Thursday - Kiyomizu-dera Temple


OK, it's Friday morning and I've got some catching up to do.  I don't know how these blogs usually go, but I'm going to write four blogposts about yesterday:

Kiyomizu-dera - a Buddhist temple complex nearby, and one of the top tourist spots in Kyoto

Kennin-ji - the first Rinzai Zen temple in Japan

Life on the Kyoto streets

Kodai-ji - a nearby Zen temple, lit up at night.

 Kiyomizo-dera

 This is a Hosso Buddhist temple up on a hill five or ten minutes from Nene House.  Part of its charm is its location - it overlooks all pretty well all of Kyoto.  The road up is a narrow shop-lined  cobblestoned pedestrian street that was deserted on the way up and packed with people on the way down.  The photo above one of the entrances, guarded by these two dragons.  Dragons came with Buddhism from China and figure prominently as guardians for temples - I've read because they live in the watery depths and thus prevent fire.  They also have a yin-yang aspect - they rule the heavens and the depths.


Wes is a good travelling companion - knowledgeable and unhurried.  That's the great pagoda in the background.  As you can see, this Hosso temple runs more colorful than the Zen style.



They're raising money to repair the roof on the Hondo ("root hall"), and they had an exibit out showing how the roof is made, with layer upon layer of the thinnest cedar shakes.  Wes tells me they've been working on this for years so far.


This is their great bell - every temple I've seen has one, in a bell house.  One day I'd love to have one of these at PSZC... maybe a smaller one!  This one is as tall as I am.  You can see the wooden striker suspended by ropes.


This is the floor inside the main hall, worn smooth over generations, with the knots in the wood raised like little islands.




The roof of on of the smaller temple structures, and a detail.  This symbol is common on temple roofs.  Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha?  Reminds me of the logo of the Bodhidharma Zendo in Vienna, which is lead by my brother monk Kigen.


One of many shrines that line the path around the grounds - this one full of Jizos.  Jizo Bodhisattva is the guardian of children and travellers among other things, and his often wearing a cute little red bib.  Cute little red cap optional.



The view down on Kyoto.  Kyoto is surrounded on three sides, east, west and south by low mountains - to the That's the Kyoto tower, one of the symbols of the city.  There's no development on the hillsides, largely because of earthquake danger.  Kyoto's known for it's excellent water (and therefore tofu), and this basin makes it very humid in summer.  I remember Sasaki Roshi saying "even the dogs hate sesshin in the summer."  Right now it's cool and cloudy - very pleasant.




Wes and I took a path rarely taken and happened upon a graveyard.  In a corner of it we found these headstones with numbers tapes to them - maybe gravestones waiting for their partners?




We found a gorgeous little sub-temple and garden at the end of the road, guarded by Fudo, the diety personifying resolve.



On the way out we passed a special place where folks were catching water that was running off from the mountain - drink and wash for good health.


There were good-luck charms galore for sale.  Good fortune and good luck seemed to be a theme at the temple.


The cherry trees are just starting to bloom.


Fallen cherry and plum blossoms on the gravel path.

Comments

  1. MondoMarch 23, 2018 at 6:35 PM

    Excellent photos! My compliments to the photographer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KoshinMarch 24, 2018 at 4:42 PM

    Thanks Dad! I haven't used a proper camera in decades, so it's been fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KoshinMarch 24, 2018 at 4:43 PM

      Though I do sometime feel like that annoying guy with the camera...

      Delete

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