Today we took a trip out of the city, about 25 miles south to Nara, a town with some famous and popular temples and shrines. We visited Todai-ji Temple, a huge, wooden hall housing a giant bronze and copper Buddha dating from the early 8th century. The buddha here is the largest bronze statue in the world. The big buddha is flanked by guardians and minor buddhas. The hall is quite impressive. On the grounds of the temple complex are thousands of very tame deer, who wander freely around, come up and nuzzle tourists looking for handouts. For 150 yen you can buy food to feed them, and they are well trained to take it from you. They are good Japanese deer and will bow their heads once asking for the food and then take it when it is offered! It was really amazing to be petting deer and having them walk along beside you like a dog. After we left the Buddhist temple, we went down the road about a quarter mile to the Kasuga Shinto Shrine, nestled in the woods. It was a lovely walk through the forested grounds with the main shrine and numerous sub-shrines nestled into the woods all over. The tame deer are there too, adding a nice touch to the atmosphere. Legend has it that the kami (deity/god) that inhabits the Kasuga shrine arrived riding on a deer, and thus the Japanese believe that the Kasuga shrine deer are sacred animals and are to be treated well. While we were there, we saw a procession of Shinto priests and priestesses leaving the main shrine area and processing to a smaller shrine in the woods for some priestly ritual to which the public was not invited. We walked over to the smaller shrine and were not allowed to go up close to where they were doing whatever prayer service it was they were doing, but we could hear the chanting and drumming and the droning of their prayers as we walked around the area. It was quite nice to hear the sacred chants as we walked through the woods which are dotted with small shrines and full of the friendly, tame deer.
After we left the Kasuga shrine, we went to lunch in a little village. We ate in a very small, local restaurant and enjoyed delicious tempura and udong noodles. After we left there, we drove about 45 minutes back towards Kyoto and then visited the famous Fushimi - Inari- Taisha Shrine at Fushimi. This is the shrine that is known for its 100,000 orange Torii gates that wind up the mountain from the principal shrine in a wide loop. We walked partway up the path under the torii gates, but did not have time to do the entire walk, which takes about 2 1/2 hours. The place was absolutely packed, as has been the case at all the shrines and temples this week. The kami (gods) of this shrine are the gods of rice and sake. Inari is the God of cereals and was enshrined here to bring prosperity in agriculture. Along the paths there are many stone foxes, because the fox is considered to be the messenger of Inari, and indeed foxes are sometimes called Inari. The walk through the torii gates is really quite an experience and very lovely as it winds through the woods. We all wished we had had more time so that we could do the entire walk. Devotees were making offerings and prayers to the gods at the main shrine and at the many smaller shrines that populate the walking route through the torii gates.
The Japanese practice both Buddhism and Shintoism in equal measure. Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, and is a tradition that worships nature, seeing in the natural world the presence of divinity. Shinto shrines do not have any images or statues, but each one is dedicated to some "kami" or deity that has been ritually enshrined there or which is believed to simply reside there due to the location (i.e. the god of a river would be enshrined at a river's edge, or the god of fruit trees in an arbor etc.). In Japan, weddings are mostly done at Shinto shrines, while funerals take place at Buddhist temples. Japanese homes usually have both a shinto and Buddhist shrine. At a lot of the Buddhist temples you will find a Shinto shrine also on the grounds, often right next to the Buddhist prayer hall or temple. It is fascinating to see how the Japanese weave their spirituality seamlessly between these two traditions. So very different from the way people in the Abrahamic traditions live out their religious and spiritual lives.
When we got back to the city, our trip leader took a few of us on an unscheduled tour of the Kyoto train station which is quite an architectural marvel. It's a fairly new station and the architecture is very striking. There is a rooftop lookout on the 11th floor with panoramic views of the entire city in all four directions. The station is adjoined by a large shopping mall and a huge, fancy hotel.
After returning to the hotel and cooling down (the heat is still really oppressive, so when we've been going all day, we get back to the hotel completely wilted!) a small group of us went to dinner and wound up in an Indian restaurant. It was an interesting experience to be ordering Indian food off a menu that was entirely in Japanese!
No comments:
Post a Comment