Post Tsunami Photos

I was impressed by some of these photos of before and after of the Tsunami area in Japan:

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/japan-earthquake-six-months-later/100146/

Ryoanji

 Ryoanji  (notice the "ji" for temple) is a couple of miles from Kinkaku-ji.   We walked to the bus stop just a couple hundred meters from the exit from Kinkaku-ji, but the bus appeared to be quite a while in coming, and there was a big crowd ahead of us.   So we walked the distance, taking in an art gallery or two along the way.

 

 The grounds here are also fairly extensive at around 120 acres, and has been the trust of  a Zen Buddhist sect for just over a thousand years.   The temple grounds includes two ponds.

Japanese Maples,  Irises and lilly pads predominate the Mirror Pond.

 What pagan temple would be complete without a pagan idol?
  I knew he had no power, though, because he was wearing no college football jersey.

 The most famous part of the temple complex is this zen rock garden which is maintained daily by the monks with rakes.  They pretend that the lines have some meaning.   I have to confess that my cynical mind thinks its all boogey-baloney, made up to impress the easily-impressed.   However, I do admit that the place has been put together and is run in such a way as to convey a peacefulness.   There is no basketball goal at either end, and you simply are not allowed onto the gravel.    There are 15 large rocks in the gravel beds, and supposedly you can only view 14 at one time due to their arrangement, unless you have attained enlightenment.   I say "give me a mirror" and I can fix that.

 As with a lot of temple and castle locations, especially the ones with wooden floors,  you must remove your shoes when entering the buildings.   Here several of our crew contemplate the meaning of it all while sitting on the edge of the Hojo.   After the hike from Kinkaku-ji, a rest for the feet was welcome.

 I always found the bridges, buildings, roofs, roads, monuments and other man-made edifices quite a curiosity.  If you click on the picture, you can see better the details of how the Hojo roof construction is made from several layers of thinly sliced wooden shakes pressed together as a composite.

 At this fountain, you are invited to wash your mouth and hands to prepare to enter the tea house.  I politely declined.  I had enough washing my mouth out when I was in Jr. High.    Out in the country, where my mom and dad grew up, and I spent significant time growing up, we called it a "dipper", and it was a measure of  how you couldn't afford indoor plumbing.

 The Teahouse apparently accepts only clean customers.

This photo is awful and out of focus, but it is the best of four shots I took.  I guess there must have been an undetected earthquake that affected my  camerawork at that very instant.   The Hojo is essentially one large room subdivided by sliding panels

 The panels are decorated with traditional Japanese art.

Leaving Ryoanji, you walk along the opposite side of the Mirror Pond.

nuff said

Kinkaku-Ji Part 2

The Kinkaku-Ji complex is located at the corner of Kyoto, up against the mountain.


On many of the other shrines and buildings, elaborate tilework finishes the rooflines. This is fairly typical of many buildings in Japan, especially older ones and temples. Each area has its own symbols, and sometimes each family has one.



The equivalent of gargoyles often glare out from the roof ridge.




A very elaborate roof. How would you like to clean the leave out of that in Autumn?


This shrine in the Kinkaku-Ji complex offers an opportunity to wave some incense into your face, pull on a rope to ring a gong, and to buy a candle and light it. Many of the visitors drop a few coins into a slotted box.
Inside one of the shrines, you can see the ornate objects including drums, gongs, arranged flowers, tapestries, screens, benches, boxes, and stuff I have no idea what it is. Unlike Christianity, it doesn't seem to be at all a participatory religion. I will stay with what I have , thanks.

Kinkaku-ji Part-1 of However many I decide to post....

I realize the trip was some 18 months ago. But it seems like just a few days ago in my mind. I have had a terrible time this year putting together the balance of the photos, finding it difficult to sort them and edit them. I have resolved to put aside the reasons for my emotional indolence.
So, belatedly, the 2010 trip to Japan photo show resumes, with a few shots from a day trip to Kyoto.


Kyoto is the ancient capital of Japan. It was the ceremonial home of the Emperor for several hundred years, only moving to Edo/Tokyo in the mid to late 1800s, when the Meiji Emperor ended the Shogunate and took administrative power to himself. The movie "The Last Samurai" deals with this period and upheaval that took place as the Samurai system was also abolished. Above is Spousal Unit entering the Kinkaku-ji temple complex.

The Golden Temple, Kinkaku-ji ("Ji" means temple) is a world heritage site, and was spared bombing by the Allies during WWII, as was virtually all of Kyoto. It is a wooden building with a thick pure gold leaf.




It demands that you take photographs.














The grounds are extensive and include several small waterfalls in a very artful landscape.