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You can seldom go a day in Japan without encountering a jizo, or six, or thousands. They usually are featured wearing a red bib. Jizo are associated with many things including peace, children, and safe traveling.
I spotted this jizo in front of a shop in Kyoto. The sign reads “Yorokobi wa fubyo no kusuri” which means something like “Happiness is the medicine for no sickness.”
See yesterday’s entry for the location of this resting, marble Buddha.
I stumbled on this place quite by accident while walking from Maruyama Koen (円山公園) into the Gion District in Kyoto. This shrine is actually quite close to the Gion Temple (祇園寺). I found 龍池山大雲院 to be marvelously peaceful, with striking wood and marble.
Tomorrow I’ll show you a close up of the marble Buddha you can see lying down in the distance in this picture from the gate.
Zenshoan is best known for its ghost scrolls (幽霊画), which I hope to see this August, but in late March it can also be a nice place to visit with the blossoms beginning to bloom. The gold statue of the Buddha in the background is quite large. It overlooks the cemetery (墓所) on the grounds. Located in “Old Tokyo” in Yanaka (谷中), the shitamachi neighborhood is fun to stroll around.
This Bodhisattva may not look that large without someone standing next to it, but it is huge. The Ryozen Kannon is set in the eastern hills of Kyoto and weighs over 500 tons. It is over 80 feet tall. This war memorial was completed in 1955. Soil samples from wherever soldiers in WWII were killed are housed inside the memorial.
This is yesterday’s little buddy. My camera didn’t have a wide angle lens which is why you don’t get quite the full picture in either image. They were housed in the Niōmon (仁王門), each in a separate box that looks more like a giant, wooden cage. I stuck my camera through the “cage” to take the pictures.
I took the pictures from six feet off the groud. They must have been a couple feet off the ground and about 8-10 feet tall from head to toe.