During a recent visit to the Tokyo National Museum I took today’s photo of the main room in The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures (法隆寺宝物館) in Ueno Park. The room doesn’t really look like this to the natural eye. I set my camera on the floor in the corner and left the shutter open for 8 seconds to get this view.

The room is actually very dark with a small light on each of the dozens of Kanon (観音) statues. I found the atmosphere to be amazing and very un-museum like. Instead of things lines up against the walls, there is nothing against the walls. Instead, there are the “glowing” pedestals lined up in neat rows. The statues are from different countries and artists spanning a couple hundred years (mostly 7th and 8th Centuries). But they are all somewhat similar in size making them both unique and uniform.

Posted on July 26th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, museums, ueno. Comments: None

Kaseki is a pretty crazy looking character. I took this photo of him at 九品仏浄真寺.

Posted on July 17th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist. Comments: None

In the middle of Tokyo’s concrete lies an oasis known as Todoroki Valley Park (等々力渓谷公園). Set one foot inside and you enter an entirely different world. The day I visited was extremely hot until entering the park. The temperature dropped dramatically and the sound changed completely upon entering.

The above statue had a ladybug on it. By the time I took the picture the ladybug had moved to a less obvious location, but I still think it turned out rather well.

If you plan to visit Kuhonbutsu Joshinji then this place is reachable on foot from there.

Posted on July 16th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist. Comments: None

As mentioned a while ago, Ryan was invited to do a home stay with some people we met. Last month he did so by boarding the night bus from Shinjuku and traveling solo to Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture. He had a great time.

Today’s photo is one that Ryan took in Fukui Prefecture during that trip. One day he was going to go fishing with his Ojiichan, but the rain made the fishing no good so they went to this place in Katsuyama instead. The temple isn’t very old, but it looks pretty cool. Inside is a giant Buddha. Ryan took this pic from inside a five-story pagoda.

Posted on July 15th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, temples. Comments: None

Right next to Suwa Jinja, southeast of the Takadanobaba Station, is Genkokuji. I stopped by there on my way home from a recent bike ride. It was actually beginning to rain when I took the above picture so I didn’t stay for too long.

Posted on July 13th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, takadanobaba, temples. Comments: None