The Thunder and Wind gods
---------------------------------------------
One of the many gardens at the temple, this displays the 3 shapes that made up all natural things (I found this out later).
Because when I saw this sign, I thought "Gah! Aikido! Woohoo! It's everywhere!!!" (....duh)
---------------------------------------------
The design of this window, and others in the temple, are to frame the beauty beyond it, as if it were a picture. I also thought of Paul (who would love this little alcove I think) and of the small jungle at Draco Hill back in Iowa.
I tried to capture the expansive feeling of this place, so please click the photos to get a larger image than what is shown below...
---------------------------------------------
When I saw these following two views and areas, I had a little geeky moment of "Yay Japan!"
---------------------------------------------
One of the main gardens, which was designed to be beautiful from every angle.
---------------------------------------------
After another excited "geeky moment" I took this shot because these hallways were awesome!
Yukiko-san! (Oneesan ^^)
---------------------------------------------
One of the views to the garden, which was very peaceful.
---------------------------------------------
And then I saw the three shapes again! It wasn't just coincidence! This was when I actually read through a little bit of the brochure I had, and found out that these are the three shapes of nature. Yay aikido!
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
DRAGONS!!!!! These are actual copies of the originals, which are national treasures.
I found this extremely...ironic? Or oppositional to itself? The words elude me...
---------------------------------------------
I could live with this view. Once again, the picture does not do the sense of space justice at all.
---------------------------------------------
Masako-san and Yukiko-san!
---------------------------------------------
This was the tea house of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the man who finished the unification of Japan, built Osaka Castle, designed the city of Osaka, and invaded Korea (which began the major strife between Japan and Korea). My fingers are there to be some sort of measure hopefully (the room and entrance was very small).
Masako-san explaining that these stone figures were used as lanterns, mukashi mukashi (once upon a time).
I would LOVE to have moss instead of grass for my lawn! It would be a glorious surface to practice rolling on, and require no mowing!
---------------------------------------------
Once again, amazing views that are very hard to represent on a 2D or 2.5D plane.
---------------------------------------------
Yeah, this in an old building for sure. Trees just don't grow that tall and big in Japan anymore.
DRAGONS!!!
---------------------------------------------
Japan, ganbatte (keep fighting / good luck).
---------------------------------------------
This is the gate to the area that the temple was in. I wanted to snag a photo of a certain monk, but before I could start up my camera, he had already put away the cell phone he was using, which I found to be extremely amusing.
No comments:
Post a Comment