Last weekend my Buddhist art class went on its last field trip for the semester. We saw Temples, tea houses and some incredible gardens. And after that, I and a few friends went to yet another temple that was in the area. Let me see if I can keep them all straight...



Our first stop was Sanjūsangen-dō, or 1000 Buddha hall. Aptly named, because inside the main building, standing on a long row of stairs, are 1000 Buddha statues, surrounding one massive one in the center. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed inside the building, but there are some photos on the wiki article that give you an idea. It's a long, long space. The figures are tarnished now, but would have been brilliantly gold when they were new, and the whole front of the building is sliding paper doors that face east. With the sun shining in in the morning, the place would have been almost blinding.

The best part though is the carved guardian deities that stand in front of the army of Kannon Buddhas. They're incredibly expressive and unique, especially my favorite, Fujin.

Next up was Daitoku-Ji, a Zen Buddhist temple, and the surrounding grounds and subtemples. The area is beautiful, and amazingly quiet. Most of the time the only sounds were the footsteps of other visitors and the wind, mixed occasionally with the chanting of monks.







We also visited two sub-temples. The first was Daisen-In, home of a famous rock garden. Again, unfortunately no pictures allowed. Many readers probably know the gardens are used for meditation: what they may not know (and what I didn't) is that they're designed to mimic Chinese landscape paintings.



The second was Koto-in, which is entered through a long pathway amidst Bamboo and surrounding by a wide, intricately cultivated garden. Paths wind back and forth through the bushes and flowers, wide raised stepping-stones above the layer of moss that covers the ground everywhere. Between the quiet and the beauty, it's almost possible to believe you've gone back in time. If it wasn't for that guy on his cell phone.











Finally, we stopped at Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Temple. As far as I know, that's really gold leaf on the building. The leaves were just turning as we visited, and the effect was amazing. Kinkaku-Ji is easily the most beautiful temple I've seen so far in Japan.











2010 is the Year of the Tiger on the Zodiac, my year in fact, so I got this adorable tiger at the gift shop. I was pleasantly surprised when I unpacked it: I thought I was only getting the tiger, not all the other props.




The buses were packed on the way back: this trip was the first time I actually experienced the famous crammed transportation of Japan. Many, many more people can fit on a bus that you'd think. Still, we got where we were going, and the day was an overwhelming success.