Week in Review

It's been another eventful week here in Kyoto. We just dodged another typhoon: this one went south instead of north. This time of year there’s a high pressure system over Asia that tends to send storms to the south of Kyoto, but as the season wears on it will shift northward and we’ll be vulnerable that right now.

Yesterday I lived out a dream: I watched the original 1954 “Godzilla” (Gojira) in Japan, in Japanese, no less. It was being shown at the Museum of Kyoto, so I biked over there, paid 500 yen, and sat to watch a much more somber, slower, richer version than the Americanized one (which featured new scenes of Raymond Burr spliced in as an American reporter named “Steve Martin” caught in the monster’s path). This morning consisted of picking up necessities at the department store: bread, peanut butter, beans, soup, chopsticks, a bowl, and a little travel iron. In a little while I’ll sit in on the Shin Buddhism Translation Series meeting again.

During the earlier part of the week, I once more went all over the place. Rather than futilely try to cover everything, I’ll offer a hodgepodge of impressions. First up: Kyoto Tower, seen from the third floor of the Kyoto Station. The tower is the tallest structure in Kyoto, and while it’s supposed to look like an eternally-burning candle, many people dismiss it as looking like a toy rocket.



I mentioned previously that I went to the Kyoto National Museum. Here’s a shot of me outside, in front of a replica of Rodin’s “The Thinker.” Note the European-looking special exhibition hall in the background, and the rather more Japanese stone pagoda.



This week was Obon, the most important time in the Japanese religious calendar. The dead are believed to come back from the afterlife and visit the living for several days, and people travel to their hometowns to greet their ancestors in the cemetery. It is a festive time: because the dead watch out for the living, and can return at times to visit, cemeteries are not the sort of morbid or saddening sites they seem to be in the USA. I spent a lot of time in cemeteries this past week looking for (and finding) evidence of mizuko kuyo-related practices. During all this observation, I often saw people washing down graves, talking animatedly to their dead relatives, and generally having a good time. Here’s a shot from the top of the large cemetery at Eikando in eastern Kyoto.



Temples are also decorated during Obon, and many people visit temples both to go to the cemetery and to meet with friends and neighbors. Here’s the main hall of Chishakuin, festooned for Obon.



Chishakuin is a large temple in eastern Kyoto, not far from the Kyoto National Museum. I wandered in its cemetery too but a fierce storm whipped up and drove me back into shelter near the parking lot. It was almost enough to make you believe in protective spirits. Near the main hall I saw an interesting pair of carved footprints, representing the footprints of the Buddha. As you can see, people sometimes leave money on them as an offering.



Another temple I visited over Obon was Otani Honbyo. This is the mausoleum of Shinran, founder of the Jodo Shinshu school of Buddhism. His remains and those of many of the tradition’s major priests are enshrined here. The temple was actually started by Shinran’s daughter, Kakushinni, in the 13th century. As such, she is really the founder of the particular sect of Jodo Shinshu that Kristen and I belong to. There was a memorial monument to Kakushinni on the grounds of Otani Honbyo, facing the main hall for remains.



Of course, most of my temple-surfing was related to mizuko kuyo. I saw many mizuko kuyo installations this week and learned a lot about the material culture and practices of related to mizuko. At one temple, Sainenji, I encountered my first Mizuko Kannon. She is the bodhisattva of compassion, in this case manifested in a form specifically devoted to saving mizuko. In the picture you can see the offerings that have been left to her and the mizuko, as well as a Mizuko Jizo by her side.



At another temple, Jotokuji, I found a somewhat unusual-looking Mizuko Jizo. Usually the larger statues look like a tall, slender, adult monk. But this one looks like a boy, and even wears the clothes of a boy rather than a monk. It was a striking difference. People have obviously accepted this new image because he was surrounded by many plaques left by people paying for mizuko rites. In fact, while I was there an older woman kept circumambulating the other Jizo shrine, pausing each time at the Mizuko Jizo to toss water on it respectfully.



One thing you’ll see a lot of at temple in Japan are koi, the sometimes gigantic carp that swim in the waters of most decorative ponds and moats. Here’s one I saw at Eikando. They come in many colors and sizes.



To get to eastern Kyoto, where I’ve done much of my research so far, you have to cross the Kamo-gawa river. Along the river are restaurants with porches where you can sit and enjoy the relative cool of the riverside.



On the other side of the river is Sanjusangetsudo, a famous temple that Kristen and I visited last year. I went again this week, and I’m glad I did, because I actually observed a mizuko kuyo rite while I was at the temple. I also enjoyed the grounds, which include a colorful gate.



I noticed some young women wearing kimono at the temple. This is a very common sght in Kyoto. Especially after dark when everyone is out of work and changes into their evening fun clothes, kimonos are everywhere in a profusion of colors.