buddha

June 20, 2014

Hana Matsuri at Zojo-ji

While I was at Zojo-ji, there was a Hana Matsuri (花まつり; literally “Flower Festival”) celebration going on. It takes place at buddhist temples all over Japan around April 8th in order to celebrate the birth of Buddha. During the festival, small shrines decorated with flowers and a baby Buddha figurine bathed in sweet tea are displayed in front of temples. Another symbol of Hana Matsuri is the parades with children in fancy clothes pulling a papier-mâché white elephant.

August 11, 2013

The Great Buddha of Mount Nokogiri

Last week, I went on a day trip to Mount Nokogiri (Nogiriyama). It is a small mountain (329m) on the south of the Boso Pensinsula in Chiba Prefecture. It hosts the Buddhist Nihon-ji temple, famous for its 31m stone-carved Daibutsu (Great Buddha), as well as a 100-foot Kannon relief image and 1500 hand-carved arhat sculptures. There are also observatories with a great view of the surrounding mountains and Tokyo Bay (although the heat made the scenery a bit hazy).