As of Late...

As the trip wears on, it becomes increasingly hard to remind myself to update this blog. This is not because I don't love you, folks. It is mainly because I am having trouble making sure to get to everything before we leave. It seems like the number of things I want to see never decreases; it only increases with time. Fortunately, we are taking a minute to breathe today between all the cities, shrines, temples, and museums that we have visited. Today, we visited an Indian inspired temple called Sanjusangendo. The temple, unfortunately, does not allow for pictures. I will try my best to describe the temple. As you enter the temple there is a sheen of golden statues that begins on your left. As you turn the corner, you realize that the entire room is replicas of the same image. There is a descending staircase from about 30 feet up down to the floor filled with statues of the same goddess, Kannon, representing mercy. At the bottom step there are a series of guardians for the goddess along with a main deity posed in the center with an altar of incense. Many of these statues and their history is linked to the deities of India taken and made into a Buddhist kind of knowledge. This merging of histories and beliefs is what we have defined in our language as syncretism.

Yesterday, a group of us did a mini-pilgrimage of 88 Shrines... I have pictures of all 88, but that will be a mosaic poster for later. In the mean time... this AMAZING shot of the lake next to a temple will be what I will leave you with for understanding...

 This is the temple that was situated on the pond. I found it to be my favorite. If I had to be one of the 88, this is the temple I would become.

 While on the hike across the 88, we found this astounding view of the city of Kyoto. I guess it's a mountain, but I couldn't find the actual name. The hiking that we're doing is really making all of us much healthier...

 Things that never seem to stick with me.....

 This is the awesome and extremely sweet Sara :-D

 One of the most recognizable and noted Japanese monuments is the Golden Pavilion. It was built to be a get away for an aristocrat to become isolated from the world. After his death, it became a Rinzai Zen Temple and now it is a monument. In 1950, the temple was burned by a mentally disturbed priest. Nevertheless, this amazing temple was a sight to see that I don't think can ever be replicated....