3 Very Different Buddhist Temples- July 12, 2020

We are in the middle of the rainy season and not surprisingly it was supposed to rain today. However, this morning was so sunny we decided to go exploring as long as the weather held out. We started at the Great Buddha of Rokuya. Even from the parking lot he was impressive. The statue is 12 meters tall. If you include the pedestal it is 18 meters tall. He weighs 60 tons.

We started walking along the path up to the temple and along the way passed a few frog statues. Someone had left an offering on one's head.

The trail up felt like it had been recently constructed, and relatively speaking, it had. The statue was completed in 2018.

As we got closer we started to get glimpses of the Buddha through the Japanese cedars.

We were able to go inside but taking pictures was not allowed. Inside there was a smaller gold plated version of the statue and various items for purchase.

The view from the statue was pretty. The name Rokuya means "field of deers". The story says a long time ago there was a hot spring nearby. A Buddhist priest noted a deer coming to soak an injured foot in the spring. Within a few days, the deer's foot had healed. The spring gained a reputation for its healing properties and people would travel miles to soak in the spring. Unfortunately, the spring no longer exists.

There is a small pond at the bottom of the hill. The dragonflies here are huge relative to what we see in the states.

Wish tags were available for purchase. They say, if write your wish on the tag and attach it to the wind chime, the chime sounds it will carry your wish to the god.

Our next stop was lunch. We went to a cafe associated with a local honey producer. We had the curry and it was really good.

But what was even better was the ice cream with honey drizzled over the top. OMG! I never thought about putting honey on ice cream before but I will definately do it in the future.

It was still sunny so we headed off to check out the Kotokuji Temple. The hollyhocks in the parking lot were especially beautiful.

The entrance to the temple gave a taste to what was to come. I absolutely love the sod roofs!

The temple was originally built in 1373 and has been restored several times. It was last restored in the 19th century.

Here is a closer look at the roof. In some areas mushrooms were growing.

There were lots of statues with really cool patina.

There was also a large cemetery beside the temple. Most of the Japanese practice Shintoism and/or Buddhism. The Shinto religion doesn't talk of an afterlife, but Buddhism does. Therefore, cemeteries are typically only seen at Buddhist temples here.

This is one of a pair of gingko trees that were really impressive.

We reached the main hall.

I really enjoyed exploring this temple. It had so much character.

There were lots of structures similar to this located on the temple grounds. I think it is there to spray the roofs with water. I am not sure the sod needs to be kept wet or if they are there to protect the temple during a fire.

Shockingly, it was still sunny so we took advantage of our luck and went to see the Daihigan Temple.

This temple was really ornate and colorful.

We were amused by the saki box placed at the statue's feet.

I hadn't realized until today I had never seen lotus flower before.

There was a walking path through a bamboo forest behind the temple.

It started raining while we were at the Daihigan Temple so we finally headed home.