In Kanazawa

 Just inside the grounds of Ninjadera was this little white building which apparently contains an altar or a statue. I have never seen a building like this on temple grounds, very perplexing. I wish I had some way of finding out about it.

 Walking up to the entrance to the main building, I could just see some of the altar.

 The next building was more traditional. You can see a bit of the white building on the left.

Inside this building was a statue and some other paraphernalia. Obviously this building is frequently used for some sort of rite.

 The trees on the grounds were covered with a rich layer of moss.

We had to wait for about half an hour until our scheduled tour. Cameras were prohibited so I have no pictures of the inside. We removed our shoes and were allowed into the large room that contains the main altar. We sat there, in front of oil space heaters, for another 15 minutes or so. Then a guide arrived and took us through the temple. The place was amazing. The building was constructed in such a way that there were no clear floors, each room seemed to be a bit above or below the last. The whole place was constructed as a military warren, a maze. This was to protect the daimyo, the local ruler, who is said to have been the richest man in Japan at the time. There was a tunnel leading from an indoor well back to the castle so that he could escape. Many places were designed so that attackers would be trapped and easily killed by soldiers who remained hidden behind false doors. In some places the risers on the stairs were made from paper so that soldiers hidden under the stairs could use spears to stab attackers. It was utterly amazing.

Walking back to our car, I noticed this gate leading into some sort of garden.

In Kanazawa

 After eating, we had a reservation to tour a temple. It is called ninjadera, or ninja temple, but it has nothing to do with ninja. I will explain the name in a future post. The parking lot for the temple was actual on the grounds of another temple. This temple had a very impressive red railing between the temple and the parking lot. Tour buses also park here.

 The temple gate is still there but the walls on each side have been removed and replaced by paved driveways. We left the car and the keys in the temple office and left the grounds, following signs to the left and then to the left again.

 We passed this souvenir shop but did not go in.

 And then passed another.

 We finally reached ninjadera and found it to be very unimpressive. It looked like just another neighborhood temple and the grounds were very small. It was obvious why we had to park at the other temple.

The temple gate was just an abstract representation of a gate, although there were doors. Again it was not at all impressive.