The Golden Temple

As I mentioned in my post about Christopher Columbus, there is a golden temple not far from here, in Hiraizumi town.  Hiraizumi was once a cultural center to rival Kyoto.  Unfortunately it was conquered and burned to the ground.  Most of the buildings were lost.  The temple area had hundreds of temples.  Only a few survived the fire and a few have been reconstructed.  Luckily, the Golden Temple and the Noh theater survived.

My favorite thing about seeing temples and shrines is the woodwork.

The inside of that temple looked like this.  Having seen other temples, I can tell you that this is what the often look like inside.  They are crowded with statues and incense holders.  The box in the lower left corner is the donation box.

The two pictures above are separate buildings.  The thatched roofs are still around.  Only in the past twenty or thirty years have they been largely replaced by metal and tile, or so I was told.  I'm pretty sure the chicken wire is a more modern innovation though.

This is a string of a thousand paper cranes.  Tradition holds that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, the crane will grant you one wish.  They are popular wedding gifts.

Here is the largest temple.  Many people were doing the ritual dancing, clapping their hands and making a donation.

Isn't it fun just to look at?  Temples as ornate as this might be 800 years old.  Imagine building this without power tools.

This is the stage of an old Noh theater.  Plays are still held here on special occasions.

Now, you might be wondering where the Golden Temple is. "Where are the pictures of that, Nate?" you might be asking.  I have a confession to make.  I don't have any pictures of it.  Cameras weren't allowed inside.  I took a picture of the building that houses the golden temple though.  Will that do?

Yeah, it's kind of a letdown.  I'm sorry.  If it makes you feel better, when we visited it was later in the afternoon.  You had to buy a ticket to see the museum and the temple.  I asked how much it was.  About ten dollars.  I paid for Kelli and I and as the lady handed the tickets to me she said everything closed at 5:00.  It was 4:46.  It would've been nice to know before we paid.  So if you feel bamboozled because there aren't any pictures of the Golden Temple, at least you didn't pay twenty bucks for a 15 minute look at this blog post.

Nebuta

Let's start off with a bang.  You know that overwhelming sense of wonder you get when you see something totally astonishing?  It seems like the older we get the less often we get totally blown away by something.  Well, nebuta will totally blow your socks off.

That dragon is coming right through the wall!

Okay, I was underwhelmed when I saw this.  It was kinda cool, but it had no context.  I think dragons are cool, don't get me wrong, but this looked like a high school art project.  I had no idea what waited in the big dark room beyond...

Giant floats!  Americans, take note: your floats just got served.  Do you see those little lines in the big guy's arms?  Those are the wires that give the entire thing its shape.  After the wire frame is built, it is covered in paper and painted.  These 15 foot tall floats are lit from the inside.  Pictures can't compare to the feeling of being in the presence of something so....neat.  What artistry.

The themes are all from Japanese mythology.  When I have time to research more, I'll post about mythology.

Maybe your thinking, "Nate, what is so impressive about giant paper mache thingies?"  I think they inspire awe because of their delicacy.  Do you see those fins on the dragons' noses?  Those are wire frames covered in paper.  One float had a couple holes punched through the paper.  The fact that most of them didn't reflects the Japanese gentleness.  these floats have been drug down the street by teams of people (we got to pull one) year after year.  They were crafted from such basic materials, but formed with such care and artistry it is hard not to be impressed.

Here's to Japanese artistry!