Ryokan
Moments of Solitude
Nine Days has a song, When she smiles (Story of a girl). There is a line,
While she looks so sad in photographs,
I absolutely love her when she smiles.
I prefer to think of this as my take on this idea: when she is truly relaxed, she has the most incredible smile.
Miyajima
Here is another travel themed tale. This tale is more about the ryokan…the first one we ever stayed at…than the island and its many attractions. A return trip to take in the rest of the island is still high on our To Do list. The island of Miyajima is considered to be one of the three most beautiful places in Japan. (I haven’t been to the other two, but Miyajima easily makes my list of one.) You have likely never heard of Miyajima, but you have probably seen its most famous sight: The floating otorii.
Exploring Kansai III – Nara
Tell any Japanese citizen that you just went to Nara, and they will respond, “Oh, I Love Nara.” Today’s tale is another travel log that takes you through Nara Koen. Come along as we feed the deer; crawl through lucky holes in the world’s largest wooden structure: Todaji’s Daibutsu den; see a statue of Ashora that dates from the 734 A.D.; and steal a moment of tranquility in Isui-en garden.
I have a new gallery program I am trying out at the end of this post. I would love to get some feed back on this new program and if, you my loyal and regular reader, prefer it over the slide show program I have been using; you can put your thoughts in a comment. And please do yourself a favor and visit the link to see an amazing 360 degree view of Isui-en garden…you will not be disappointed!
Nikko is Nippon
Nikko, in case you don’t know, has roughly three claims to fame: a Buddhist, a shogun, and three monkeys. OK, here you go, the quick and dirty history lesson: At some point in the mid-eighth century some dude named Shodo Shonin established a Buddhist training center just up the mountain from the town of Nikko.
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Chamerberlain plays witness to a fictionalized account of Tokugawa’s rise to power and his ultimate uniting of Japan, thus ushering in the Tokogawa Shogunate and the Edo period, which would last for roughly 200 years.
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One of the panels is the pictorial representation of the Buddhist maxim of “Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil.” This is believed to be the earliest pictorial representation of this maxim using monkeys.
