not sure what they raid, but it's definitely a raiding party, the way they cross the roads in single-file to hide their numbers, infants in tote. You know they're up to something.
Our school's flamenco club giving a small performance during a lunch break. 

"Strange things are afoot at the Circle K..."
Well, near to where the Circle K used to be. Now it's gone, which makes the next two nearest konbini are another couple of blocks further than the Circle K was.
Only slightly inkonbini.
I finally had my camera with me one time on the almost-daily search for food, and it happened to be the perfect day for photographing this cherub: the roses were in bloom...the sky was bright blue and cloudy...

"In the beginning, she found herself in a new and empty space. All was white, and the corners were a bit flaky, and the carpet was a bit manky
but it was a good space. She sat in the center
and saw a clean white sheet of void."

The Sunday after Nara,
I left I-House little later than I would have liked, but I still made it to the cafe to meet with Kiri-san. The cafe was very quaint--just a few quiet tables in the back room, just past the front room, in which all manner of cute, nifty handmade crafts and accessories are on sale.
I bought the Libra print finally, and Kiri-san and
I spent a couple of hours chatting. We shared our sketchbooks with each other--for which I was very fortunate, since Kiri-san said she didn't show many people her sketchbook. I don't tend to share my sketchbook with people very often either, now that I think about it...
We talked about what sort of things inspired us, styles we liked, where she worked, what I studied. She was very, very kind and complimented my work. In short, we had a lovely chat over toast and coke, artist to artist, all in Japanese for the most part. (Can't deny I'm a bit proud of that, even if I do require frequent aid from a jisho when my range of vocabulary falls short.)
My all-day bus pass and I took me over to Kitano Tenmanguu shrine once more. My Japanese religion sensei had told us the previous day about some rituals the marathon monks from Hiei-zan were going to be performing in Gion, and then at Kitano Tenmanguu, and I'd hope to catch the second them at the shrine. I took the wrong bus, or at least the one that took twice as long to get where I wanted, although I probably would have been just as late if I had waited to take the right bus, which I had unfortunately just missed.
I walked through the shrine again, though. Every time you visit a shrine or a temple, or a garden or park, even, it's a different experience. I took some extra pictures in case we needed some for my group's presentation on Kitano Tenmanguu in my Introduction to Japanese Culture class. Plus, in doing all that research, I know a lot more about the shrine and its history now.
The Tenmanguu shrines in Japan are all dedicated to Tenjin, Sugawara no Michizane's kami. In life, Sugawara no Michizane had been an important statesman, a dedicated scholar, and an excellent writer in his time. Unfortunately, his ambitions clashed with those of the Fujiwara clan, and he fell victim to their political intrigues, also falling out of favor with the Court. He was exiled to Kyuushuu, and died shortly thereafter a lonely and bitter man, longing once again to see the ume blossoms of Kyoto.
Not long after his death in 903, several natural disasters and much social unrest struck Kyoto. Members of the Fujiwara clan, as well as others, who were involved in the schemes resulting in Michizane's exile, met unfortunate and sometimes early ends. The people of Kyoto believed it was Michizane's spirit wreaking vengeance upon the capital. To placate his angry spirit, the Imperial Court posthumously restored his title and offices, had the order of exile burned and erased from official records, and finally ordered the deification of Michizane as Tenman Daijizai Tenjin. The disasters ceased, and Michizane's status as a goryou, a vengeful spirit, changed to that of a protector deity of the state.
The term tenjin actually predates its usage as the name for Michizane's kami. It comes from an old Chinese term for "heavenly deity," that is a deity coming from the heavens, as opposed to deities native to the land. At the Kita-Shirakawa Guusha shrine, Tenjin is actually still worshiped as just a kami who can control weather and natural disasters, but most elsewhere, the idea of Tenjin has evolved into something quite different.
Tenjin's current incarnation is an amalgamation of the original thunder and rain kami, Michizane's goryou, and the esoteric Buddhist gohoujin, or protector of Buddhist Dharma. In the Muromachi period, Tenjin became one of the three deities of waka poetry and shoudou, and by the Edo period, he was also seen as the patron kami of scholars and terakoya, since he was such an accomplished scholar and poet in his lifetime.
A baku in the framework. Baku are essentially a kind of chimera from Chinese mythology,
usually with an elephant's nose and tusks, a lion's mane, tiger claws, a cow tail, etc.,
whose main purpose are as nightmare-eaters. (Usually they're seen as benevolent,
but sometimes they cause problems by eating dreams.)
Besides poetry and calligraphy, plum trees and oxen are closely associated with Tenjin. The reason for the plum trees is quite obvious; Michizane was deeply enamored with their imagery from early childhood. One of the first poems he wrote, at the tender age of five, was about how he wished to paint his cheek with the plum blossom. The story behind the oxen was a little more difficult to find. It is said that the ox pulling Michizane's remains during his funeral procession supposedly refused to budge beyond a certain spot, upon which Dazaifu Tenmanguu shrine was built.
Today, Tenjin is venerated mostly as a kami of learning and examinations. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, many students, and their families, visit Tenmanguu shrines to pray for success, particularly in January right before examinations begin. In February when test results are generally released, they also return to give thanks--coincidentally at the same time of year when the plum tree groves of Tenmanguu shrines are in bloom.
Photos I snapped while I was scrounging for food in town:
this is where the Takanogawa river, on the right, splits from Kamogawa.
"She held the Charm to her face, and reflected in the Charm was
a city of lost horizons, and tall and towering stories.
And just as it had been reflected in the charm,
so it appeared in the void. And when there was no more room,
she turned it over, and continued on the other side."
~Mirrormask

Nara Part II: That will bring us back to...

After our visit to Houryuuji, we were free to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring the elsewhere. Some of our class left early to return to Kyoto, or to spend the rest of the weekend in Osaka, but a fair few of us hurried over to Yakushiji temple.
 Like Houryuuji, Yakushiji was built for the purpose of praying for the recovery of a member of the imperial family. In the late 7th c., Emperor Temmu planned its construction while his wife was suffering from a very serious illness. Also like Emperor Youmei, Temmu died before the plan was realized, but Empress Jito succeeded him and saw the temple's completion in 698. Due to numerous natural disasters, fires, and wars over the years, only the Yakushiji Triad in the Kondo, the Sho-Kannon statue in the Toindo, and the Eastern Pagoda remain intact from the original temple grounds.
 
Yakushiji's Kondo, the red and white building in the above picture, houses its principle images of the Yakushi Triad, dating from the Hakuho period. Emperor Temmu commissioned this piece in 680, and it was finished in 697, a year before the entire temple's completion. Originally it was gilded cast-bronze, but a fire in 1528 which demolished most of the grounds left the gold sheen on the statues blackened and smooth. This triad has a number of characteristics which make it unique. For one, instead of the typical medicine pot held in the Yakushi Nyorai's left hand, there is none; instead, he sits upon a medicine chest. Designs on the chest-pedestal reflect the significance of the Silk Road: Grecian grapevine scrolls on the frame, Middle Eastern lotus designs similar to those found in Islamic mosques, Hindu-style crouched barbarians reliefs, and T'and Dynasty-style carvings of the Shijin, the dragon, phoenix, tiger, and tortoise grouping, all demonstrate the international influences of that period.
 
The East Pagoda (above) was one of the few survivors from the 1528 fire, and is the only extant Hakuho period architecture in Japan today. The mokoshi, decorative or cuff roofs, give the appearance that it has six stories, but it actually only has three. This rhythm of the roof design is poetically referred to as "Frozen Music." The West Pagoda (below) was destroyed in aforementioned fire, and was finally rebuilt along with the Kondo in 1980.
 
A monk speaking to a group of chuugakusei
Yakushiji's Daikodo, which enshrines a Hakuho-period Mytreya Buddha triad
 
A small Inari shrine between Yakushiji and the nearby Hachiman shrine
A little south of Yakushiji is a Hachimanguu shrine dedicated to Hachiman--a kami of war and guardian spirit of the Minamoto samurai clan--as well as Empress Jingu and Empress Nakatsuhime.
To the north of the main Yakushiji grounds is the Genjou Sanzouin Garan complex, which was dedicated to Hsuan Tsang in 1981 when some of his remains were given to the temple. (That's as in Genjou Sanzou as in the gun-toting, snarky main protagonist from the anime and manga Saiyuki, which is loosely based upon the Chinese Journey to the West story, related to the Stone Monkey King legend. Based on the same priest, anyway. Very, very loosely.) The man himself, after studying Buddhism for nearly twenty years in India, was responsible for translating over a thousand volumes of Buddhist writings in T'ang Dynasty China.
At the time of our visit, there was a pretty impressive ikebana display all around the main hexagonal building in the complex.
Meet Sento-kun, Nara's own mascot. As far as I can tell, he's a deer-Buddha-boy. (Unless I'm wrong in thinking the little curl-dot on his forehead and elongated earlobes are indicative of a Buddha-like character...)
When we were entirely finished with Yakushiji, we hauled butt over to Todaiji, although we knew we weren't going to make it in time before the temple itself officially closed. Happily, Todaiji was still adjacent to one of Nara's deer parks. If there's one thing you must remember about Nara, it is that there are deer. Lots and lots and lots of deer. And if you go to Nara, you must see the deer.
Doe, a deer, a female deer
Deer, called shika in Japanese, have long been regarded as sacred animals, because in ancient times, they were supposedly the special mount of kami and divine beings. Today, I believe the locals regarded them as sacred pains-in-the-butt and insatiable brats. Because Nara's so famous for the deer, and people visit particularly to see and pet them, they're quite fearless. I hear that they can be very mean as well, but the deer we met were all fairly sweet and docile. A couple were slightly irked to have their horns touched, which isn't so surprising when you realize that their antlers are very warm because they're still growing and so the "velvet" tissue is still living. The antlers only become dead tissue and bone once fully grown.
 
One friendly bloke actually walked with us
 
There weren't too many fawns around...this one was a little timid.
 
And this stag fancied himself quite the model...Have to say, he got the job done too. Observe the gorgeous posturing.
 
This one could have been a model in a Life Drawing class, haha. Those curves...
 
I've seen this look before...on a dog's face.
 
Todaiji's Nandaimon
This gate is absolutely enormous, the largest I've seen yet, and you can sense its oldness.
 
The Niou in this gate look about thirty feet tall. Again--huge!
 
We wandered around the outer areas of Todaiji's grounds...
 
...and I took a tiny peek inside the main grounds through a grate.
 
They know you want to feed them. She was not-very-subtly following around one of the vendors as he was packing up his wares outside Todaiji.
 
I believe this is supposed to be the bell tower, just east of the main grounds.
 
Kannon-in shrine, also just east of Todaiji.
After some good wandering, picture-taking, and having fun watching the deer harass the lingering vendors, we headed back towards the train station in search of sustenance. We found this lovely little tonkatsu hole-in-the-wall down a shopping arcade right next to the station. About an hour later, our bellies stuffed with tasty and fairly inexpensive food, we hopped the train and subway back to Kyoto, dozing along the way.
Doze.
Does.
Doe.
I jumped a bit with surprise when this fountain suddenly turned on while I was aiming my camera at the statue.
 Also, it sure looks like the hills of Nara are alive back in that poster of Sento-kun.

~~~
Engrish of the Day: