Friday, March 26, 2010

Day 14 in Japan - Himeji Castle & Engyo Ji



Himeji Castle. Steven had been talking about this castle for 6 years and finally went there together. When he was there for the first time, the Sakura was full bloomed but this time was a little too early for that. Although we were able to see some sakura and the castle was amazing.
Stevenが6年間ずっと「いいよお。」と言い続けていた姫路城にやっと行って参りました。Stevenが行った時は桜が満開だったようですが、今回はちょっと早かったので3部咲きくらい。でも、お城自体が素晴らしくそちらを楽しんできました。









The castle has the second name, "white heron castle" and it was beautiful like its name.
白鷺城と呼ばれているだけありその名のとおり白く美しいお城です。












After we enjoyed the beautiful castle, we had a lucn at Shoan where you can see an old Japanese style house. The food were healthy vegetable dishes and felt like we were visiting some body's private house for lunch. Very homey.
ランチはお城の近くのしょうあんカフェで。旧い日本建築が残るこのレストランは何だか誰かのお宅に呼ばれたようなほっと和める空間でお野菜中心のランチもおいしかった。



We took a bus from there and 30 minutes later, we arrived at a rope way station.
それからバスで30分間、ロープウェイの駅に着きました。

The place we arrived were...
着いた先は…




Shosha Zan Engyo Ji. We walked to the main gate for 20 minutes in the mountain road looking down to the amazing views. The sign at the start point says "While people are walking on the mountain road, their spirits get purified ." Walking on slope with beautiful views and clean air really feels like it.
書写山の円教寺です。20分ほど山の中の舗装道を歩いて美しい景色を見ながら行きました。スタート地点には「ここを山門まで歩くことによって心が清浄されます。」と書かれていたのですが、絶景を見ながら清らかな空気を吸いながら斜面を登って行くとそんな気がしてきます。



Mani Den is the main building of this temple. The huge building makes you say "wow!" without a doubt.
摩尼殿はメインの建物ですが、その壮大な建物には「わあ!」と驚きの声がでるだけです。





After walked a little bit from Mani Do, you can see three buildings, Daiko Do, Jiki Do and Jogyo Do where "Last Samurai" was filmed at. もう少し歩いて行くと「ラストサムライ」を撮った大講堂、 食堂、常行堂が見えてきます。







At Juki Do they were asking donation to fix their roof. You pay 1000 yen ($12) and write your wish and name on a ceder plank and it is going to be a part of the temple!! I thought it was a very cool way to do donation. I wished "peace in the house/family". I hadn't done calligraphy with a brush for a long time so the letters were not pretty but it was OK, wasn't it?
食堂では屋根の修理の募金をしていました。1000円を払って板にお願いと名前を書きます。それが屋根の下に敷かれるのでお寺の一部になるというのだもの、いい考えです。家内安全をお祈りしました。久しぶりの毛筆にできた字はイマイチだったけど、いいよね。








See, Ken san and Tom were here.
ホラ、謙さんとTomもここにいたのよ。







We stopped at overlook before we left the mountain. What a great place!
帰る前には展望台にも上ってみました。いやあ、本当にいいところでした。