We left the woods and entered a more built up area, not really a city but with more of the marks of civilizations than we had seen on the previous day.
As was often the case, the Henro Trail followed a river, although I guess that this should correctly be called a
stream. This is typical of the Japanese countryside - the houses come in little bunches. Often there is a large house, apparently the major land owner and wealthiest family in the immediate area, and then a lot of smaller houses where the other people live. There were very few stores, and those that we saw were little mom-and-pop places that sold a little of everything, but not much of anything.
After passing over two ranges of low hills with a river valley in between, we came to the next temple, which naturally was in the next valley and on a low hill near the river.
This is the lower body of the guardian of the temple, actually he is one of two warriors who guard the temple. Very often there is a statue of a warrior king/god inside a display area on each side of the main gate. This scary looking personage has the duty to keep all evil spirits away from the temple grounds. When I was doing my program in Japanese studies in college, I put a picture of one of these statues next to an open flame, so that I could see what it might look like in torchlight. It was fearsome. It would certainly keep me out of the temple grounds, at night anyway. Notice that people have left extra kilts (the skirt-like thing the warrior is wearing) as well as other clothing as offerings.
The grounds were quite small and not as impressive as many of the richer temples. I belive that this is a statue of Kanon and the building behind it is a small prayer hall.
We left the woods and entered a more built up area, not really a city but with more of the marks of civilizations than we had seen on the previous day.
As was often the case, the Henro Trail followed a river, although I guess that this should correctly be called a stream. This is typical of the Japanese countryside - the houses come in little bunches. Often there is a large house, apparently the major land owner and wealthiest family in the immediate area, and then a lot of smaller houses where the other people live. There were very few stores, and those that we saw were little mom-and-pop places that sold a little of everything, but not much of anything.
After passing over two ranges of low hills with a river valley in between, we came to the next temple, which naturally was in the next valley and on a low hill near the river.
This is the lower body of the guardian of the temple, actually he is one of two warriors who guard the temple. Very often there is a statue of a warrior king/god inside a display area on each side of the main gate. This scary looking personage has the duty to keep all evil spirits away from the temple grounds. When I was doing my program in Japanese studies in college, I put a picture of one of these statues next to an open flame, so that I could see what it might look like in torchlight. It was fearsome. It would certainly keep me out of the temple grounds, at night anyway. Notice that people have left extra kilts (the skirt-like thing the warrior is wearing) as well as other clothing as offerings.
The grounds were quite small and not as impressive as many of the richer temples. I belive that this is a statue of Kanon and the building behind it is a small prayer hall.
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