Vacation 2011 Day 3 Slough

The second day of my vacation was a long one spent mostly in airports and on planes. It was made longer by the fact that BA aircrew wouldnt fly into Narita because of radiation worries and so we had to divert to Korea to change crews.

Day three found me in Slough!!!.... not a place I had ever been to before, and nothing particularly noteworthy about the place except its where the comedy series " The Office" is set. I headed south along footpaths towards the Thames. Brick building are appealing after so long in Japan....

I walked along the Thames a few miles into Eton, home of the famous school that has "educated" the ruling classes of Britain for centuries.

Dont have much interest except again there was a lot of nice brick architecture.

After Eton I crossed the river to Windsor and visited the castle, somewhere else I have never been before. Ridiculouslu expensive and packed with tourists from all corners of the globe, I was disappointed not to be invited in for tea, but guess the queen was not home that day.

Built by William the Conqueror, though much added to since then, it is the longest continuously inhabited castle in Europe.

I felt absolutely no compulsion whatsoever to stand next to the guard and make peace signs with both my hands. Obviously not been in japan long enough.

The Long Walk, 2.65 miles, runs from the castle out into Windsor Great Park, most of which is now public.

Took the train back to Slough. The new bus station looks to be an interesting building when its finished. Apparently Slough is getting a facelift.

Some Buddhas of Kunisaki

The Kunisaki Peninsular in northern Kyushu was home to an unusual branch of Shugendo based on a mix of Tendai Buddhism with "shinto" of Usa Hachiman. The whole peninsular was laid out as a pilgrimage route as an expression of the Lotus Sutra. There were 28 main temples, one for each chapter/verse of the sutra, and more than 32,000 stone statues, one for each kanji/character of the sutra.

This is a statue of the Yakushi Buddha at Iwato-ji. It is in the Ko do, a study hall. It was carved out of a single zelkova tree sometime in the 11th Century. Iwato-ji is my favorite of all the temple-shrine sites on Kunisaki.

The Kunisaki Peninsular radiates out from the highest point, Mount Futago, and the temple here , Futago-ji, is a large complex. Im afraid I dont know which buddha this statues is.

Also at Futago-ji is this statue of Amidanyorai. Its made out of cypress and was created at the end of the Kamakura Period. Behind it is a beautiful painting, a copy of one at Enryaku-ji.

Also at Futago-ji is this statue of the 11 headed Kannon. It was made in the latter part of the twentieth century.

At Fuki-ji, the oldest wooden building in Kyushu, is this statue of Amida. Made of Zelkovia wood in the Heian period, it was originally painted or lacquered and traces of red are still on it.

I dont know which buddha this is, or even the name of the temple. It was not a major temple on the tourist maps but we stopped in and were surprised by the modern paintings on the ceiling and we were served tea by the priests wife.

Maki Odo has a fine collection of sculptural treasures including this Amida, carved in the Heian period out of Zelkovia.

Hiyoshi Taisha part 2

The first shrine building to be built here was probably built around the latter part of the seventh Century. For a brief period the “ emperor” known as Tenji moved his court from the Yamato Plain to Otsu a few miles south of Hie, and he brought with him and enshrined in what is now the western compound of Hiyoshi Taisha the kami of Miwa, Onamuchi, the Yamato aspect of Okuninushi. So both of the first kami enshrined here trace their roots to Izumo.

The Mikoshi of Hie are quite famous, and a special storeroom/museum exists to display examples of older ones. Enryaku-ji had become a powerful economic and political force by the 12^th Century, and the monks used the mikoshi to “attack” Kyoto to coerce the government to accede to demands. The mikoshi were taken up and over Hiezan and the monks marched on Kyoto and left the mikoshi at various points around the city. Kami were feared as well as revered, and fear of the anger of the kami in the mikoshi put pressure on the government.

Under the control of the Tendai monastery Enryaku-ji there developed the cult of Sanno at Hie. Known as the Mountain King, developed from the center of Tendai in China, the messenger of Sanno is the monkey.

In all a total of 108 upper and 108 lower shrines were constructed here. 108 is a significant number in Buddhism. many of the shrines have long gone, but many remain. Some of the shrines are Usa, enshrining hachiman, Shirayama, enshrining Izanagi and Izanami, Otoshi, the father of Oyamakui, the shrines main kami , and a Suga, enshrining Susano, Oyamakuis grandfather.

The frounds of Hiyoshi are very large and many visitors come for the Fall foliage. There is even a restaurant and tea room within the forest.

Hiyoshi has a unique torii. Often referred to as　symbolizing the mountain, the triangle actually symbolizes the unity of buddhas and kami. It was removed in 1869 with shinbutsubunri, but reinstated after WWII.

State of the garden

Garden

This is my main garden, about 100 meters from the house. We pay 1,000yen a month for it including a parking space. It was constructed when all the rice paddies of the village were relaid and was made of fill brought from elsewhere. After 8 years of taking out stones and rocks and adding organic material the soil is starting to become better. Its been a cool, wet spring, good for winter and spring crops but not so good for summer crops.

Under the net is zuccini. A little red bug that attacks and damages pumpkins completely destroys zuccini, and I have found no solution other than net. usually we are eating zuccini by now, but not this year. The poles are supporting cucumbers. The steel cages are supporting tomatoes. In the foreground are edamame and some very small eggplant plants.

In the background are potatoes. Lots of potatoes. They are ridiculously expensive to buy in Japan and I like to eat them everyday. Then a couple of mounds of kabucha, Japanese pumpkins followed by sweetcorn. In my second garden down on the river bank I will plant blue corn and butternut squash. In the foreground are recently planted sweet potatoes.

Carrots are doing great, as usual. The poles have green beans. I usually plant bush-type but I thought pole type will give a bigger yield so I tried then this year. On the left young eggplants and green peppers.

In the background edible-pod peas. Did great this year because of the extended cool period. Picked more than a kilo. In front of them some Lima beans, lettuce, also producing well because of the cool. Spring onions, and some more pumpkins.

More Lima beans. Producing well, though because of the cool they are not as big as usual. Also a damn mole has killed off about one third of the plants bu tunnelling through the shallow roots. The mole has also eaten a bunch of onions and killed off some potatoes. It will die. Behind the beans are regular onions, garlic, more spring onions, and more potatoes. Down in the river garden I have more tomatoes, green peas, more lettuce, more potatoes, and cabbages. Up around the house more tomatoes and more pumpkins.

Hiyoshi Taisha

Hiyoshi Taisha, also known as the Hie shrines, lie at the foot of eastern slopes of Mount Hie, in Sakamoto , Shiga Prefecture.

It is a large complex of shrines, though not as large as it was. At the height of its power there were 108 shrines within its grounds.

Like many shrines the identity of the kami enshrined have undergone may changes over the years.

The shrine grew to prominence as the tutelary shrines of the Tendai monastery complex on top of Mt Hie, Enryaku-ji. Like Enryaku-ji, the Hie shrines were razed to the ground by Oda Nobunaga in 1571, so none of the building date back earlier than that.

The area around Hiezan and Lake Biwa was settled by immigrant clans from the Korean peninsular, and the very first “shrine” here was worshipped by them, although no buildings buildings yet existed. Near the top of Mt. Hachioji, a foothill of Mt Hie, stands a hug rock with a flat surface. Known as the Golden Rock as it reflects the morning sun, this was probably the first shrine, and the kami was Oyamakui, a harvest deity, a son of Otoshi, one of Susano's many sons. Many of Otoshi's other “children” were kami also worshipped by immigrant clans.

Two shrine buildings now flank the Golden Rock, and a long, wide, staircase goes up there from the lower shrines.

More Yuushien

here are photos from the second half of my walk around Yuushien, the graden located on daikon Island. It has a large karesansui, the dry garden mostly associated with Zen

Most commonly the rocks are seen as islands and the raked sand as water.

There are a few buddhist statues scattered about the garden, and coins left in their hands as offerings....

There are also several small waterfalls though its necessary to take side paths to see them.

The best views, perhaps, are in the restaurants and tea rooms where the windows provide the frame to see the garden as paintings.

As well as the peonies, Yuushien is also famous for growing ginseng, a plant notoriously difficult to grow. The gift shops are stocked with ginseng products.

Maidens planting rice

Here are some more photos of the Tauebayashi festival down in Kawahira last weekend.

Someone asked if in the olden days the saotome, planting maidens, used to be virgins, and I have been unable to find out for sure. I suspect it may have been the case sometimes, but rice-planting rituals varied so much from region to region that it was probably not a universal thing.

Was talking with a friend recently who had just finished planting his rice and he said that according to his father during the Taisho period (1920's) it was the women who planted the rice. The men did the preparation of the paddies. Since the war the rice planting has become mechanized and the men do it mostly, though I often see old ladies out in the paddies afterwards planting on the corners where the machines can get to.

I believe in premodern Japan the whole family would have been involved in the planting.

When I first came to Japan I was told several times that all the old women I saw who walked bent over at 90 degrees were that way because of a lifetime working in the paddies. Like many things I was told it turns out to be a myth. There are millions of old women bent over who have never been in a rice paddy in their lives. It is caused by calcium deficiency. Prewar japanese diet was very poor. High mortality and low longevity were the norm until the postwar period.

Anyway, the matsuri was enjoyable again this year, though I missed the young kids playing the music.

The men, of course, have things to do..... lots of supervising and encouraging the women :)

Tenjin Inter Media Station

The Inter Media Station building in Tenjin, Fukuoka, is not much to look at from the outside.

But inside is another matter!!!!!

Basically its another shopping and entertainment complex.

I am not much of a shopper myself, in fact I loathe shopping. I would rather have sharp sticks poked in my eyes. But in Japan, perhaps more than most places, shopping and consumption are elevated to levels I would equate to religious.

Which is why these kind of places seem to be Cathedrals of Consumption.

The receptionists/information counter girls were something else too. With fake fur stoles and fake flowers in their hair are they the miko of a new religion?