After class last Wednesday, I returned to Myomanji temple--this time during opening hours. Not that you would know it was actually open. Besides a couple of groundskeepers and a few Buddhist monks, I saw only one other living soul during my visit. He too, spent much time contemplating the stupa. It's appropriately called a stupa, rather than a pagoda, since pagoda essentially refers to the Chinese and Japanese-style of stupa architecture, and this one, again, is a smaller version of the Indian Bodh Gaya stupa. Interestingly, the word stupa comes from the Sanskrit word for "grave" or "mound"...
Very appropriate for a structure built to house relics.
The hasu are beginning to bloom.
Myomanji has beautiful, small rock gardens to the sides of the paths
along the main area of the temple grounds.
Contemplating the stupa
Details of the animal carvings around the stupa's base.
There were lions, horses, oxen, and elephants, from what I remember.
I found the bell here rather interesting; it's kind of flat, like a shallow drum.
View from the stairs, with Hiei-zan in the distance.
I can't help admiring the beautiful shodou and carvings you can find
in Japanese graveyards...
