In a graveyard

 For some reason there were a lot of little statues in this graveyard. I assume that these represents guardians of children and that a child in the family died. As I understand the Japanese practice, after death a person is cremated and the ashes are either kept in an altar at home or placed in a Buddhist temple where you pay a small fee to have Buddhist services performed periodically. The gravestones do not contain any remains but are the residence of the spirits of the deceased. It is more than a little confusing, and apparently most Japanese do not think much about it. Buddhism says that we have no soul, but something of the person is supposed to remain. Many people think that there are ghosts around graveyards.

 Here is another of the statues. Both of these statues are holding children which is a huge clue as to their function.

 On the other side of the gravestones, there was a large building with a relatively huge door. I have no idea at all as to the purpose of the building or the door.

 Here is another of the statues.

 Here and there I found evidence of the earthquakes. Some families, who probably no longer live in the area, have not repaired the broken graves.

On my right as I exited the graveyard, something I hope that I can always do, I found a roofed structure containing a large bronze pot for burning incense. Beside it was a flight of stairs that obviously lead to the temple that I was searching for.

Through the park and out the other side

 The pond was partly overgrown with algae and weeds, but was still nice. The apartment in the background must have a very nice view.

 I climbed the hill on the other side of the pond and found a playground.I stopped and rested on a bench in the shade.

 A little further on there was a very nice panoramic view of the trees in the park. I should point out that all around this large park there is nothing but houses.

 I was trying to locate a temple that according to my map was somewhere in the area. Due to the scale of the map, I could not tell exactly where I would find it. I had come down this steep hill and according to the map the temple should be somewhere behind me.

 A little searching and I found an entrance to the back of a graveyard. Graveyards are almost always associated with a temple, so I decided to walk through and see if the temple grounds were on the other side.

I was a bit surprised at how large the graveyard was. There were grave stones on both sides of the paved and apparently public road that I was walking on.

Jiganji Graveyard

 Looking at the pictures I took, I am still amazed at the lack of caretaking in this graveyard. The grass is completely wild and it looks like nothing has been cut or trimmed since last year or maybe longer ago.

 Even the private plots have grass growing in them. The fresh flowers indicate that people come here but usually the grass, such as in the nearest plot above, would be pulled out so that just bare earth or crushed stone remained. On the left side of the picture you can see a whole row of empty plots.

 I found signs like this on many of the small plots. It says that for only 500,000 yen, a little over US$6,000, the plot can be yours.When I said the plot was small, I meant it. The sign also says that the plot is 1.5 square meters.

 As I left, I found this sign on the wall. It says that the this is part of Zenshoji temple, which is not the temple that is on the grounds - the one I showed yesterday. Very strange. It must have something to do with the inscrutable East

 On my way home, I found this sign built into the sidewalk. Apparently this sidewalk is considered to be a jogging trail.

Just past that sign, I found some kind of chemical plant beside the road. There were no signs so I have no idea what this is used for.

Going across the street to Jiganji

I had seen everything interesting in Kamo Jinji, so I walked out of the grounds. My goal was Jiganji, a small Buddhist temple that, according to my map, was just behind some trees on the other side of the street.

 Nearing the street, I noticed these chunks of tree trunk that had rotted out from the middle. Cleaned up a bit, they would make good bodies from Japanese style drums, but I expect that they will just remain here until they completely fall apart.

 I walked up a driveway and found the temple building. There was only one. The first thing that I noticed was that the windows were a very unusual shape, like a temple bell.

 Turning around and looking into the graveyard, I discovered this frog watching me.

 I walked around the temple building and found that be back side contained what looked like living quarters but as far as I could tell there was no one home. There was no way to get into the building or to see the altar except through the sliding doors into the living area so I gave up and went into the graveyard.

I began to wonder if there was a priest in residence. The graveyard looked like it had not been mowed in years. Rather than a graveyard with a temple, it reminded me of the little family graveyards hidden up in t he hills behind farming villages in the mountains.

Still walking

 This is what is called a shot bar. The specialize in serving shots of whiskey. I took this picture because I like the name which is on the wall over the door. This shot bar is called Your Dear Time.

 I crossed the Kanjosen, the main road that goes around Sendai to the west, and passed this kindergarten. They have a couple of campuses and specialize in teaching the kids English.

 Although this area is only a couple of kilometers from my apartment, I have never walked here before. It is not on the way to anywhere and this is the first time that I specifically decided to see what was here. I liked this house and yard very much.

 Actually I was trying to find a Shinto shrine that is supposed to be in this area. I found it on an internet map, but my pocket map did not clearly show the roads in this area. Therefore, I decided to just try as many roads as possible and see what I could find. The first road I tried led to the top of a hill.

 At the top I found a small graveyard.

Turning around I could see houses, houses, and more houses. A few years ago the hill in the distance would have been covered with trees. The river that I used to sometimes follow when I walked home from Miyagi Gakuin University is down in the valley.