47 Loyal Samurai

Day 4 of sight seeing.  Honestly, after the plane ride and all of our walking in the days before, I was about ready to stick my feet in a vat of ice and leave them there for a day or two.  After all, once the sight seeing was done, our martial arts training started.  There was, however, one other place that I and my group, as martial artists, had to visit.  

We walked down a busy street in Tokyo and then, after the usual asking of directions and attempting to understand what was said, turned down a side street.  We immediately spied this entrance: 

It did not look like the entrance to one of the most sacred spots in Japan but we went through and, sure enough, this was the site of the memorial for the 47 Loyal Samurai of Ako.  

The link above will take you to the Wikipedia article on this historical event of 1701 to 1703.  Briefly, the story is that two daimyo (regional lords), Asano and Kamei, were ordered to provide a fitting reception for an envoy of the Emperor.  There instructor in court etiquette was a shogunate official called Kira Kozuke-No-Suke Yoshinaka.  For some reason, Kira seemed to take offense to both daimyo and treated them in a manner that no samurai could countenance forever.  Lord Kamei's retainers apparently offered Kira a large bribe which mitigated his treatment of Kamei but Lord Asano continued to be abused until he finally snapped and attacked Kira, wounding him superficially.  

In those days, an attack on an official of the Shogun could not be overlooked and, in the end, Lord Asano was sentenced to commit seppuku, ritual suicide.  Asano's lands were confiscated and his samurai became ronin - samurai without a master, the greatest disgrace that any samurai could ever know.  

47 of those samurai banded together under Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshio and vowed vengeance against the official Kira.  After spending a considerable period of time acting in a very un-samurailike manner, in order to put off Kira's spies, the 47 Loyal Samurai breached Kira's fortified home and took his head.  Having avenged their lord, they took the head to their master's grave at the Sengaku-ji temple and then to the Shogun's palace in Edo. 

The shogunate faced a quandary.  On the one hand, the 47 Loyal Samurai had obeyed the code of bushido in avenging their lord.  On the other hand, these 'ronin' had directly disobeyed the orders of the Shogun.  That great lord resolved the problem by allowing the 47 Loyal Samurai to commit seppuku, an honorable death for a samurai, rather than having them executed as criminals.  46 of the Loyal Samurai committed ritual suicide on March 20, 1703.  One of them, Terasaka Kichiemon, was unaccountably not with the group and was later pardoned by the Shogun.  Nevertheless, when this last 'ronin' died in 1747, his grave was placed with the other 46 before the tomb of their master, Lord Asano.  

The graves of the 47 Loyal Samurai of Ako and their master are still on the grounds of the Sengaku-ji Buddhist temple.  Note: there is no effect applied to the door with the dharma wheel below - the picture simply came out that way

What you see above is basically the entrance to the temple and to the area what looked like the area where the monks live.  

The grave site is approached along this beautiful corridor.  

As you walk up the corridor, you see a flame burning ahead of you.  That fire is tended by a Japanese man who sells incense sticks to those who have come to honor these mighty dead.  Once you have made your small purchase, he puts the incense into the flames and lights all the sticks for you.  You are free to place them wherever you wish.

My group chose to honor all those buried there so we went from grave to grave placing incense sticks as we went.  

There are other sites at this location.  The rock where the blood of Lord Kira fell, the well where his head was washed before presentation to their master's grave, etc.  But, to me, the picture that stands out in these photos is this one: 

You will notice that there is a fellow up a ladder next to that tree.  He was up there, trimming this beautiful natural sculpture, with nothing but a pair of hand clippers.  As I looked around, I noted that all the groundsmen that I saw were carrying belts with nothing but hand tools in them.  Unlike the U.S., where such a monument would likely be 'cared for' by individuals with power tools and their concomitant noise, it seems that the Japanese wanted to be certain that this memorial was treated with the respect it deserved.

It is hard to describe the atmosphere of this last place that we visited.  There is an air of melancholy because of all those deaths and the necessity for this bloodshed but there is also a deep feeling of harmony because those deaths were honorable and they have been honored consistently for the past 300 + years.  I think that the 47 Loyal Samurai of Ako are resting in peace knowing that they did what they set out to do.  

Kamakura, Part 2

After visiting Kannon and spending some time admiring that beautiful image - which we were not allowed to photograph - our group moved on to the 'star attraction' of Kamakura, the Great Buddha.  I loved this sign from the Prior of the monastery there:

"Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatever thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages.  This is the temple of the Buddha and the gods of the Eternal and should therefore be entered with reverence."

Just to drive that point home, one is greeted at the gate to the compound by a matched pair of Dharma Protectors who look like this:

These fellows definitely looked as though they would take care of business if one were not proper in one's conduct while on the grounds.

Of course, it is the Buddha itself that dominates the sanctuary.  I have included several shots below to give you an idea of its size and the number of people who were there on that weekday morning.

And, in case you wondered about the Buddha's diet, here is a picture of the offering placed before the statue.

As you can see there were many people wandering the compound.  Many of them were, like me, taking pictures and generally enjoying the sights but some of these folks came to offer their prayers and petitions.

This is a theme that I saw repeated in temples and shrines all over Japan.  There just did not seem to be the raging dichotomy between science and technology and ancient faith and practice that we see here in the U.S.  The same individual offering prayers at their local shrine would then turn around and consult a portable electronic device for directions to the next site.  I found this acceptance of paradox quite refreshing.

On a side note, I had a Japanese gentleman sit down next to me while I was waiting for my crew to finish up in the gift shop (do you see a recurring theme here :-).  He began to speak to me in English and I learned that he had taught himself the language and came, from a train station several stops down from Kamakura, to the Great Buddha site frequently so that he could practice his English on the foreigners who came to visit there.  His English was quite good for someone with no formal training and I was amazed and a little humbled at the determination of this man to learn our language for no other reason than that he wanted to.

Kamakura, part 1

Since we had been unable to climb Fujiyama, we had an extra day to do some additional sightseeing. We chose to go to the temple laden city of Kamakura.  I found it interesting that, as I sat outside and waited for my group to finish shopping in a small souvenir store, I was surrounded by birds:

I believe that the first pic is of a black kite, the second I am not sure of and the third appears to be one of Japan's deluxe sized crows.  In any event, all three of these fellows appeared within the 15 minutes that I sat waiting so I could not resist taking a picture of two.

When we went looking for temples, there was very little chance that we would miss them.  The streets actually had Kannon (bodhisattva of compassion) banners to guide you in the right direction:

Photos of the giant statue of Kannon at this temple were strictly forbidden but the grounds themselves were stunningly beautiful.

And, if you needed to meditate with the Buddha, you had your choice of hundreds, literally:

I would have loved to hear the monks ring this ancient temple bell:

I could almost feel the vibration of it against my skin even though it was simply sitting there.

The Japanese are well know for mixing Buddhism and Shinto so it was no surprise when I stumbled across a shrine to the Japanese goddess Inari Okami in amongst all this Buddhist iconography:

Inari is often prayed to for prosperity so her shrines are very common in Japan.  They are always guarded by the kitsune, the white foxes above, who are renowned as shape shifters in Japanese folklore.

Speaking of birds, I could not resist a photo of this sign:

First wild monkeys and now ravening kites.  What is next for me in Japan?

Fujiyama

I was looking forward to the trip to Mt. Fuji even before I left for Japan.  Our groups original plan had been to hike part of the way up the mountain on Wednesday, stay in one of the cabin/hostels on the mountain and then rise very early on Thursday morning and hit the summit for sunrise.  We had been unable to contact anyone to set this up and found out why when we got to Japan . . .  Fuji had not yet opened for the official hiking season (this we knew) and hikers were not being allowed past the fifth station due to  . . . 

SNOW!  We had forgotten how different the climate could be from sea level to over 12,000 feet.  Nevertheless, we were determined to go see this icon of Japan so, after braving the sardine like condition of trains at rush hour and a bus ride up the side of the mountain, we found ourselves at station five.  This location is the usual starting point for hikers on Fuji. 

Naturally, since this is one of the most popular tourist sites in Japan, this building contained stores with just about everything one could want for hiking / backpacking as well as some really . . .  interesting souvenirs.  They even had a Star Wars section with t-shirts depicting Darth Vader climbing Mt. Fuji (did not get a picture of that).  

The ubiquitous fog followed us from Nikko so I was not able to get any really clear shots of the mountain.  It was very cool - we were past 6,000 feet - and we even saw some snow flurries while we were there.  Fortunately, the clouds did part toward the end of our sojourn there and I got a couple of photos before the mountain was socked in again.  

In addition to the tourist shops, there was, of course, a Shinto shrine on the mountain although I somehow managed to turn on the 'fisheye' feature of my camera for this one. 

Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan (unlike Buddhism which came from China) and involves reverence for ancestors and the spirits of the land.  You see Shinto shrines all through Japan and you see people praying at them all the time.  There are general shrines but there are also sites that are specific to a purpose.  I understand that there is a particular kind of shrine that students go to to pray for good grades!  (Did not see one of those but I am told they are pretty common).  

And just to prove that I was there . . .  

here is my intrepid band.  This picture was taken by one of the innumerable, helpful Japanese folks we ran into along the way.  

More pics from Nikko

I can not resist one more mysterious fog shot - this day really set the tone for the entire trip.  I know the whole mysterious Orient thing is rather cliche but I was certainly feeling it as I looked out over the mountains that day: 

That feeling was amplified once I got to my first temple.  You can not walk the grounds of these places and not feel the history oozing up through the soles of your feet: 

The Japanese aesthetic is usually known for its simplicity but the artwork at these temples (there are several of them) is astounding for its detail: 

One of the highlights of the Nikko trip though was in the Temple of the Gods where photos are not allowed.  In the main temple room is a spot where the shogun's used to hold their audiences.  The acoustics in that room are set up such that the person sitting in the shogun's seat can be heard through out the hall while other people, even a few feet away, are effectually muted.  This acoustic idiosyncrasy was demonstrated to us by a tour guide who clacked together two blocks of wood.  In the shogun's seat area, the wood clackers rang throughout the room but, when the guide stepped out of that 'zone', all one could here was the dull clunk of wood on wood.  

Photos From Nikko

I am going to try to keep this simple.  I travelled to Japan last week (23 June) and wanted to establish this blog to share some of my many pictures.

Our first stop, once we had gotten some sleep was the area of Nikko, known for its waterfall and for various temples in the area.   As you will see in the pics, we had a continuing problem with fog . . .  it really seemed to chase us around for the first couple of days so many of my photos look rather mysterious.  Here is what you will see if and when you get off the bus in Nikko . . .

You also need to be aware that there are hidden dangers in the little town . . .

And, in case you do not believe the warning . . . this little guy appeared on the street to prove that there really were 'wild monkeys' about.

The much discussed waterfall was veiled in mist that day.

But I loved the mysterious fog amongst the trees.

I do not want to make this too long so I will stop for today and continue with more photos of Nikko tomorrow.