Nagano Japan
“Investment in Travel is an investment in yourself.”
Dear J,
Today we are visiting Nagano around 200 km from Tokyo and I am excited as we are going on the Shinkansen, the bullet train. The journey will take around 90 minutes which is 20 minutes faster than I can get to London from Wales but is about the same distance. I have been looking forward to this.
The train really does run to the second and is very like being on a plane just a lot closer to the ground with the beautiful scenery whizzing past.
Nagano is a core city of Japan and was host to the 1998 winter olympic and paralympic games as well as being famous as a temple town.
We arrived exactly on time and took the short journey from the station to visit the Zenko-ji temple. This temple originates from 642AD and the current city was built around it. It is one of the oldest Budhist temples in Japan and is listed as a Japanese national treasure. The temple also houses the hidden Budha statue which is rumoured to be the first Budha statue in Japan. This statue is kept hidden, even from the chief priest but a replica is allowed to be displayed publicly once every 6 years and of course this is a major event but sadly not this year.
The temple is full of worshipers who come to seek enlightenment and peace. The air is full of incense and exudes a feeling of calm after the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. I was lucky enough to see a couple in traditional Japanese wedding attire as well.
The inner sanctuary of the temple is a prayer chamber and from this a narrow staircase leads down a totally dark passage where worshipers feel along the wall trying to touch a metal key that hangs on the wall in order to gain enlightenment. The key represents the key to the Western Paradise. I'm not sure how enlightened I am but I made it back outside safely.
The grounds are full of beautiful pagodas and just outside the Sanmom gate there stands one large and six medium size statues, Rokujizō. These are the six Bodhisattvas who gave up budhist enlightenment in order to provide salvation for others. The Bodhisattvas are said to be able to commune with the six realms of hell, starvation, beasts, carnage, human beings and divine beings. All around were beautiful grounds full of people and some of the best turned out schoolchildren I have seen.
To provide income for the temple there are many restaurants and we were able to visit one that sells sake. After tasting quite a number I managed to choose one to bring home for us all to try.
After the temple we were supposed to continue on to Kanazawa and see the snow monkeys but nature had other plans. The approaching typhoon was heading directly for us and then Tokyo which meant that the trains would have to stop running. our hosts decided that we had better not be stranded so it was back to the station for the last train and the safety of the hotel in Tokyo.
The typhoon looks to be quite serious and I may be heading back to the UK earlier than I thought.
This is a bit of a sad end to my wonderful japan adventure but I will certainly return.
