Japan 2024 – April 23 – May 17

Kyoto

To discover the meaning of being born as a human being.I am in Kyoto, I am constantly asking for signs. Could I walk past somebody and expect recognition, I think not. Am I perceptive enough to perceive the sign if it came? Maybe, maybe not. This moment is different. What has transpired before is no longer relevant apart from in a sentimental manner, possibly as some sort of respect to what came before this nanosecond and the trillions that preceded it. I can’t get a complete grasp on the concept of pure consciousness, I am so connected to the physical universe as it gives me some sort of comfort that I believe that I need. As a member of the human race it is my responsibility to look to the living, not the dead whose bodies are now ashes and whose actions are now only immortalised by those who remain.

Our First Full Day in Kyoto

When we arrived last night and walked over the river into the old section of Kyoto I felt at first as if I was in Disneyland. My thoughts harkened back to all of the other towns and cities that we had been to over the past 2 weeks that at this stage seemed far more authentic and maybe meaningful than my very first impressions of Kyoto. I had expected to see lots of tourists, I wasn’t disappointed (or I was). What I didn’t take into account was that this same uncertainty has hit us in every place we have visited so far apart from Tokyo and Kanazawa. It has become part of our format to try to get some bearings on the first afternoon and evening which we have seemed to be able to do quite successfully. The same goes for Kyoto. We are back in an APA Hotel mainly because of its standard and more than adequate communal bath-house, even though it doesn’t have a sauna plus it is very close to the Kyoto Main Station which means that we didn’t have to drag our bags for 30-40 minutes like we did in Matsue 2 days ago.

Finn knocked on our bedroom door at 7 a.m to get me down to the spa/bathroom with him. We were both pretty exhausted so we sat in the hot water in silence, I shaved, showered, bathed, washed and dried my hair etc and then we set off to see our first temple for the day which was very close to the hotel.

As we approached the temple I spotted stalls being set up for a Sunday Flea Market and I couldn’t resist having a peek.  Although we were relatively conservative we purchased 6 haoris. The haori (羽織) is a traditional Japanese hip- or thigh-length jacket worn over a kimono. We paid $5 each for these, then I talked Georgie into an original Japanese print that I loved and we also purchased a couple of beautiful old coins, all for $70. Great finds. We left them with the stall holders and went into Hongwanji Temple.

Hongwanji Temple

Hongwanji is the head temple of the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha Buddhist organization. Japanese Buddhist temples usually have its honorific mountain name and the one for Hongwanji is Ryukokuzan. Therefore, the temple’s official name is Ryukokuzan Hongwanji, however, its nickname “Nishi (lit., “west”) Hongwanji” is rather well known to people. The founder of the Jodo Shinshu teaching is Shinran Shonin (1173–1263) who lived in the early medieval period of Japan. 

On the precincts of Hongwanji are the Amidado (Hall of Amida Buddha), Goeido (Founder’s Hall), Karamon, Shoin, Hiunkaku and other structures, many of which have been designated as National Treasures and Important Cultural Assets of Japan. In addition, the Hongwanji received the designation as a UNESCO World Heritage in 1994 as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.

From here we walked another 20 minutes or so and

Sanjūsangen-dō｜三十三間堂

A temple built by the famous warlord Taira no Kiyomori for Emperor Go-Shirakawa in 1164, Sanjūsangen-dō is primarily famous for its 1,001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of compassion in her thousand-armed incarnation, lined up along the entire length of the thirty-three ken (unit of measurement) hall from which the temple gets its moniker. The temple complex used to be larger until a fire decimated it and only the main hall was rebuilt, but visitors are more than satisfied with the impressive contents of the long wooden structure. Not only is the hall filled with the golden faces of a thousand Kannon statues, but another 28 sculptures of Buddhist guardian deities are also featured in the front row. The hall itself shows its age in the many arrow notches that can be found in the wood on the edge of the building, marks of the Tōshiya archery competition once held at the temple hundreds of years ago.

One of Sanjūsangen-dō’s well-known aspects is the statuary housed in its main hall, created by a team that was led by sculpture masters father and son Unkei and Tankei. Arranged in ten rows and fifty columns on each side of the hall, the thousand statues of Kannon are made of Japanese cypress covered in gold leaf. Of these, 124 are originals from the temple’s founding that were saved from destruction in a 1249 fire, while the rest were replaced in the 13^th century. The thousand human-sized statues flank a much larger statue of the deity that serves as the principal object of worship and is also a National Treasure. The thousand-armed Kannon is said to have eleven heads to better see the suffering of mankind, and one thousand arms to save everyone in need. Though the wooden statues only have 42 arms, each holds a different item or is posed in a Buddhist symbolic gesture. Look carefully at their faces: it is said that among the Kannon statues you will find one that resembles the person you long to meet.