NEWS OF TRAVEL JAPAN

What a fun picture it is! Looking at the moon they were asking each other how old the moon was. The big man answered thirteen years old and the other answered seven. It is childish, but it is the last mental state where the Zen priest who painted it had arrived after many Zen practices and enlightenments. I showed it to my daughter who is a kindergarten teacher and asked her how she felt. She immediately answered cute, “kawaii”. Sengai The painter is Sengai who was a great Zen priest at the time of 70 years after Hakuin in the Edo period , but Sengai never met Hakuin. Hakuin who painted many amusing pictures for people, but he was a consistent Zen priest. Contrarily, Sengai was the most eager Zen priest likewise amid the then Zen priests, but his last mind state was away from Zen by Zen practices. Look at the picture above. It was painted by young Sengai. He was a good painter and a good Zen practitioner with hope. So it concludes the taste of Zen. Sengai hoped that he wo...

The sky from this point of Kurama-dera Temple is another sky, I have such a impression. Here is the top area of Kamakura-dera Temple. It may be due to the sweat of your walking up, but even by the many aspects of this temple. Kurama-dera Temple has many houses on the slope of the 569m-high Kurama-yama Mountain in the north of Kyoto. The mountain has a 250 million-year-old stratum, so the stratum may include some mysterious energy. From the front of the main gate at the foot of the mountain you can see the mountain beyond the gate. To arrive at the main cathedral on the upper slope of the mountain, you can shorten the time by riding on the cable car but I recommend you go on foot. You can see a lot of small temples along the way that has a road with many bends. The three main deities of the temple The temple enshrines the three deities, “Bishamonten”, “Kannon” and “Gohou-Maoh”. Bishamonten is the deity of the sun, Kannon is the deity of the moon and Gohou-Maoh is the deity ...

The brave Blossoms, the Japanese national rugby team, showed their fighting spirit in The Rugby World Cup in Japan last year. During the cup a former foreign national rugby player inspired the team members with the word of the Japanese spirit, called “yamato damashii” in Japanese. He said that the Japanese spirit was to work hard and the spirituality of devoting yourself to the team and teammates. He has been in Japan for a long time and he learned the Japanese spirit from his rugby experiences in Japan. And he thinks it is nowhere outside of Japan and it is excellent. Eventually, many people think the Japanese spirit is the fighting spirit, however, you may be surprised to know that the true Japanese spirit includes a kind and peaceful spirit. The Japanese spirit has two sides, one is the brave side and the other is the peaceful side. The Genji Story, which is the oldest love story in the world, was written by a female novelist. She wrote about the importance of the Japanese spir...

Look at the picture above. Is it a manga-picture? No! Is he an old western man? No! Does he look headstrong? No! He is Hakuin, a famous Japanese Zen priest of about three centuries ago, and this is his self portrait. What does he see with his big-open eyes? Anyway, it is current for a three-century-old picture. This picture is Darma, the Indian Zen creator, painted by Hakuin. Probably Dahma was the supreme enlightened person in Zen. So he must have had a calm face like a Buddhist statue, but does he have doubtful eyes? The lady in this picture is Kannon, the goddess of mercy in Buddhism, and it is said that she always works to give whatever people want by her thousand hands. Nonetheless, she looks relaxed and she seems to abandon to respond to people’s wishes. This picture was painted by Hakuin as well. The naked fat man is Hakuin, then he looks free with a smile. Why is he naked with a flower in his right hand and a bucket in his left hand? I can’t judge whether those...

What do you do when you have a wish and want invisible help, for example, to cure disease, to meet a new partner, to pass an entrance examination, to succeed in your work etc? Many Japanese people normally go to a shrine to pray for their wishes, which is easy to do. In addition, another way of praying for your wish exists. It is called the “Goma-gyo” ritual, and this ritual uses a fire, and through the ritual, drumming and mantra in Buddhism sound, so goma-gyo has a kind of spiritual atmosphere. It is deeper than praying in a shrine and it has a stronger spiritual power. If you want to know spiritual Japan or to pray for your wish, I recommend you participate in Goma-gyo. It will be undoubtedly one of the supreme experience of your journey in Japan. Goma-gyo has about a thirteen-century history and it was begun by Kukai who was the founder of Koya-san . Kukai placed the importance of the Goma-gyo ritual on Fudo-Myoo. And houses to pray to Fudo-Myoo, which are called ”O-Fudo-San”,...

There is a shrine which people call “ the village of The 100 Poems ” in Ohtsu City, Shiga prefecture. And The World Karuta Competitions, which I wrote about in the previous blog, is held there. The official name of this shrine is “Ohmi Shrine”. The shrine is located between Mt. Hiei on which Enryaku-ji Temple is and Biwa-ko Lake, and the shrine is built on the foot of the mountain. So you have to walk up on the long stone-stairs to visit it. When you arrive at the entrance gate from the foot of the mountain, you must be sweating. But yet an upward cool wind from the lake may stop you sweating and the air in the shrine will softly wrap you. Secondly, you will walk to the inner sanctuary on the way across the small-white-stone yards. On entering the sanctuary you may feel the subtle change of the air, the air outside of the sanctuary is naturally clean but the air inside of the sanctuary is sacred. You may not believe that, but it’s true. And it is said that each good shrine has...

I saw on TV news that many young foreigners competed karuta competitions by the 100 Poems. I was surprised at that, as well as I was interested why they played karuta competitions and why they knew how to play. Because karuta competitions are so difficult that the number of those who play the game isn’t large even in Japan. Eventually, I never have played karuta competitions. Incidentally, the 100 Poems, “hyakunin-issyu” in Japanese, are familiar with Japanese People. Japanese people in most cases learn the 100 Poems in their junior high-schools or high-schools, and they sometimes play a game of competing accuracy and quickness with several people that players grab a card written with the only second phrases of a poem from cards on tatami listening to full phrases of a poem. Of course I learned the 100 Poems in my junior high school and sometimes played the game, but I was a weak player of karuta games. Karuta competitions are a severer sport than the game above, so the sport dema...