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Dear Family and Friends,
We got to Kyoto at night and settled into our hotel. Then we got up to start another super busy day. I am breaking the first day in Kyoto into 2 because it was so hard to edit all of our photos into one reasonable email.
We caught the train to take us to the area of Kyoto where the temples we planned to visit in the morning are located. My niece made a special request to visit some cemeteries, so this morning was for her. We all wanted to see a moss temple, so that was on our list, too. We had no idea what we were in store for.
We headed out of Kyoto to the west to the beginning of a rural, mountainous area.
Our first stop was at Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple. The temple dates back to 766 CE. Over the course of its history it was repeatedly washed away by floods or damaged in other ways by the weather. It is Kyoto’s most often ruined temple. But there has always been a dedication to rebuilding and restoring it.
One feature that makes it special now is the 1,200 carved figures lining its hillsides. These carvings have a feeling of old age from the accumulation of mosses and lichens on them, and a sense of being acted on by the elements. However, the sculpting of the figures only began in 1981.
Kocho Nishimura, a Buddhist sculptor who became a monk, was put in charge of Otagi-Nenbutsu-ji in 1955. He started an extensive restoration and renovation project. An important part of his vision was the creation of stone-carved rakan, or followers of Buddha. These 1,200 rakan were carved by everyday people who made a pilgrimage to the temple to learn to carve under Kocho’s guidance. Kocho urged them to bring out the hidden personalities of the stone, which I think brought out the personalities of the artists themselves.
Here is a link with a short video about the carving project: https://www.otagiji.com/story-en
You have to climb a bit to get to the main level of the Temple
Almost there. Here are the Temple bells.
I think you can see that the rakan appear to be quite old
They are so engaging. Each one is a vivid personality. So while this is not strictly speaking a cemetery, over time it is a marker and holder of the personalities who carved each rakan.
The Temple
Rakan clustered outside the Temple
Going back down to the street level
The rakan from behind. There is a little waterfall in the dark hollow in the center back. It feels like a worship service is in progress.
After this incredible experience, we walked down the road to the next temple.
A beautiful thatched roof:
A detail of thatch:
Though it looks cold and stormy, it was in fact hot and humid
Another thatched roof in a gorgeous hillscape
This white paint and the charred wood are to protect the building from fire. The paint might have a plaster base, but I forget.
Adashino nenbutsu-ji Temple
I will not guarantee the age of these carvings!
Or these
Graves. Most people in Japan are cremated and placed in family graves. There is a vault under the markers for the urns.
The dug-up carvings. They were probably preserved by having been buried, and really are old. They did not have the facial features the Otagi rakan had.
This path leads up to a more modern section of the cemetery.
The bamboo is really stunning
The modern section. It made me think of the above-ground mausoleums in New Orleans, so like streets. So many stories.
We are back on the street again. We caught a cab to take us to our next destination.
This is a moss temple. We were very excited to get here!
This is an amazing place.
It is so green and seems like it must be so soft to roll around in.
However, that is misleading. The moss is actually pretty stiff and once I touched it I lost all desire to roll around in it.
But I’ll keep my illusions
We rinsed our hands and cooled our faces with this fresh water
Alas, the exit.
And that was the finish of our morning. It was so peaceful in each place. And so green. It would have been enough, but we had a lot more on our schedule. We caught another cab. The next email will finish this day in Kyoto.
Matane,
Pam
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