Walks around my town & Kansai Art Field Trip #3

Trip Start Jan 28, 2008
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Trip End Jul 06, 2008


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Flag of Japan  , Kinki,
Sunday, March 30, 2008

So, this entry actually begins with a walk around my homebase of Hirakata! Hirakata City, where I live, was a major center for weapons manufacturing during WWII, so after the war, they dedicated a whole road called the Peace (Heiwa) road in memory of all those killed in WWII. I took some photos of that, then I took some photos by the river..the cherry blossoms were all in bloom! It was lovely..this was right at the prime of cherry blossom viewing season, and they had lanterns hanging between the trees for nightviewing..about 20-30 groups of friends and family were out picnicking and enjoying the blossoms when I went Saturday afternoon to just hang out and read a book under the blossoms. They were all scattered under the trees, young kids running around playing tag and shaking down the blossoms. There was even one family that had set up a mini BBQ grill and had a little karaoke machine. They know how to party during cherry blossom season. There was a group of friends around my age that was sitting about 20 feet away that spent a couple of hours just playing UNO and talking...it was so innocent and carefree
Opening plaque at Peace Road
Opening plaque at Peace Road
. There's a really good feeling in Japan during cherry blossom season!
So, the next day was our field trip to the Phoenix hall and Byodo-in (temple) in UJi, Japan, near Nara. The Hall is so famous that it's on a Japanese coin! So, we got to the temple and there it was drizzling =( but we wandered around and admired the actual *flowing* river (rivers flowing unobstructed are surprisingly rare in japan) and cherry blossoms and vermillion bridge that spanned the river.. the bridge was over 600 years old, the original, owned by a powerful warlord clan to control trade.
Then, we got to the Phoenix Hall, where the two ancient metallic phoenixes faced one another from either side of the roof. The pleasantly symmetrical building was reflected in the water and flanked by flowering cherry trees. After admiring the famous view, we headed into the museum, looking at artwork relevant to class. The Phoenix Hall holds an ancient seated Kannon just over a thousand years old. In the museum were a bunch of his helpers, each carved almost 3x3 feet floating in clouds and playing various instruments. They were brightly colored and sprightly looking. They were definitely the most interesting part of the museum..and there were exactly 52 of them, so they were put onto a deck of cards. clever, right? Yep.
So, then we went into the Phoenix Hall..the entire place was tiny, probably have the size of my house at home! The giant peaceful looking seated Kannon dominated the hall, although the walls were old and famous for the Japanese style paintings on them. It was a very beautiful place to visit!
After that, I returned to To-ji to go to the tallest pagoda in Japan! On my trip earlier with Chris we had just looked at it, but this time we ventured in close, admired the decades-old cherry trees, and entered the ancient lecture hall and prayer hall. There was a sculpture mandala of a Buddha and attendants, it was very old and skillfully done. There were lots of old sculptures, many of them done by famous sculptors in Japan. The mandala was done by the most famous sculptor in Japan. Pretty nifty.
All in all, a great field trip!
Uji hotels Slideshow

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