Kanno-ji Temple

My new friend Suki (a British lass married to a Japanese professor) took me to our local Temple. It was located on Mount Kabutoyama the mountain in our backyard. The mountain is believed to be ‘a mountain of god’ by Buddhist worshipers. Until the modern era it was a mix of Shinto belief and Buddhist worship. The main object of worship is a statue of Nyoiri which depicts Buddha after he retired into religious service so he is sitting on a lotus petal in robes with a halo around his head.

There were various little local shrines along the road leading up to it and a beautiful wooden, ornately carved gateway at the bottom of the staircase. I looked up. There were a lot of stairs to climb to get to the main temple.

At the first tier there was a lotus pond with amazingly large leaves and seed pods reaching for the bright orange archway above. To the right was a section with about 50 small Buddha statues intermixed with some larger depictions. All the small statues were wearing faded red bibs. As I understand it, the bibs are to protect Buddha from getting soiled by the offerings that people leave for him.

My eyes were drawn to a black, giant statue of a bodhisattva named Kannon holding a baby looking over them all. The temple is supposedly named after her. Kannon (which is her Japanese name) is more commonly known as GuanYin the Chinese Goddess of Mercy and Compassion. She is the mother-goddess, patron of mothers and children and a fertility goddess with the power to grant children and relieve suffering. I was told that many of the offerings are from mothers who have either lost babies and are asking for mercy or are requesting to get pregnant.  The flower and water offerings around Kannon were many and it pulled at my heart-strings. I couldn’t believe that this powerful female was represented at my local temple. What a coincidence that she was a different incarnation of Bridget the merciful who I was feeling more and more of a spiritual pull towards lately.

After finishing the climb our view over Osaka was incredible. There was a small roofed area with water and cups for the ritual cleansing of hands and mouth, a small pagoda that contained a large bell that vibrated such a base tone as to shift one completely and then the main pagoda for worshiping the deity.

At the main pagoda’s entrance were two Komainu or Korea Dogs as the Japanese call them. These lion-dogs with magical powers are guards acting as talismans, usually depicted as one opened mouth for the sound Ah the beginning, and one with mouth closed for the sound Mmm for the end. These are based on their Sanscrit (Indian) beginnings. The ones at this temple showed female Yin with her paw on her pup and male Yang with a ball and both have their mouths open. I will have to find out what the significance of that is. Beyond them was a beautiful, large, carved wooden bowl for accepting monetary donations. Inside the pagoda was Nyoiri surrounded by gold and offerings of fruit, one pyramid of apples and one of oranges. The smell of incense was intoxicating.

On the edge of the cliff with the amazing view sat a little house where people could kneel and pray to a Buddha statue.

There are trails leading further up the mountain that I will have to go back and explore one day although it is already a good hike just to get to the temple. It will all be even more gorgeous when it cools down and the leaves change colour.

Hanshin Race Course

Today was a rainy Sunday and we spent the morning at the track. Yes, we went to the races. The entrance to a tunnel to the track is down the street by the train station and we figured Miss Eleanor should see the horses. We walked a good 10 minutes out of the elements in the special walkways and concourses designed to take us to the track. It all looked very new and modern and we had to purchase our entrance tickets from a machine. (I shouldn’t have been surprised as we buy train tickets this way, ramen at the restaurant, etc.).

We entered the massive pavilion and it was a spectacle. The open roof and other design elements were impressive and the first area presented was the parade track where the race horses walked when on display. Everything was so clean and people were sitting on the steps watching. The big screen T.V.s showed the betting information and past races.  The area was so huge it didn’t seem busy although thousands and thousands of people were around. It had four floors for general spectators and box seats for the owners and other rich spectators. Most of the people we saw were middle-aged men, then anyone from families to young couples checking it all out.

We watched the horses parading for the next race and each picked the ones we hoped would win. Tim decided eight was his number, Eleanor chose a black horse and Lucas went for horses or jockeys wearing red (his favourite colour). I watched each horse and tried to remember things I had learned as a young rider. The first horse I chose was a chestnut that seemed composed but strong. It was a lot less jumpy than the others and I took that as a good sign.

We went to the second floor to watch the race as the kids would have a good view of the goings on. The horses went out to the grass track to warm up and I began to think my horse was drugged it was so mellow. Perhaps it had a sore muscle and the trainers were trying to help it out.

They entered the starting gate and were off.....running....none of our horses won and in fact mine came in last place. It was a good thing we weren’t betting.

The races were scheduled for every half an hour so we went back to watch the winner and the next parade. These horses looked good and it was hard to choose. We observed them and again Tim chose number eight, Lucas number two and Eleanor thought number three was a winner. I looked closely and eventually settled on number six. Again a Chestnut but really built. I used the bathroom and left Tim and the kids waiting at our spot. I came out to find Tim hopping around in excitement stating that this race might be a Steeplechase. A Steeplechase is a race on grass where horses also jump large hedges. They are pretty dangerous and accidents often happen. We noticed six ambulances positioned around the track and agreed that this must be what was going on.

 As I am not well versed in track offerings I didn’t know these were part of a day at the races. Well, in Japan they are. It began to pour rain and the horses and field became soaking wet. I found this so exciting and watching my horse I knew I had picked a winner as it looked like a good jumper. The horses entered the starting gate and were off...running...jumping in the big rain...over a total of ten jumps and what an endurance race it was.

And guess what. I had picked the winner! It was such an exciting finish and I wasn’t the only one yelling support for my horse. This time I wished we had placed bets.

We watched one more race as the rain was really falling and we didn’t want to get soaked getting home. This race was a training race for two year olds and it was 1200 meters on the grass. It wasn’t as exciting after experiencing a Steeplechase but we had fun guessing winners all the same. As we left the track we learned it was the end of the racing season at Hanshin. That was good news as Eleanor and I had begun to think we would like to spend more time around those horses than was probably healthy. Eleanor galloped the whole way home.