2007.05.10.
Well, the last week has gone. It already seems a bit dream-like, as I'm writing at home now. It was rather a 10 days trourist trip interrupted by several practices. We took part of alltogether 153 adult classes during the 3 months, and we did not pass a single one because of illness, injury or anything: a fact that makes us very proud. The reason of it was that we always practiced, even when we were sick or injured, because this was a big opportunity in our lives. To cut a long story short, we were real heroes;-)))
Kyoto had been the capital city of Japan for centuries, and it is famous of its uncountable buddhist temples and shinto shrines. And of the rather expensive tickets, of course. This is valid only for the temples and museums, as the shrines allways can be freely visited. There is the main altar of the Amida sanctuary of Nishi Hongan-ji on the picture (this is one of the freely visitable buddhist temples).
A nice part of a very ancient temple (Kiomizu-dera).
The Fushimi Inari Shrine was the greatest experience to us. This is the very centre of all fox-shrines (fox is one of the holy animals of shinto) around Japan. There is a cemetery behind the shrine, and the believers set shinto gates (called torii) for help (for good mariage, children, etc.) or for acknowledgement. The number of these gates is increasing every day, and you can walk kilometres on these very special pathways.
Yes, someone find this religious thing quite boring.
Visiting the famous zen garden in Ryoan-ji Temple is mandatory in Kyoto. It is a nice place, despite the many tourists.
There is a small bamboo-forest in the western part of the city.
We had to go to Kyoto to learn that our friend and associate, Sugi, founded a pharmaceutical company in secret;-)
The inside of the huge station.
We previously decided to travel back with the famous super train (Shinkanzen), even if it costs an arm and a leg. I don't know its exact velocity, but guys, it was damn fast. Its inside was like an airplane, and it slipped along very smoothly.
Two days before returning home we visited Kawagoe (called Little Edo), which is only six stations away from Tokorozawa. A really great city, there is a corner of a shinto shrine on the picture.
Believers buy small panels and write their wishes on them - a great topic for a profane photographer like me.
The most famous place of Kawagoe is Gohyaku Rakan: the statues of the five hundred disciples of the historical Buddha are here. On the posture and face of each statue you can see the personality of the given disciple. I was not able to finish taking pictures...
The city is called Little Edo because many buildings from the Edo-era (17th-19th centuries) have survived the earthquakes and the following fires.
There also are more modern buildings, this one mimicks the style of the Meiji-restoration. These different buildings stay next to each other, composing a very varied look.
A good bay image from the night Shinjuku.
And the way home, without any problems (or loss). It is unbelievable, but we are at home again. Yes, we have became more skillful, stronger, skinnier, wiser (?) and more beautiful (??), but we remained ourselves. I think so at least:-))
