This is the entrance to what many would imagine Japan to be like... the gateway to a Japanese Tea House with a traditional Japanese Garden. This was at the foot of the shrine of TenManGu, Chofu. It was simply beautiful.
Though there are many shrines all over Japan that bears the same name. This shrine is sought after for visits to recieve blessings for good grades/results in examinations in etrance to schools or companies. This shrine is famous in Chofu-City, Yamaguchi as its patron was the Damiyo Mori. There is a paviliion on the left of the courtyard that over looks the city. A magnificent sight!
have you ever wonder what is it inside a Shinto Shrine? Instead of the various idols or sculptures as seen in Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines has a mirror in its main hall that carries the connotation that it reflects the light of the sun within the believer. The notion of "look-into-oneself" to find god is present in this element.
A typical Japanese Garden. One might notice the similarities that it has with the Chinese Gardens. Such form of landscape art was brought in with the influx of Chinese culture in early Japanese history of civilization.
From the left: Kuniko-san, Yanagi-Otosan, and Asakura-san.
They were taking a break at the temple street.
This is the best picture after a gazillion shots. Bunny in front of the most famous shrine in Japan. This place is under restoration from the typhoon that hit last summer and nearly destroyed this world heritage.
The stage on bunny's left is a national treasure. Please google it up to find out more about its value and the value of the Shrine.
This is a really cute picture. Dark, but nice. We had to search all over the place for a place bright enough for my clie. Read my blog on "There and Back Again" for an interesting review of what happened at Akiyoshi.
The title says it all. These is what a tourist can expect in June in Japan. However, the sight was indeed breathtaking.
Just for clarification: I wasn't ready for the picture and was fixing my hair. I had no idea that Asakura-san snapped the picture. Nonetheless, though a corny pose... bunny likes it!
Snapshot in モリ庭園. This part of Japan is just loaded with Japanese gardens. Mori is a famous Damiyo of Yamaguchi prefecture. This was his estate. His house was turned into a Museum. It was closed on Monday, so we just had a look at the graden. Cost me 400yen!
Our final tourist spot before, lunch and the airport.
This is the only Buddhist temple I visited. It was empty there, literally. Well, I guess it was because of the rain. It looked like it was closed. However, the inside courtyard of the temple was really spacious with old huts or storage building on the sides leading to the main hall. The things I remembered most about this place was its emptiness, that nobody was there, and the extrememly strong smell of herbal medicine.
Kuniko-san stopped by the side of the road, I jumped out of the car, ran in... took a look around, before taking the picture , got back in the car and we made our way to the airport.
