First, sorry for the lack of updates recently. More updates forthcoming. I have been staving off writing about my host family because I haven't really taken any pictures of my house, I still don't want to until a moment when it won't seem really, really weird. I'll take some shots of my room tonight though, and post about that tomorrow, because my room is weird. The house is pretty darn weird, actually. Anyway. I've been thinking a lot as if I was writing a blog, composing bits in my head, and then I never bother to type them out or post them, but feel as if I have. Anyway, here's something for today.
On Saturday, I went with my host family to Byoudou-in, which is rather famous over here. The building is on the ten yen coin (dime) and the phoenixes on the roof are on the 10,000 yen bills. All the temples, especially the famous ones, charge a few dollars to get on the grounds then another few dollars to go into the building itself, though sometimes they don't allow you in at all. So I went in and did the loop around the building, but didn't do the inside tour.
Here's me with my rather adorable host brother and host sister, Saku and Arika respectively. She's doing some kind of really weird smile, in reality she looks much less... bizarre.
The museum was rather amazing - is had a lot of Japanese "national treasures" on display - many of the original fixtures of the temple - including the original phoenixes - are on display inside. There were a particularly amazing series of 52 Bodhisattvas, each on a cloud, each unique - each about a foot and a half tall. In the temple, they were on the walls behind Amida. I bought a deck of cards with a different card. My first souvenir!It's also with mentioning that it was in a really pretty rural area, and that I'm getting really antsy about getting out into the woods sometime, just to walk around. I want to find some place I can just wander around somewhere pretty, (kyoto is super pretty, but very urban). Maybe somewhere I can get to on public transportation. I'll find it eventually.
3 comments:
Byoudou-in! Looks cool. Also your host sibs are freaking adorable.
I saw that...kinda of... I saw the replica in hawaii. Pretty cool, but not as cool as the real thing, I'll bet!
I wish I had cute host siblings like that!! Also you should check out Yawata-shi sometime--right outside of the train station is a big woodsy mountain that is worth a climb.
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