November 9, 2008

• Soufukuji Temple

  

  Got that?  Let's go in for a walk, documenting, not endorsing.

  

  Here is the front gate, and you can see the building inside better below.

  

  

  Above see the view to your right as you walk in.

  

  Fancy window and bell

  

  The statue inside 

  

  Here is a larger bell in a low tower.

  

  An old wooden building on the temple grounds

   

  Another fancy gate

  

  A scene from the graveyard with fancy stones

  

  Now some of you may laugh at me, but I had never really played with one of these old fangled pumps before.  Now I know how they work.

  

  Here is the gravestone of the most famous of the Kuroda family, Kuroda Gensui.  It is fenced off, so I had to zoom in on it.

  

  There was a "karin" tree on the temple grounds.  The English name escapes me at the moment.  This fruit is hard and not good to eat, but if you cut it up and pickle it in honey it makes a natural cough suppressant.

  

  I found this a bit grotesque, but here it was.  This temple seemed to be a collecting place for homeless Buddhist statues and portions of statues.  I mean, you might get in trouble if you just toss these things, or so people seem to think.

  

  Here are some more.

  

  and more,

  

  and yet more, arranged in a large "U" shape on the temple grounds.  People make offerings of water and leave incense burning in the troughs.  This temple is near a large hospital, so perhaps many people come to pray for healing of their loved ones.

  

  

  

  

  These fellows look like they are having a good time around the sake cup.

  

  If all the statues are not enough, there is also a small shrine on the grounds.

  

  Another building on the temple grounds.  That is not a swastika, it is an ancient Chinese letter called a "manji" in Japanese, and was made long before the swastika.  It is also written in the opposite direction.  The couple in the picture are offering fervent prayers.  They walk up to the building, ring the bell to get the god's attention and then walk back around the post to repeat the process 100 times.  See the red strings the lady is carrying in her left hand?  Those are to help her keep count.  The man is doing the ritual barefoot.  ...kind of sad.

  • 21:45
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