We woke up at "The Joint" .... It wasn't a bad place, it just had bad energy. Sam woke up sick. We had breakfast served in our room and Nate dove into a bowl of tiny minnows, he said that tastes fishy. I don't think he saw that they were little fish,...hahaha. Sam feeling sick wasn't able to walk with us and see the Silver Pavilion, which isn't silver. It is an old pavilion built by a Shogun. It is an ancient structure with lovely winding gardens and interesting sand sculptures, which are just made out of small gravel and water. One is shaped to look like the moons refection. We winded through the gardens and then out onto the Philosophers Path. It is a beautiful walk along a stream lines with cherry trees. The Philosopher, who was relatively famous in Japan, would walk this path daily. Off the path were some other beautiful mossy gardens with sand scultpures at the Honen Temple.
We met Sam at the end of the path and then headed to Chionin Gate. It is a HUGE gate that is so impressive and stairs go up to it and past it. The gate was featured in the Last Samurai film.
We made our way through huge crowds of students and other Japanese Tourists up the mountain to the Kiyomizu Temple. It is over 1000 years old, made out of wood and the balconies have no nails in them, all wooden. There is a Buddha at this temple that is only revealed every 33 years. 33 is a special number in Buddhism. Off this large wooden porch you can see a beautiful orange pagoda in the distance. From this porch many have jumped when they have a problem. Only 80 have survived it. Sadly Sam had a problem on this balcony but he didn't jump off it, he threw up off it. After that, he was feeling better :) The curse of the old Inn had left us ;) Rather than drinking from the "pure" spring water there - which is said to give you eternal life- he went for some bottled water.
We waded through hundreds of students in their uniforms down the shopping paths where Sam found some tasty sugar candies that you can only get in Kyoto. They were delicious!
Sue, our guide, knew that it would be best to go to lunch somewhere safe so Sam could get his stomach back. We went to a buffet where we had a variety to pick from. When I was there I realized I had been there with Kendall and Sydney years ago and it is where we learned to cut our oranges so that you could peel the skin right off your bite! Great memory.
All of us fed and recovered, we headed to the Sangensando Temple, the longest wooden structure in the world. There are 33 panels between the large beams and houses 1001 golden wooden statues of Buddha. Each having 40 hands and 11 heads on top of their head- with different expressions. The 40 hands can each save 25 people and bring them to paradise, so each Buddha can save 1000 people - this symbolizes that there are enough Buddha to bring everyone to paradise. In the hands are all things that can help people from tools to medicine,... The building also has held competitions there for archery. There is a right of passage ceremony that happens there every year for women. It is for women that are coming of age and they perform archery there. The long straight building has made it a place where they had archery contests to see how many arrows could be shot in 24 hours and with the most accuracy. The records are kept there for those competitions.
After about an hour drive we arrived in Nara. We were immediately met by hundreds of deer. Deer are considered holy messengers. They are all over the park and grounds and you can buy cookies to feel the deer. They are very aggressive. They have been protected here for over 1000 years. They are thought to have brought holy messengers on their backs. Sam was loving taking photos of them on his phone. They were so aggressive it was really kind of funny. At one point there was a student that had his homework hanging out of his backpack and the deer at his homework!! Can't wait to hear what his teacher says ;)
We approached the immense wooden gate entrance to the Todai-ji Temple. This temple is the largest wooden building in the world with the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. When you enter the temple you are struck by the size and it sits atop a large bronze lotus leaves. There are several protective gods that protest 4 corners of the temple and then a couple large golden Buddhas on either side. Sam and I both made a donation, like the brick fundraising program at schools, and bought a tile for the roof of the temple that they will put on the temple as the reconstruct it this summer. They should be good for 500 years! We put our names and dates and a wish on them. We both put Health, Wisdom and I added peace. Sam wrote his all in Japanese letters- thanks to Sue who helped him figure that out and wrote them with a quill pen and Japanese ink.
There is a pole that has a whole in it that is supposed to be the size of Buddha's nostril. If you fit through it you will make it to paradise. Sam fit through it, I did not... hahaha. He had to really twist through there. There was a group of Japanese women that all applauded when he made it through. We bought him a little buddha statue on the way out.
We are settled into our Japanse Inn tonight which is conveniently located right by the park, which we will wander around tomorrow and feed some more deer before we head to Hiroshima. Tonight we wore our Yukatas aka Kimonos to dinner. Rather hilarious dinner actually. At the end of the traditional Japanese dinner, with countless courses, they took us into the lobby and dressed us up and took a photo... new tradition? HILARIOUS!!! They put a fro on Nate and a princess tiara on me and then when Sam came down they put a fish head on him and yes, that is Mt. Fuji I am wearing. Laughed so hard as the photographer was saying SMILES!
We met Sam at the end of the path and then headed to Chionin Gate. It is a HUGE gate that is so impressive and stairs go up to it and past it. The gate was featured in the Last Samurai film.
We made our way through huge crowds of students and other Japanese Tourists up the mountain to the Kiyomizu Temple. It is over 1000 years old, made out of wood and the balconies have no nails in them, all wooden. There is a Buddha at this temple that is only revealed every 33 years. 33 is a special number in Buddhism. Off this large wooden porch you can see a beautiful orange pagoda in the distance. From this porch many have jumped when they have a problem. Only 80 have survived it. Sadly Sam had a problem on this balcony but he didn't jump off it, he threw up off it. After that, he was feeling better :) The curse of the old Inn had left us ;) Rather than drinking from the "pure" spring water there - which is said to give you eternal life- he went for some bottled water.
We waded through hundreds of students in their uniforms down the shopping paths where Sam found some tasty sugar candies that you can only get in Kyoto. They were delicious!
Sue, our guide, knew that it would be best to go to lunch somewhere safe so Sam could get his stomach back. We went to a buffet where we had a variety to pick from. When I was there I realized I had been there with Kendall and Sydney years ago and it is where we learned to cut our oranges so that you could peel the skin right off your bite! Great memory.
All of us fed and recovered, we headed to the Sangensando Temple, the longest wooden structure in the world. There are 33 panels between the large beams and houses 1001 golden wooden statues of Buddha. Each having 40 hands and 11 heads on top of their head- with different expressions. The 40 hands can each save 25 people and bring them to paradise, so each Buddha can save 1000 people - this symbolizes that there are enough Buddha to bring everyone to paradise. In the hands are all things that can help people from tools to medicine,... The building also has held competitions there for archery. There is a right of passage ceremony that happens there every year for women. It is for women that are coming of age and they perform archery there. The long straight building has made it a place where they had archery contests to see how many arrows could be shot in 24 hours and with the most accuracy. The records are kept there for those competitions.
After about an hour drive we arrived in Nara. We were immediately met by hundreds of deer. Deer are considered holy messengers. They are all over the park and grounds and you can buy cookies to feel the deer. They are very aggressive. They have been protected here for over 1000 years. They are thought to have brought holy messengers on their backs. Sam was loving taking photos of them on his phone. They were so aggressive it was really kind of funny. At one point there was a student that had his homework hanging out of his backpack and the deer at his homework!! Can't wait to hear what his teacher says ;)
We approached the immense wooden gate entrance to the Todai-ji Temple. This temple is the largest wooden building in the world with the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. When you enter the temple you are struck by the size and it sits atop a large bronze lotus leaves. There are several protective gods that protest 4 corners of the temple and then a couple large golden Buddhas on either side. Sam and I both made a donation, like the brick fundraising program at schools, and bought a tile for the roof of the temple that they will put on the temple as the reconstruct it this summer. They should be good for 500 years! We put our names and dates and a wish on them. We both put Health, Wisdom and I added peace. Sam wrote his all in Japanese letters- thanks to Sue who helped him figure that out and wrote them with a quill pen and Japanese ink.
There is a pole that has a whole in it that is supposed to be the size of Buddha's nostril. If you fit through it you will make it to paradise. Sam fit through it, I did not... hahaha. He had to really twist through there. There was a group of Japanese women that all applauded when he made it through. We bought him a little buddha statue on the way out.
We are settled into our Japanse Inn tonight which is conveniently located right by the park, which we will wander around tomorrow and feed some more deer before we head to Hiroshima. Tonight we wore our Yukatas aka Kimonos to dinner. Rather hilarious dinner actually. At the end of the traditional Japanese dinner, with countless courses, they took us into the lobby and dressed us up and took a photo... new tradition? HILARIOUS!!! They put a fro on Nate and a princess tiara on me and then when Sam came down they put a fish head on him and yes, that is Mt. Fuji I am wearing. Laughed so hard as the photographer was saying SMILES!
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