Wednesday, September 8th in Koyasan

Here is attached a picture of Koyasan taken around sunset on September 5th.  

I've never seen such a rainbow (actually I should call it  a rain post or a rain pole)  before but even old lady who lived there over 60 years there hasn't seen one before, she said.  Is that something like an ill omen?  Anyway they have shower almost everyday after 2 weeks without any rain.  Each rain brings cool air but now after the typhoon rain and wind, the temperature here went down to 21 degrees Celcius!  It is quite cool.  But here comes the sun!

Actually the typhoon #9 didn't hit Kansai region but still it brought some rain and strong wind.

 

At the bottom of Koyasan (You know, actually there is no mountain called Mt. Koya), it is extremely hot yet.  People around my place reaped early rice yesterday before the typhoon.

 

I'm afraid we still have some heat for a while down Koyasan.  I try to come to Koyasan often so that I can stay cool.  

 

During Summer Vacation

At Daishi Kyokai, the training facility of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism, temple school for kids is open sometimes during summer vacation.  Some children participated temple school here at Daishi Kyokai and enjoyed working like little monks, playing games, exploring the town, reading and writing with making many friends.  Recently some foreign children got to join the school.  Closing ceremony was to be held today.

 

Also today, the boy scouts from Koyasan left for Nippon Jamboree.  They came here to ask Kobo Daishi to protect their safe journey and good experience.  I think boy scouts are world wide now even once they have started in England.  I wonder all over the world, different God, Buddha or Deity may protect their people.    

 

UCHIDANGI & MISAISHOKO (July 20, 21 and 22)

UCHI-DAN-GI this year was held July 19 and 20 （Lunar June 9th and 10th）at the Main Hall of Kongobuji.

UCHIDANGI is one of the traditional debates in Koyasan. Koyasan monks study hard and sophisticate themselves in the debates and make their way in their Buddhist life. Those debates are recited in the special melodious intonation. The recruits of special Institute called Kangakue to study harder about teaching of Kobo Daishi participate this debate for the first time and practice so hard for UCHIDANGI. This is the gateway to become the senior priests in Koyasan.
The traditional flower arrangement "GODANBANA (the five-story arranging)" are displayed in the ceremony.

From this evening till the next morning, on Lunar June 10th-11th, MISAISHO-KO is to be held at SAN-NO-IN (The Worship Hall for MIYASHIRO where KAMI, the protective Deities have been enshrined) at GARAN.
MISAISHOKO is originally the special rites to chant and praise the sutra written by Kobo Daishi, "KONKOMYOSAISHO-OHGYO" to pray for the prosperity of the country and the imperial messenger participate the rites. Later its form has changed into question and answer and last 2 days. After completing this, 2 senior priests can make their way to get the special title called "JOGO."
These rites are thought to be one of the most traditional and important ones in Koyasan.

BUDDHIST SERMON IN ENGLISH

Since Koyasan was registered as the World Heritage, more and more foreign tourists have visited Koyasan. In the auditorium room at KONGOBUJI, the head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism, visitors can be welcome with Japanese table green tea and a special rice cracker which can be bought only at KONGOBUJI. Also visitors are always looking forward to listen to a kind of sermon by priest. Most of the priests come from Shingon branch temples all the way from all over Japan. Mostly the sermon is given in Japanese but sometimes you may see one who tries to speak in English as well. Here is one, the priest, SHUKEN SATO from Hiroshima. His English is not so fluent like native speakers but he talk each words carefully and politely so that foreigner can understand their teaching easily. He is a good singer as well and introduce a kind of Buddhist rhyme with beautiful melody. You should be lucky if you meet the priest like him.
Today I was guiding some people from SAWADEE TOUR.
It was a Very hot day but the temperature in Koyasan is about 10 degrees Celcius cooler than Osaka, for example. It is hot enough in the sun but once you get in the shade or inside of the temple, you can feel the cool breeze. And in the morning and in the evening, you find that you don't need air conditioner at all. (Actually, recently some temples started to equip the air conditioner but most of them don't have one and I don't thing they are needed.)

A Day Trip to MIYAJIMA

It was raining heavily in Kansai region and actually the local line stopped because of the heavy rain near my house. But no other day can be chosen because it was a good chance to learn about Hiroshima with my colleagues. It was lucky because bullet trains further than Yamaguchi didn't work but we could get to Hiroshima without any trouble. This time, we mainly visited MIYAJIMA, one of the 3 most beautiful scenic sites in Japan. I found it on the ferry to Miyajima looking at oyster fisheries that almost 10 years had past since I visited Hiroshima last. Miyajima was veiled in a heavy mist or clouds floating low.
We first tried HIROSHIMAYAKI, which is called OKONOMIYAKI in Hiroshima. It is always important to try the local specialty, right? People from Kansai, especially from Osaka can't call it OKONOMIYAKI. OKONOMIYAKI looks like a pancake with cabbage, egg, seafood or meat while HIROSHIMAYAKI put piles of cabbage, beansprout, fried squid flake, egg and some noodle but with the cook's special technic, they got flat like pancake. Actually some foreign people who hesitated to say not to put so much vegetables in their HIROSHIMAYAKI but when it was served, they were astonished. Well, it was sooooooo yummy! You must try one. We checked the hotels which are usually taken, visited ITSUKUSHIMA SHRINE and learned how the tour usually went.


At Itsukushima Shrine, you can see Japanese wedding following as an old Court way. It is quite a dream wedding especially girls and many people are making a reservation and wait long for their wedding, I hear.



I found an interesting sign for the ropeway(aerial cableway?) station up to the top of the island where nobody wanted to walk up to the hill and catch the ropeway because of such a heavy rain. 2 deer were taking refuge under the eaves. (Later the next couple of days, they even have more stormy weather and I saw some deer being flushed in the water. )







Because of the low tide, when we left MIYAJIMA, the food of that famous TORII gate started to appear and many tourists tried to walk up there.














I think it was 10 years ago since I planned to take junior and senior high school students in my English Classes with some foreign teachers on JET program and some exchange students from China to visit Hiroshima. On the previous year, I was leading the tour from my son's sister school in the US. 30 students and about 10 teachers and parents from the US participated. At that time, we only visited Hiroshima-City especially Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Hiroshima Peace Park. I couldn't explain the feeling causing deep in my heart which was totally different from what we shared together a couple of hours ago before entering the museum. It can't be a pleasant place to visit but it is some place people from all over the world should visit to see by themselves and think about how important it is to keep the world real in peace.

Special Summer Prayer in SANNOIN

Today is May 1 on lunar calendar. On lunar May 1st and the 2nd, Special
Summer Prayer is held at SANNOIN, the present worship hall for MIYASHIRO,
the shrine at GARAN. The NAMIKIRI-FUDO Deity which used to be the main
deity of SANNOIN returns to its old home for 2 days. The NAMIKIRI-FUDO has
been a main deity and the secret deity at NAN-IN temple in Koyasan since the
11th century. The NAMIKIRI-FUDO is said to be sculpted by KOBO DAISHI on
his way back from China. The party had a terrible storm in the ocean and
that NAMIKIRI-FUDO cut the furious ocean and let KOBO DAISHI's sailboat go
safely. This NAMIKIRI-FUDO later left his Garuda Flame, (you usually see a
flame of fire on FUDO deity's back) at Kyushu to protect the country from
the invasion from southwest where it was once attacked by Mongolian invaders
and was saved by many Japanese KAMI, the Deities, as well as NAMIKIRI-FUDO.
And NAMIKIRI-FUDO also left his original sword to Nagoya to protect the
country from the invasion from northeast. Later his new sword was given by
the emperor in the 12th century.
Anyway, this ritual used to be one of the seasonal rituals but today, only
the summer one last and has been kept one of Koyasan's traditional ritual to
pray for world peace, happiness and rich harvest. It tells that summer is
coming soon to Koyasan in a cool breeze.

Traditional Thank-you Card by Buddhist Priest

At MIYASHIRO, the Shinto Shrine, the first religious building constructed at GARAN, on Koyasan where enshrines NYUTSUHIME and KARIBAMYOJIN, they have 2 wooden stands. One stands to hold EMA, a votive picture tablet for Shinto Shrine and the other (which is not commonly seen any other places but Koyasan) stands to nail the wooden tablets by Buddhist priests. Of course, those wooden tablets work as votive picture tablets for Buddhist prosperity but they rather work as a kind of thank-you cards. It is one of custom for Koyasan priests who coompleted their hard practice period, they make themselves these wooden tablet and visit their local KAMI, Shinto Deities to appreciate for their successful completion. They are also offered to their masters' temples as well as their parents. So Buddhist priests write themselves and show their sincerest thanks to KAMI and people who support them.
Today, I saw a young priest nailing his tablet to MIYASHIRO, sincerely offered his chanting to KAMI and left Koyasan.