A Buddhist Day

Over the weekend we visited Mount Haguro which is part of the Dewa Sanzan, or three sacred mountains, where there were shrines and temples and a 5 story Pagoda. It was so beautiful everywhere we looked. There were trees everywhere, a river, and a waterfall. The steps were stone and covered with moss and it looked like a postcard. We went with our Buddhist neighbors and they were able to tell us some of the significance of things, so it was a really neat experience.


This was looking down onto the little village of shrines.


Our neighbor Akari, who is four, went up the stairs on each shrine, tossed a coin into the box in front of the little door, rang the bell, and then moved on to the next. Apparently, one is supposed to say a prayer after ringing the bell, but I think she was too excited.


This is inside one of the shrines.


This was a little altar right at the base of the waterfall.



Here is the five story Pagoda. It was amazing to see. Apparently it's about 1000 years old and was built without a single nail. No one goes inside it anymore, but it used to be a place of worship for Samurai.


At the top of the mountain (we drove up instead of hiking the stairs) there was more, including this Buddhist monk. Our neighbors saw him and asked if we could take a picture with him. I thought it was just a guy walking around in costume, and when Patrick told our neighbor that he said "This isn't Disneyland". I thought it was pretty funny. The monks live up there and train. He blew the conch shell as he walked away from us. They said we were so lucky to see one of them becuase they don't usually come out when the tourists are there.



The graveyard with the stone statues is for babies who were stillborn or who died in the womb and the one made of wood is names of people who have died. I thought that they were so sad. Our neighbor Sumie said that they put clothes on the statues so that the deceased children don't get cold in the winter.


Overall, it was an amazing cultural experience to witness the traditions that have been in place for so many years. It was such a beautiful place and we hope to take anyone who comes to visit us here. We hope you enjoyed the pictures!!