Temple-Gazing

Are you tired of temples and shrines yet?  If so, prepare yourself, because I haven't even scratched the surface.  I know at least one other expat who wearily says, "If you've seen one shrine, you've seen them all.".  But I'm still determined to document all that I can because frankly there isn't a whole lot else to do around here.

On the same day I visited Orihime Shrine, I went to a small temple, also in Ashikaga.  After much, much more time on Google Maps/Images I am pretty sure that this is Fukugon-ji Temple.

If it is, then this is all the information I located:

"Founded by the fourth Tadatsuna Tosei family of the Ashikaga clan to pray for the repose of his parents in 1182.“Hoteison”, the deity of amicableness, is also enshrined." (JapanGuides.net)

It was a little "busier" than most temples I've seen and by that I mean more statues, odder statues, many graves around and what appeared to be a huge maintenance shed with buckets and brooms.



the temple

there was an unusual amount of statuary at this one

1- the statues at the bottom of a huge hill of graves (behind the temple)

2- landscaping

3- a gnome?  a memorial to a child?  it has a stone chicken with it?  and eggs? 

4- wisteria out front

Upgrading

To a classier level of shrine, that is.  Yesterday I visited one of Ashikaga's most famous shrines, Orihime (although sometimes it's spelled "Orijime").  When I was invited by another expat to visit it we didn't really know what the name of it was, or what it was for.  So today I spent some time on Google Image Search and Google Maps until I figured out what the heck it was I saw yesterday.

Orihime Shrine is a shrine to the textile/weaving industry in Ashikaga.  Exciting, no?  I grew up next to a textile town.  I move all the way across the world to.....live next to a textile town.  Go figure.   But we didn't have a textile shrine in my hometown, so that's something.  And it's specifically a folk story princess of weaving that's enshrined at Orihime.  We didn't have a princess either.

I gather Orihime also has a famous manga (aka Japanese comic book) character that shares it's name.  I believe I read that at the gift shop (yeah, the big shrines have gift shops....I don't think they're referred to as "gift shops" but that's what they are) you can sometimes buy stuff related to the manga character.  So they embrace the connection.

The shrine dates from about 1700 but burned in 1880 and was rebuilt in 1937.  So it isn't very old.

Orihime Shrine

closer

a building next to the shrine and the little wooden placards that
I think are wishes left by visitors

the top of the steps....did I mention that this shrine is also on top of a mountain?
they do love to put shrines on top of mountains



1-wisteria on the grounds
2-the admin building (with the gift shop)
3-down the steps overlooking Ashikaga
4-the grounds from the shrine steps
5-flagpole with carp flags
6-cherry/plum/whatever trees

Neighborhood Shrines/Temples, Part V

Are you sensing a theme of late?  The weather is finally (sort of) nice here and getting out for a walk makes the afternoons go faster so.....I'm finally getting to all the local shrines and temples.

This one is notable because I've literally been walking all around it for almost two years (!) and didn't know it was there until this weekend.  It's sandwiched between one of the cemeteries I toured a little while back and our local 7-Eleven.  I was really excited when I came across it, I think because it gave me hope that maybe one day I'll go around a corner and discover a Target I didn't know was there. 

It could happen, right?

Anyways, the entrance pictured below has a lovely statue and kind of candle holder box next to it.  I wondered what the candle-holder box was as it was the first time I had seen one exactly like this. 

You, however, may be wondering why on earth there's a swastika on it.

One of the odder things you notice when you move to Japan is that Buddhist temples are denoted on maps by left-facing swastikas.  This is common to all East Asian countries.  The swastika symbol is much older than Nazism and has been used for a variety of different purposes by different cultures and religions.  In Chinese and Japanese it more or less translates to mean "eternity" and is common in Buddhist texts.

This temple also has a shrine and torii within it which led me to go back and look some more into the relationship between shrines and temples.  Long story short, some Buddhist temples have their very own Shinto shrines called "chinjusha".

1- some particularly well sculpted trees at the entrance
2- a nice manhole cover on the road in front of the temple
3- the temple's chinjusha
4- the temple
5- this building has a gong!
6- the entrance
7- scaly rooftops and walls
8- statue close-up

Neighborhood Shrines/Temples, Part IV

Several months ago I realized there was a nice little shrine not far to the north of us. For a long time I didn't know it was there because I never walk that way because there is no food in that direction.  But Chad has taken to driving us by it regularly and it's finally warmed up enough that we can take semi-regular afternoon walks.  So a few days ago we headed that way.

Once we got close to it I realized (duh) that it isn't really a Shinto shrine, or at least I don't think so.  It appears to be more of a Buddhist temple.  While we were staying in Tokyo I did a post where I indicated some differences between the two.

Further leading me to believe that it is a Buddhist temple is the fact that it is surrounded by cemeteries and actually has some cemeteries on the temple grounds.  It's my understanding that in Japanese culture, Buddhism is associated with funeral rites whereas Shinto is associated with celebrations of life and new beginnings (like births).  

I couldn't find this temple on Google Maps which makes it hard for me to find out the name of it or any information about it.  Since I posted about cemeteries a while back I have learned that they usually have a caretaker who is paid by the family or families to take care of the grounds.  The caretaker usually lives in a house near the cemetery.  I wonder if this temple is associated with a prominent family or just a large neighborhood.  If I can find out I'll update.

And I hope you enjoy my first attempt at photo-collaging.  :)

1- cherry blossoms (I think)
2- a really pretty spot on the grounds
3- a particularly pretty entrance
4- a row of statuary as you walk in
5- the temple
6- what appears to be an alternate entrance
7- from inside looking back out
8- headstones and statuary at the entrance
9- a giant and very wordy gravestone (with one lone red character)
10- a stone frog

Neighborhood Shrines/Temples, Part III

Way, way back I launched a post "series" about little local shrines.  And then I promptly quit going little local shrines for a variety of reasons, most of them related to laziness.

But yesterday I made up for most of it by making an impromptu hike up a large hill over in the neighboring city of Ashikaga.  This hill is very near the houses of two other American expats  so it's someone's neighborhood shrine.  It was a bit more of a steep trudge than I  had been anticipating.....my city stroller (which I had been advised would be fine) was abandoned half-way up the hill and I toted my 17 lb. permanent barbell the rest of the way up.   I was nearly hyperventilating by the time I reached the top. 

Anyway, as you can imagine, there is a small shrine at the top and a lovely view of the city of Ashikaga.

I have no idea what this shrine is for and I'm not particularly motivated to look it up.  I imagine it has something to do with good weather/business/crops/luck.  Pick one.



and then I had some photo editing fun-time

Ashikaga and the Watarase River

tippy-top (huff, puff, huff.....)

right in the middle of this photo is another large
shrine that will hopefully appear in the series soon

more of the Watarase River



and...back down the hill