Ian's photos 21

This wonderful statue was just standing there. I assume that the bird is fishing, but for what?
We left the bird in the temple grounds and started up into the hills again. I was constantly amazed at how well kept up most of the trail was. We did not see a single person working on the trail but it was obvious that hundreds of man-hours went in the constant maintenance that was required. I occasionally stopped to replace some rocks or do some other minor action to improve the trail. I frequently wished that I had time to actually join one of the volunteer organizations the work on the trail.
A little bridge over a dry stream. This sort of stream bed was full will wildly flowing water on the days when it rained.
We walked along the main road for a while and then came to a place where the signs (and my map) indicated that we cross the river and climb over the low hills before rejoining the main road. This appeared to be a short cut but it was actually harder walking because the main road was flat, although longer.
The river was a beautiful green color which Ian and I decided must be due to copper deposits in the hills. If it had been summer, rather than spring, I would have been seriously tempted to go swimming.

Ian's photos 20

This trail is typical of the paths we followed in the hills and lower, less steep parts of the mountains.

This is the main gate of the next temple. A group of people were conveniently coming out so you can get a good understanding of its size.
After passing through the gate there was a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains.
Side by side statues of Amida, who is one of the characters speaking in the dialog contained in the Heart Sutra. It is easy to determine that a statue is of Amida, because he is always surrounded by children, since one of his functions is to protect them.
There are three main features in this photo, a large inscribed boulder, and a pagoda. I have no idea who is represented by the statue and the pagoda is typical. The boulder is quite interesting, though, at least the inscription is. The Chinese character, a kanji in Japanese, says "nothing". It is the kanji that contains the negative, negating anything that it is associated with. This "nothing" is extremely important in Zen and becomes the focal point of many of the Zen stories and koans.

Ian's photos 19

Ian found the following picture on one of the sliding doors in our lodging place. He is a warrior king, a guardian, and I guess he did his job well because we got through the night without incident.
One of the small towns that we walked through was having its annual Doll Festival and it seemed as if every flat place was a stand for a set of dolls. The dolls represent the Emperor and Empress and their retainers if there are additional figures. They are usually expensive and are shown on an unofficial holiday for girls. Some of the sets are so extensive that they even have furniture, household goods, musical instruments, and other objects. The picture below was taken in the parking lot of a company where we found this display in the back of a car.
These were in the window of a small family store.
After passing through the town, we found this little Buddhist shrine to a Buddhist priest.
We left the road and started up into the hills again on a dirt path. We stopped here for a rest before continuing up the hill. The triangle in the bottom left is a straw hat that either Ian or I took off as we relaxed.

Ian's photos 18

This is an inner garden and the administrative buildings for the temple.
Some pilgrims walking away from the main hall, which is in the background. I have seen statistics that say that about half a million people are on some part the Henro Trail each year. Of that number, less than 1,000 travel in ways other than train, bus or car. And of those, only a couple of hundred actually walk. I think that these people were returning to the tour bus that they arrived on.

I am not sure why but I really like pagodas. Maybe it is because the construction makes them more or less earthquake proof, which is interesting for a tall, thin building made without nails. Or maybe it is related to the fact that the pagoda traces back to stupas which in turn represent the grave of the Buddha. In any case, I love to see them sticking up through the trees.
This is me, of course, sitting at the table in our room in that night's lodging. I was looking, I think, at the map of the next day's portion of the trip. I was definitely drinking the tea and eating the cookies that are always in the room when you enter.
This shows our beds, which we have to make ourselves and then put away again in the morning. There is always a closet in which the blankets go on the top shelf and the mattress on the bottom, which is all very appropriate. You can also see my bald head in the bottom left.