Oushuu33Kannon Temples 1-3 Part 5

Here is a close up of the little statues around the feet of the large statue of Kannon.

We entered the temple grounds and stood for a minute in front of the entrance to the main hall which is on the left in the picture. We opened the door and called out Gomen nasai, which means 'excuse me' but is used in place of the American 'Is anybody there?' No one came so after a short wait, we went outside again and looked for someplace else where we might find the local priest.

But before we searched around, we looked into the hall on the left. You can see the ghostly reflections of Ian and I in the glass. What we saw was the left side of the main hall with a couple of rows of folding chairs. I had seen on the internet that this temple has Zen meditation that is open to anyone from 6 to 7 on Sunday mornings. The chairs must have been set out for that or some other ceremony.
We next looked off to the right and saw what was obviously the entrance to the living area, so we decided to try that. There was a doorbell so we rang it and after a few minutes a monk came to the door. We greeted him and explained that we wanted to get our books stamped. He took the books and looked at them. Then he handed the books back and mumbled something. Ian thought that I had understood and I thought that he had. Anyway, the priest shut the door in our face. We went back to the first doors that we had entered but after a while it was obvious that that was not right. So, we went back to the door where the priest had appeared. Eventually, he opened the door and handed us sheets of paper with stamps and calligraphy. They were the pages we wanted, but we had to replace the sheets in our books with these new ones. He took our 300 yen each (the standard price for the certification of our visit) and told us to met him at the door to the main hall. We went over and entered the building. He soon arrived and told us to take off our shoes and enter. We then entered the main hall where he lit candles and gave us incense to burn in front of a statue of Kannon. We each lit the incense, placed it in the burner, stood meditating for a short while and then backed away with a bow. The priest told me that it was acceptable to take a picture - it is not in many temples.
The statue of Kannon was made from wood and was fairly new, but as you can see it was quite impressive. I think it was about 4 feet high including the base.