Visiting a Buddhist Temple

This past weekend, Adam and I were invited to a Buddhist temple for a fire ceremony.  We were picked up by an English speaking teacher and her mother and we drove to Inuyama.  I must say, that I don’t know much about Buddhism other than the little I learned from a religion 1000 course which, unfortunately, I’ve mostly forgotten.  I was also confused by learning just how many different types of Buddhism there are and combinations coming in from other religions especially Shintoism here in Japan.  All this to say, don’t take my experience as any definitive teaching about Buddhism.

The teacher we went with had printed some information off the internet to explain to us the deity Acala that this temple is dedicated to and the fire ceremony we would watch.  When we arrived, we climbed the stairs up to where the main hall was located.  There was a building where they wrote down their wishes on this paper and pay money to have the priests/monks pray for them.  You can buy different charms, etc. in there too. 

Outside of the main hall

Sheet that you write your wish on and select the amount of money you'll pay.

Wooden sticks that you write your wish on, these are burned during the Goma Prayer.

Once you've received your wish, you come back to the temple
and colour in the pupils on these heads.

The deity Acala is in the center.

Charms that you can buy.

 After they had written down their “wish,” we had a sweet cake thing and bitter green tea in a room adjoining the main hall.  Then, we went into the main hall for the fire ceremony.  We were told not to take any pictures inside, but I’m sure if you google “Goma Prayer” pictures will show up.

Green tea and sweet cake

 A monk dressed in a fancy robe came and talked to everyone.  Somehow, he noticed us.  Maybe it was because we were some of the only people seated on chairs instead of on the floor.  Or maybe it had to do with Adam having blond hair and me having blue eyes :P.  Anyways, he started asking us about differences between American pronunciation and Canadian pronunciation of “doctor,” “z,” etc.  We thought it was pretty funny, the rest of what he said we didn’t understand.

Once the ceremony started some monks processed in, all wearing special garments.  The “head” monk was seated on a raised cushion close to where the fire was.  The others sat at the back and did a lot of chanting/singing/drum beating.  The head monk seemed to lead the ceremony by hitting a singing bowl to begin and end the ceremony.  The head monk stacked the wood that people had written their “wish” on (wishes are for good health, prosperity, etc.) and then lit them on fire.  I couldn’t help but think that this ceremony and the like might have something to do with the number of temples that have burned down over the years, as sparks went flying.  While the fire was burning, other monks came with these boards which I’m assuming also had people’s wishes on them and “waived” them from the fire to their foreheads three times.  At another point, the monks took up everyone’s bags and put them close to the fire- this is supposed to help you get money. 

While we were there, I kept looking for the seeds of truth or similarities.  I found it interesting how they light candles to pray.  How they require someone (i.e. the priest/monk) to intercede for them, rather than praying directly.  How they need to give an offering which is usually money.  How special garments are worn during the celebration.    

After the fire burned down the monks processed out.  The ceremony was probably about half an hour long.

The Goma Prayer was interesting for us to see and to be able to ask a few questions about this sect of Buddhism.  

People also write their wishes on these and hang them by the temple.

You can see Inuyama Castle in the background.

Valentine's and White Day

On February 14th, women give men chocolate in Japan.

On March 14th, we have White Day, where men give women chocolate.  The chocolate given has to be more expensive and greater in quantity than that which the woman gave the man.

I went to Nagoya with a friend on the Thursday before Valentine's Day and they had this huge chocolate selling thing happening.  Different chocolate companies from around the world had booths set up and were selling chocolate for outrageous prices!  They were also giving out samples.  I didn't buy anything, but I did sample.  The place was packed with women! I had been silly and brought my backpack that day and I felt like a turtle with a shell that kept bumping into people.  Walking through there was like swimming against the current there were people trying to go every which way.

After February 14th, the stores seamlessly changed their Valentine's chocolate to White Day chocolate.

  

A Visitor from Canada

Last Thursday, the 19th, Adam's dad came to visit us in Tarui. It was really great for us to see Japan again like everything is new and different through his dad's eyes.  Now that we've been here six months, we've kind of gotten used to Japan and we've forgotten how at first everything was so striking and different to us.

We had the weekend to travel around with Adam's dad.  Adam and I really haven't traveled much this since November, so it was nice for us to get out.  On Saturday, we headed for Hikone and looked around the castle and castle gardens.  Adam and I had been there in the fall, but it was nice to see it in the winter with the view of the snow capped mountain range behind lake Biwa.  The garden hasn't come back to life yet, but we still enjoyed a picnic sitting in the sun.

Hikone Castle

Snow capped mountain range.

Hikone town mascot.

At the castle gardens

 After lunch, we went to Nagahama where there was a bonsai potted plum tree festival/exhibition.  I had heard about this festival the first time we went to Nagahama and was wanting to see it.  The festival seems like an art exhibition.  There's blooming plum trees in two rooms.  The trees are really old too, we saw two that were 400 years old and others ranging from babies to 100, 150, 250 years old!  I found it really amazing how some of these trees seem to only be growing from a piece of bark too.

This tree was 400 years old.

Lots of people bustling around.

Some of the baby bonsai trees.

The garden outside the exhibition.

 After the festival, we were on our way to look at some shops and passed a micro-brewery, so we all had a beer. Who knew Nagahama brewed it's own beer?

The view from our table at the micro-brewery.

Buying some battered deep fried fish.

 On Sunday, we went to Nagashima to Nabanano Sato.  Normally Nabanano Sato is a flower garden, but during the winter they put up Christmas lights throughout the park.  We got there early and had time to walk through the gardens.  I could tell in a few weeks that place will be bursting with flowers.  I could see hundreds of tulips and daffodils poking their heads out of the earth.  The plum trees have a few blossoms with buds getting ready to open.  The park was nice and has pansies growing outside for the winter.  They also had two large greenhouses with flowers blooming which was really amazing.  I couldn't help thinking about how much my granny would love to be here with me.  I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Pansies growing outside.

These begonias were huge!

A room full of fuchsias

Check out this giant trailing petunia!  It's like a tree hanging from the ceiling.

Have you ever seen this before?  We sure hadn't.

Yes, we're sitting on a heart shaped bench.:)

This is just beautiful!

Back to the outdoors with a drizzle and only a few plum blossoms.

 We ate supper at the park which has many little buildings with restaurants around and when we were finished they had turned on the Christmas lights.  The lights were beautiful!  The main exhibition this year was Niagara Falls (last year was Mount Fuji), I didn't actually find that part very impressive, but I really enjoyed the rest.

A tunnel of lights.

Niagara Falls

Another tunnel, this time with green lights.

I hope you aren't all tired of looking at pictures of flowers now.  Believe it or not, I didn't post all the ones that I have. :P

In other news, I bought my first article of clothing in Japan, it's a sweater and it's a large.  I don't think my body shape has changed since we got married which is probably the last time many of you saw me.  From what I saw, the sizes just get bigger in terms of length and not as much in terms of width.  I thought it was pretty funny though, since all my other sweaters are "small".