Jan 28, 2015

A temple?

 This appears to be a little temple related to the Zen sect. However, the building is very small so it can not have more than two or three people in it at one time. I assume that there is a small altar of some sort inside and that the doors are only opened for funerals. You can see a little of a very small graveyard on the left.
This is then entire graveyard. It looks like it may only be for one family, but I am not sure. It certainly is not for more than a two or three families at most. Graves in Japan do not contain the person's body or even the ashes. The monuments represent the families and the person's 'soul' is thought to reside there. A soul in Japanese is quite different from a Western soul and it is more like the person's essence, the part that is reborn. There seems to be a large number of interpretations as to just what this thing that is reborn actually is. The definition seems to vary depending on the sect and the person.

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