Posted in Japan, nature, travel and places, religion and philosophy, temples on Jul 30th, 2006 No Comments »
Paradise Mountain lies here on earth, close to Hon-Nagashino on the Iida line out of Toyohashi in Aichi Prefecture. Horai-zan, it is called, and Horai is the Land of Bliss of the Chinese Taoist tradition. In its original conception, it was conceived as a mountainous island in the wide ocean, in Japan it was applied […]
Posted in Japan, intercultural, calendar, religion and philosophy, kyoto on Jul 26th, 2006 No Comments »
The Bon festival or “Obon” has an interesting history. Folk-Buddhist in origin, it came from China where Buddhism was heavily colored by ancestor worship and Confucianism before it marched on to Japan. The festival finds its religious justification in the Ullambana Sutra (probably not an original Indian sutra but written in China). This popular sutra […]
Posted in books, culture, religion and philosophy, intercultural on Jul 16th, 2006 No Comments »
What can go wrong when a foreigner who knows no Japanese but has very romantic ideas studies a particular Japanese “way” (Do) under a somewhat eccentric Master? Everything, according to The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery by Yamada Shoji (published in the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies). Surprisingly, the foreigner in question […]
Posted in culture, history, calendar, religion and philosophy, kyoto on Jul 2nd, 2006 No Comments »
Tanabata is one of Japan’s five traditional festivals, the gosekku, celebrated on auspicious calendar days: 1/1, 3/3, 5/5, 7/7 and 9/9. Tanabata’s date is 7/7 in the old moon calendar, but as 8/7 is closer to the old date, some Tanabata festivals are held in August rather than July.
As in other cultures, in Japan, too, […]
Posted in history, travel and places, religion and philosophy, museums on Jun 25th, 2006 No Comments »
Shibayama, on the eastern side of Narita Airport, is another area rich in old tumulus graves. In contrast to Boso Fudoki-no-Oka, Shibayama has given us numerous large-sized and fascinating haniwa figures. Typical are curious figures with high hats, beards and long curly hair, a very unusual look as haniwa go. They are the trademarks of […]
Posted in history, travel and places, religion and philosophy, museums on Jun 24th, 2006 No Comments »
As temples and museum go, there is more in the vicinity of Narita than only jumbojets. After the museums in the grounds of the Narita temple, take the bus for a short ride to the Sogo Treasure Hall and Sogo Memorial Hall, both located in the grounds of a temple called Sogo Reido, standing in […]
Posted in writing and poetry, nature, history, travel and places, religion and philosophy, museums on Jun 21st, 2006 No Comments »
Hanamaki is a well-known hot spring resort, but more than that it is the native place of author, teacher, researcher and agricultural reformer Miyazawa Kenji. You will find more about him in the Miyazawa Kenji Museum, a short bus ride from either Shin-Hanamaki or Hanamaki Station. It presents Miyazawa Kenji from various angles and has […]
Posted in culture, life, history, travel and places, religion and philosophy, intercultural on Jun 18th, 2006 No Comments »
In his recent review of a study about funerals in modern Japan, Modern Passings by Andrew Bernstein, Donald Richie writes that what he has learned from this study, is that funerals in Japan are modern inventions. Apparently, Richie had thought that Japanese funerals were less hypocritical than in the West, and that may still be […]
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