|
|
| The macaque and the snowman |
The stay at the hotel, I think it was with the Prince chain, was brief but served its purpose. The bed was extremely firm though. Had a buffet breakfast that offered a mix of Japanese and western food. It had been awhile since I tried natto and my opinion of it hasn't changed. It has a bitter taste to it but maybe it's because it is covered in a liquid that resembles raw egg yolk (I don't much like eggs). Still, a lot of people eat it because it's supposed to be good for you. Maybe it's one of those things that belongs in the "that which does not kill you makes you stronger" category.
Don't remember if Declan had the natto but something was not agreeing with him this morning. That or the heavy security presence in the city, for what we did not know at the time but the police were fully decked out for it with body armour, batons, and riot shields (it turned out later that there was some type of gathering involving an extreme right wing group happening in the city that day). He dropped us off at our first stop and left us to wander around while he sought medication before catching up soon after. While I've been more relaxed about these tours since they're already planned out, I usually like feeling better informed about where I am visiting beforehand. So in hindsight, I kind of wished I read up beforehand about Zenkouji before we came here. I knew that I was going to be writing about it back at the office so I was prepared to take notes but I didn't realize the significance of this place until we got there.
|
| Belfry and covered Sanmon Gate |
All I really knew about Nagano before coming here involved the Winter Olympics but it turns out the real attraction here is this temple which houses what is thought to be the first image of the Buddha to arrive in Japan. The grounds of the temple extended quite far so the place reminded me, in a way, of Sensouji in Asakusa, Tokyo. Zenkouji, though, was more interesting to me. Sensouji had more markets and a livelier neighbourhood, but this place had more character. It was just too bad the main gate, the Sanmon, was being restored at the time so it was completely covered. It also hid how big the temple complex was.
|
| Hondo (Main Hall) at Zenkouji |
The main hall, the hondo, was huge. While it had grand and elaborate shrines inside, the most intriguing feature was the tunnel that ran under the main floor. I wasn't quite sure what we were doing there at the time so it actually felt adventurous walking into to find not only was the tunnel long, it was completely dark too. I pulled out my flashlight but was told 'no cheating' by Declan. After a few minutes of walking completely blind through the tunnel, after a couple of turns, we emerged to find out from Declan that we had actually failed to meet our objective which was to locate and grasp the key to paradise hidden somewhere inside. That explained the only sound I could hear amidst the chatter in the darkness - an odd knocking sound somewhere in the distance. Naturally, we had to go back and this time we were successful. Thing was, not only was the tunnel pitch black, it was cold too, and in traditional Japanese fashion, we took our shoes off before entering the temple. My feet were freezing by the time we got out of the tunnel but at least I've knocked on heaven's door.
|
| View of the tunnel under the Hondo at Zenkouji |
The other feature that may attract visitors to the hondo is to look for a cure for personal aches and pains. Breathing in the smoke from the big incense burner outside and rubbing the statue of a monk inside the entrance is supposed to help heal maladies as is a blessing ceremony further inside which involved a priest holding a decorated pad in each hand and touching those pads on the head of the visitor. Unfortunately, the ceremony reminded me of a scene from an American TV show, 24, where defribrilator paddles were used on the head of someone being tortured for information. So much for seeing this wholely as a healing ceremony.
On the other hand, the site was full of other fascinating smaller temples and structures. One had hundreds of small jizo statues which I always find touching because they traditionally represent those lost to miscarriages or abortions though I think it also applies to children who die very young. Toys and baby clothing often accompanies these statues. Declan said this is why there are so many stores on the site selling such items. Kamakura has a temple famous for this.
There were also seven larger jizo statues further down the site which were different to me. There was a main statue that was there to protect the site from fire. The other six were representing benevolent deities who postpone Buddhahood to save souls. They also represent six worlds: heaven, human beings, carnage, beasts, enternally famished demons and hell. Interesting sounding places.
 |
 |
 |
| Six Jizo statues | Nakamise Market | Arts and crafts at Nakamise |
There was a lot to see all right. Another temple building housed a giant rotating sutra holder which visitors set in motion using a spokes extended horizontally from the holders axis. It was kind of like an early scene from the Conan the Republican movie (correction, Conan the Barbarian) twenty years or so ago. The pagoda in one corner of the complex housed a museum with many interesting religious and historical artifacts. Speaking of artifacts, the market at the other end had some intriguing arts and crafts that I resisted buying though.
After a good couple of hours at Zenkouji, it seemed like a long break between sites. We stopped for lunch along the way but we also had a fair drive (and a bit of searching) to the parking spot to enter the Jigokudani park, literally meaning hell's valley, where the snow monkeys live. From there, it was a nice hike through the snow-covered woodland to the onsen. It took about a half hour, maybe quicker but one of our party is a video producer back home and has been quite fascinated with natural surroundings (might be because he's from New York).
|
| Japanese Macaque at Jigokudani |
We first encounted a small cluster of buildings that comprise an onsen resort that included an outdoor bath. It was all quite isolated - a few snowmobiles and motorcross bikes seemed to be the only form of motorized transport in and out. Moving beyond the resort through a steep set of stairs took us to the monkey, or more specifically, Japanese macaque, park.
I spotted a few macaques in the mountains overlooking the onsen resort on the way but it wasn't an indication of the number that we would soon encounter. I suppose I should have asked how many there are in the area but I think I saw about fifty of them in the main visiting area. Apparently they live up in the mountain but come down to the onsen pool, further up the river from the resort, to warm up (and who can blame them when it's about 0 celsius?). There were quite a few down by the pool already but I wonder how many were still in the mountain?
It was wonderful to be able to freely walk amongst them though their sheer numbers did make me very cautious. They're hardly tame, there were blood stains in the snow from fights between them, but they had no real problem scooting close by us interlopers, playing on the railings or a hanging bucket on a rope or just soaking in the water. They also seemed pretty familiar with the park rangers watching and studying them.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Pair of Macaques grooming | "Read us a story" | Macaque at play | Macaques soaking in the onsen |
We spent maybe too much time in the park because we failed to meet the last item on the itinerary for the day, the World War II tunnels in Matsushiro. They were already closed when we got there though we did get a good look at some of the memorials outside and a bit of the surrounding neighbourhood. It was also a bit of a search to find, partly because of the narrow streets in the area, especially on the bridges over a stream but the community isn't completely comfortable having these tunnels as a tourist attraction. Declan said we may be able to see these tomorrow on the way to the ski resort.
That's partly because our stopover for the evening in Matsumoto was actually in the opposite direction. After booking into the hotel, we took a taxi into downtown (Declan didn't feel like driving there) and had dinner at a yakitori restaurant with a good variety of skewered entrees. We discovered on the way that there was a festival happening in town on Sunday and decided to commit a little time to check it out. We also encountered a streetside small Shinto shrine though I don't know whether the activity there had anything to do with Sunday's festival.
We stopped by a bar after dinner which was very quiet for a Saturday night. It had a lot of old rock and roll paraphrenalia, especially Beatles stuff, but for some reason, the place didn't look like it gets much business.
By the time we got out, it was lightly snowing and it was late, too late for us to see Matsumoto Castle under floodlights but we walked around the perimeter just the same. The darkness made it look more mysterious and a bit sinister though I couldn't pick it up very well with my camera.
A surprisingly quiet end for a Saturday night in the town. It was a very good day, though.