Tidy Garden of Thoughts

Once we left Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu, we meandered through the tranquil residential streets (and some pretty wooded areas) of Kamakura, winding our way towards the Rinzai Zen temple Houkokuji, famous for its bamboo grove garden.

Hokoukuji was the family temple of both the Ashikaga and Uesugi families. It is an absolutely gorgeous temple tucked away in the hillside; the gardens are beautiful, and bamboo is included everywhere in the temple's structure.

The main object of worship is a statue of Shaka Nyorai. The statue in the garden here is of the Miroku Bosatsu or Miroku Nyorai, Buddha of the future, or the Pensive Buddha--easily identified by the seated pose, hand pensively touching the chin and one leg draped across the other.

The Pensive Buddha is actually still a Bodhisattva, but will become a Buddha one day. (Bodhisattvas are beings who have obtained enlightenment, but renounce the state of Nirvana in order to stay behind and help others, all living things, to enlightenment and salvation.)

A small cemetery in the temple




I didn't actually make it into the bamboo grove, sadly: I got in line to get my nokyo-chou stamped, and after the fact, realized our group was in line for the entrance fee, but by the time my nokyo-chou was signed, the line to enter was really long...and we were short on time...

But there were a few smaller, undoubtedly less impressive groves in the front gardens

and this is what the grove is supposed to look like...poor substitute, I'm sure...

the Miroku Nyorai, again

In addition to seeing the bamboo grove, you can also order tea and sit under the parasols, simply enjoying the tranquil atmosphere. Houkokuji is also a fairly active temple, and offers beginning zazen classes.

Bamboo. Everywhere.

I see faces. I'm sure this one was deliberate...but it looks an awful lot like a Carnaval mask...very smooth and elegant.Oftentimes you see Oni faces on the roofs of temples

More Encounters of the Marital Kind

Thursday morning we probably didn't leave quite as early as we should have, in order to see what all we planned to see that day; we took a day trip to Kamakura, and then Yokohama.

Kamakura was the capital of Japan from Minamoto no Yorimoto's reign as shogun in the 12th c until the early 14th c. By the mid-13th c, it was the cultural, political, and military center of Japan, which at the time was receiving lots of cultural influence from Chinese culture--particularly, Zen Buddhism--through the port of Wagaenoshima.
Today, Kamakura's particularly well known for Kamakura-bori, richly laquered wooden relief carvings. Originally imported from China and used in Buddhist sculpture and Zen temples, nowadays it's used in numerous secular, everyday items...Hopefully, I'll have a chance to pick up a piece at some point while I'm here; they're really quite beautiful. (Kamakura's also well known for its Amida Buddha statue, Daibutsu, at Kotoku-in temple, but we didn't manage to see this either, unfortunatley.)

From Kamakura Station, we walked down the main road towards
Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu shrine.

On the way, we caught a look at a couple in a rickshaw, whom we quickly realized were on their way to Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu for their marriage ceremony.
And I believe were were actually walking among a fair number of the wedding party down the path in the median of the road.

Our first sight of Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu


There are several ponds on the grounds; several are lotus ponds, but they aren't in bloom until summer proper...The wisteria were blooming, though!


We arrived at the shrine around the same time the couple and the wedding party were making their way up the stairs to perform the ceremony

Once the ceremony began, two men began playing gagaku on drums and stringed instruments.




Shirahita Shrine, one of the small sub-shrines on Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu's grounds. People come here particularly to pray for success and achievement in their studies.

Red Sky, Blue Sky

A group of kyuudou students

  

After the amusement that was Akihabara pop culture, we took quite a scenic train ride through the veritable forest of orange-lit skyscrapers and high-rises to Odaiba, the Tokyo Bay area.

The first happy accident we discovered was just outside the train station: a couple of twisted red slide-like tubes.
We then proceeded to prove the theory that all college students revert to small children when given an empty playground.

 

Elliot/Manfred (Thomas) above, and Momo-chan/So Rim below, discovering their inner children

We found a pretty little beach on the Bay where we watched a blazing watercolor sunset behind the Tokyo skyline.


Besides the gorgeous view, the evening was pleasantly cool, and despite all the people who came to enjoy the small stretch of beach, it was a quiet, pensive sort of place.

 

We also met a couple who was resting from taking their rabbit, Lemon, for a walk.



I thought Lemon was really sweet and docile for a rabbit...I mean, clearly domestic, but all the pet rabbits I've ever met were rather cantankerous...

Once it grew dark, we wandered over to Palette Town, a shopping area including a Ferris wheel, a Toyota showroom, and an outlet mall. As we searched for the food court to grab some dinner, we passed by the end of some sort of Hawaiian music festival.

The inside of the outlet mall was rather...Vegas, with pseudo-classical architecture, sky murals on the ceilings, and illusionistic murals on the walls--the kind where sunlit stone patios lined with Greco-Roman columns are painted beyond the plane of the wall. After we'd eaten, some of us wandered through the overpriced outlet shops and expensive (and some imported) clothing stores, including Levi's.

I found a piece of furoshiki, traditional Japanese wrapping cloth, whose design I fell in love with...I probably will never actually use it as furoshiki though. It just reminded me of how I imagine designed of Reiko's tattoos. But by the time we were done wandering and met up again though, we were too tired to try out the Ferris wheel, and decided to head back to the guesthouse.

Another interesting subway/train ad...