仏足跡

Bet you didn’t know the Buddha had a swastika on each toe. Well he did, at least before WWII, and still in parts of Japan where the swastika doesn’t have the negative image it has earned nearly everywhere else in the world.

Believers are encouraged to take their shoes off, stand on the Buddha’s footprints, say a few words, and get lucky. This is found at Miyajima’s Daishoin.

Posted on July 14th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, Daishoin 大聖院, miyajima, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Footprint of the Buddha

Daishoin prayer wheels (マニ車) (Miyajima, Japan)

Posted on June 29th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, Daishoin 大聖院, miyajima, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Daishoin

Posted on June 14th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: arashiyama, buddhist, kyoto, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Statue near Tenryuji (天龍寺)

不動院

Today’s photo is a reverse angle of this prior one. That’s my room in the background.

Posted on June 12th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, fudoin, koyasan 高野山, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Koyasan’s Fudoin

西院の河原

I was a couple weeks too early in August to see the Sento Kuyo (千灯供養) ceremony (which happens annually on August 23 and 24) at Adashino. On those evenings the temple is covered in candles and lanterns. Don’t miss it if you happen to be in Kyoto then.

Posted on June 10th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, cemetery, kyoto, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, 化野念仏寺. Comments Off on Adashino Nenbutsuji’s 8,000 Buddhist statuettes