Shinhodaka Onsen

I visited Shinhodaka Onsen in Gifu-ken in the Japan Alps the other day. I took the gondola and tramway to a point 2000 meters up and was happy to find a lot of snow left up there. Later on, I spent the night in a great riverside onsen ryokan.

Here's a view of the Japan Alps from the tramway. Note the amount of snow left on the mountains.



Here is a picture of the rotemburo (outside bath) at the ryokan I stayed in.



Here's a picture of the inside bath at the same ryokan. You can see Mt. Yari-ga-take from the bath on a clear day.

Takayama

I recently spent a couple of days in Takayama, near the Japan Alps. I was reminded what a pleasant little city it is.

Here is a picture of a canal in Takayama.


The local specialty is Hida-gyu (Hida beef) cooked on a hibachi at your table over a hoba leaf with miso. It's pretty tasty.

The Shrine of the Unknown Bowler

Yesterday, on the way down from Daimonji-yama, I discovered an incredible piece of street art at the foot of a utility pole on a narrow street. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a bunch of trash. But, a closer inspection revealed a strange order to the scene. Indeed, as I studied it, I realized that I was looking at nothing less than a shrine to an unknown bowler. I thought for a moment it might have been the scene of an accident. But, since cars cannot go more than a few km per hour at this corner, I don't think this was the case. More likely, some frustrated bowler dumped all his bowling paraphenalia here after a disheartening series of gutter balls and a passing artist arranged the pieces into the shrine you see before you. Or, maybe a local artist gathered the pieces and brought them to the site specifically to create this sportive religious monument. Whatever the case, it is, to my mind, a brilliant creation. It actually follows the standard design of the altars in Buddhist temples, with objects placed on the side of an inner sanctum (in this case, the bowling ball itself). Anonymous artist, if you are reading this, my hat is off to you: you rolled a strike with this one.



Here's a close-up of The Shrine of the Unknown Bowler. Note the candle and the clever way the bowling trophies, bowling shoes and bowling bag draw the eye into the inner sanctum of the shrine itself: the sacred orb of the bowling ball (calling to mind, of course, the character of Jesus in The Big Lebowski).


Behold the Unknown Bowler:

The Flower Sermon

Near the end of his life, the Buddha delivered the famous flower sermon, in which he held a flower up to his disciples and said nothing. All day today, Kyoto was preaching the flower sermon to me. First, I went to the Kyoto Botanical Gardens, where I saw incredible tulips, cherry blossoms and rare tropical flowers in the greenhouse. Then, I walked the crest of the Higashiyama mountains from Daimon-ji down to Himukai-jinja Shrine. The trail was like a tunnel of flowers, with mitsuba-tsutsuji (three-petal mountain azalea) blooming on both sides of the trail. Speaking of Buddhism, my good friend and former bandmate from Vassar College, Evan Brenner, is performing a one-man play about the life of the Buddha. The website for his play is here and a YouTube clip can be found here.

Here are some tulips from the Kyoto Botanical Gardens.



The cherry blossoms are still hanging on at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens.



This flower brought me right back to my days in Borneo. I saw it in the greenhouse of the Kyoto Botanical Gardens.



This is a mitsuba-tsutsuji (three-petal azalea) that was one of the thousands (millions?) lining the path across the Higashiyama mountains today.



This is a shaga (fringed iris) at Himukai-jinja Shrine. This is one of my favorite flowers that blooms in Kyoto.

The Petals Start to Fall and the Leaves Come Out

This has been an excellent sakura (cherry blossom) season. There are still a lot of petals on the trees, but the leaves are pushing their way out. I've done a bit of walking in the area near my house to capture some of my favorite scenes.

This is the main hall of Shinyodo Temple.


This is a pond at Kurodani Temple covered with fallen cherry blossom petals.


This is the main gate of Kurodani Temple, which appears to float over a sea of cherry blossoms.


This is a fine statue of Amida Buddha at Kurodani.


This is one of the most unusual sights you can see in Kyoto: a canal entirely covered by fallen cherry blossom petals. When a duck swims through, it leaves a black trail. There are also ornamental carp in this canal, and sometimes they surface through the petals.

Cherry Blossoms Reach Their Peak in Kyoto

Kyoto's sakura (cherry blossoms) hit mankai (peak blossom) a few days ago. I was at Maruyama-koen Park in time to catch this afternoon hanami (cherry blossom viewing party). This picture pretty much sums up everything I love about Japan. Note the shoes.



The torii (Shinto shrine gate) at Heian-jingu Shrine always looks good when framed by cherry blossoms.

The Albino Snuffleupagus

This unusual object at Kyoto's Yasui-Konpira-gu Shrine is actually a tunnel that people crawl through in order to ensure a happy love life. While doing so, they clutch a paper wish for love, which they then affix to the ever growing pile of love wishes. To me, it's either Snuffy's long-lost albino cousin, or a rasta igloo.