Archive for 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

Seems that many people enjoyed those Miyajima posts. Miyajima is considered to be one of the 3 most scenic sights /sites in Japan. Certainly, it was one of our visual highlights. We loved it. A little like time travel / other dimensional travel. I referred in my last blog to some of the temples on Mt. Misen being hundreds of years old. Sacred Sites web page says: Long before Buddhism came to Japan in the 5th century AD, Shinto sages lived as hermits in the mountain's forested hills. So that's over 1500 years ago.

As mentioned, we are back. Pretty jet-lagged; slept from 8 pm to 11 pm, then up until around 5:00 am, then another sleep until around 9 am. A full day of work, playing catch up, and here we are.

Thought I would add here some responses from some of our readers. One is a lovely poem, or part of his poem, from our friend, sculptor (amongst other talents) Mark Wholey, and the other are further comments and some corrections about Hokusai from Kaoru, our guide at the Edo-Tokyo Museum. As you will see, she is very well-informed and her English is very good. As so many of you are artists and interested in the arts, I thought you would find it engaging. Also, I am jet-lagged and don't really have that much to say about Kurashiki, which was lovely, but was a little too touristic, reminded us of a Japanese Carmel.

Kurashiki, the old part of the city has older buildings, formerly owned by merchants, fronting canals

I am the setting sun. Glass of sunset in hand. Walking with you two down Miyajima, fresh colors out of a crayon box.

Getting to look around half a world away. Feel the temperature in autumn. Taste the air from the sea. Sense the crunch under foot. The serene beauty of pagodas and shrines along the way. Torii blessing on you: Farnsie and Era. And us by proxy. Thank you.

Excerpted from an email written by Mark Wholey.

Mark's a good friend and forgiving, so I wrote this before specifically getting his permission. We did get it this morning. Also got an okay from Kaoru.

Hello Era and Don,

I had a real fun time with you in the museum.

Reading your blog, I thought I should add a little comment.

But I didn't know very well how to put my comment on your blog.

So I am e-mailing you.

The number of Hokusai's house-moving was more than 90...accurate number was 93.

Maybe my pronunciation was bad.

Don, as an artist, you may be interested in what Hokusai said when he was 75 years old.

"My pieces before 70 were all awful. I will reach the pinnacle of my art by the age of 90,

and they will be superhuman feats by the age of 100,

furthermore when I become 110, every dot I draw will move as if it were alive."

He died at the age of 88.

He expressed his dying wishes like this ,

"If I could have lived 10 years longer, no at least 5 years,

I could have created a masterpiece!"

By the way he completed thirty-six views of Mt.Fuji including Big Wave at the age of 72.

I enjoy reading your blog.

I hope you two have a great time and enjoy Japan more!

Kaoru

Well, we certainly had the best time ever in Japan. I don't see how we could have enjoyed it more. Thank you, Kaoru.

Uh-oh, the trouble two Westerners can create. Took a train to Kurashiki, which involved departing from Hiroshima, transferring at Okayama, and continuing along a smaller line to Kurashiki. We were given a series of 3 tickets which we were supposed to put into the machine all at once, but we didn't realize that and Don put his tickets in sequentially. Somehow, the ticket machine malfunctioned (probably unheard of) and Don's tickets were not returned to him.

At first the ticket booth officials found it a little hard to believe; I think the machine rarely if ever malfunctions. Finally, they took the machine apart and with no little effort eventually did find Don's tickets. The whole spectacle was pretty amusing, was probably embarrassing for the officials (Don loved seeing the inside of the machine) and took maybe 5 minutes. Good thing, as we had another train to catch.

We staggered on our way. We were still almost crippled after our walk down Miyajima, especially when we had to go down stairs or a downward slope. The guidebook I had (The Rough Guide) described it as a pleasant walk over Mt. Misen. Maybe for a young Shinto sage. I think The Rough Guide does cater to the mostly younger set. Or maybe they never actually walked the walk themselves.

A train food cart attendant. Pleasant, attentive, polite, unfailingly courteous, always...How do they do dat?

She bows when she enters the train compartment and bows when she exits, and bows when she is done with the transaction, along with many "Arigato Gozaimas". All Don purchased was a coffee.

Kurashiki, where people like to dress up in their kimonos and stroll around.

It was fun seeing this newly wed couple

I guess it's customary for wedding guests to wear black.

Sumo wrestler dolls

They have a very cool toy museum, which Craig (Awagami) told us about when he heard we were going to Kurashiki.

Kurashiki also had the beautiful autumn colors. I like the stray strand of green willow. Looks great against the pink.

And I got a couple very cool hats there. Don says I look like I'm wearing a temple on my head.

Altogether, very tame and very safe.

Love from a position hovering somewhere over the Pacific,

Era and Don

Dear friends and family,

More Miyajima; it was a very full day.

Era in purple. Don finds it difficult to pick me out of crowds here. I may possibly be the only woman in Japan wearing Dansko clogs. These women are worshipping at statues of Jizo, the Buddha who protects and guides the spirits of babies and young children who have died.

The outside of Daisho-in temple.

Easier to pick Don out of a crowd. Walking to the overhead lifts which will take us to the top of Mt. Mizen

The cable and small overhead trams can be seen in the upper right. We had to take a series of 2 of these to get up the mountain.

This is not our photo, but something from a tourist agency. It's the only one so far in these Japanese emails which isn't from our camera and iPhones. The color is certainly beefed up. I have no idea how they managed to take it. It gives you a sense of how high up the trams are.

At the top, incredible views of the Seto Inland Sea.

Temples at the top of the mountain also, and some have been there for hundreds of years. What an effort.

Don captured on his iPhone map the location of where we are, at the top of Mt. Mizen.

So now we're up around 5000 steep feet (4,900) around 3:00 in the afternoon, and we decide we want to walk down, not take the tram down, like the hundreds of others at the very top of the mountain.

Magnificent scenery, isolated, and very, very steep. By the time we got to the bottom, 1.9 miles of downhill (actually before) we had muscle failure and barely had control of our legs. I only fell once. Freaked Don out, but I was okay.

Cute trail markers; there are a variety of them.

Not possible! This color is real. Psychedelic pink. The sunlight penetrates the translucent leaves, making them glow.

Temple about halfway down the mountain. Looking carefully through the doorway, you may spy some young hikers going up the mountain, some of the very few people we encountered. We felt as if we were in medieval Japan.

Little shrine to Jizo

Imagine laying all these stone stairs. This is one of three paths down the mountain. We also saw signage to different parks.

We came to an area where there had been a rock slide

A little temple and we are almost at the end. We can see buildings in sight. We should probably give thanks for not breaking a leg. We were also worried about getting to the bottom before the sun set. I think a reasonably-fit person need not fear that they would break their leg on this path, but it is a workout (for the average American, anyway).

We came down the back side of Daisho-in. We were looking for this trail up the mountain earlier. I'm glad we didn't find it. I don't think we would have made it; certainly not up and back.

Staggered past here, the land is flattening out, and through the little village.

The tide is starting to come in again.

A jolly fellow saw us struggling to take a selfie with the Torii in the background and took this photo of us.

Love from Japan,

Era and Don

Dear friends and family,

Now for one of the highlights of our trip, the fabulous Miyajima. I have wanted to go here since I first saw pictures of it, decades ago. I tried to get accommodations at Miyajima, but everything was booked. It is peak time to view the autumn colors. Then I read about how many tourists flood in and became apprehensive that it had become a huge tourist site. Miyajima has been a pilgrimage destination site for a long time, but it is far more significant, far more historic, with far more gravitas to ever succumb to the Western, Las Vegas, Disneyland type of tourist site (or so I fervently hope).

That is how we ended up staying in Hiroshima, which is close by. Some of the guide books make it sound rather difficult to get to Miyajima, aka Itsukishima, which is actually its real name. I ended up receiving directions from a non-English speaker at the front desk of our hotel, so it was not difficult at all. He told me in Japanese and circled things on a map. We ended up walking a few blocks up from our hotel, (The Hotel Washington), another comfortable, new hotel, catching a street car, which trundled along for about an hour to a ferry terminal. We followed a small crowd of people to the terminal and caught the ferry for the short ride to Miyajima.

It was a beautiful day. Those piers in the water are oyster beds, I think. Hiroshima is famous for its oysters.

I was eager to arrive at Miyajima around high tide, which was about 9:30 am that morning. We got there a little after 10.

The stunning Torii which marks Itsukishima shrine.

The shrine itself.

There was an event going on with many kimono-clad ladies

Too gorgeous!

Don with photographer photographing a class of school children. They are everywhere right now. Just noticed the Japanese businessman in his dark suit and briefcase, seeing the sights at Miyajima. The poor guy looks like he's about to start selling cleaning products. Most of the young businessmen we see are super fashionable with gelled spikey stylish haircuts.

The class picture.

Priests putting away banners after still another special event

The 5-tiered pagoda, which we didn't take time to see up close. You are starting to see the colors of the trees in those red splotches. We have not beefed up the color on any of the trees, but you will probably find them hard to believe. We did. The colors are hallucinogenic.

A little rivalry over some food.

We start climbing the slopes of Mt. Misen, the holy mountain. In fact, the whole island is deemed to be holy, ever since Kobo Daishi brought a form of Buddhism to Japan in the 8th century, I think -- anyway, a long time ago, and chose Miyajima as a spiritual center. It does feel spiritual.

Temples scattered throughout the mountainside

This color is real and not touched up one bit

The colors, the beautiful temples, the occasional sound of the large bells with their low ringing peal, and every so often the wonderfully syncopated drum beat, a bit like Taiko drumming, somewhat wild, which I think was signaling the start of a Buddhist ceremony, occasional whiffs of incense - all combine to put you in a dream-like state.

Very impressive temple, Daisho-in, which seems to stretch over several structures, and is quite different than other temples I have seen. There is a sand mandala on the floor before the Buddha. There was also a large photograph of the Dalai Lama inside this temple.

This Buddha is a jolly fellow, and compassionate also. He says if you touch his body he will take away your pains.

Underneath the temple is an underground experience, which we would not have discovered except that we saw an older couple go down the unobtrusive stairs. Passing through a curtain it was absolutely pitch black. You had to feel your way through the narrow passage. I passed along in total darkness and am happy to report that there was absolutely no urine smell, which sadly probably would have been the case in the good old US. The Japanese provide public bathrooms everywhere; how civilized and considerate. The stores often have them right in their lobby or close by, not hiding them away as Western stores do. That certainly goes far to alleviate the problem of people feeling they have to relieve themselves in public places.

Back to the pitch black passage. I felt my way around a corner, calling out directions to Don who was fumbling behind me, when lovely Boddhisatvas appeared, dimly lit. It reminded us of an art house we had seen at Naoshima on our trip with Lewis and Chandra.

There were a number of these images, swimming out of the darkness.

The Japanese have perfected long ago the Whammy effect received from multiple images. Thousands of these figures, all hand carved. All four walls of this temple were covered by these figures.

This may still be Daisho-in, although a separate structure. As always, you should be able to double click for a larger image.

Craig Anczelowitz (of Craig and Aya) had told us of stories of one of the lost tribes of Israel making it all the way to Japan, arriving sometime in the 1100's, I believe. They are the Hata clan, and according to the stories had European features and also brought some important innovations to the Japanese culture. Some of the Hata clan to this day are imperial court musicians. This is a Tengu, a Japanese supernatural creature who hangs out in forests and mountains. This one has wings, is carrying a scroll (the Commandments), and holding what could be a menorah, except it has 9 candles, or whatever they are. Craig sent us this interesting link:
Ancient Jews in Japan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqIiKVPdV1A

Fun!

And love from Japan,

Era and Don

Newer Posts Older Posts Home

ABOUT AUTHOR

LATEST POSTS

Categories

Recent Posts

About Me

Blog Archive

About Me

Popular Posts

Advertisement