Daijoji Temple Visit

The first weekend of November was supposed to be the last nice weekend before the cold, wet winter. Taking advantage of the lovely weather, we decided to take an afternoon stroll to a temple and park located just down the street. We took a few pictures of the scenery along the way. The fall scenery isn't quite as good as what you see back home, but it is nice.


We walked along a fairly major road, past some neighborhoods and farms, up to a heavily wooded area. Most of the foliage directly behind our apartment is bamboo, but down the road you can find some deciduous trees with some nice colors. Midway up a hill is a fairly large temple and graveyard, Daijoji, or Big Something-or-other (Power according to Yahoo) Temple. The entryway is guarded by what seem to be similar to saints, each one for a specific purpose or type of person, or such was our deduction based on the kanji accompanying each statue.


Inside the graveyard area, there are separate plots for each family. Some look really fancy and expensive, with lots of marble and a finished floor...


...whereas others are just a few stones in a dirt plot.


Once past the family plots, you encounter the temple itself. If you go on certain days, you can catch ceremonies or meditation. There is also a big gong that you are allowed to ring with a donation box you are requested to use if you strike the gong. There are areas to burn incense, like at the guardians at the front and in front of a golden statue within the temple, where you are also asked to donate in return for burning a stick of incense to pray. It's a pretty good system, I think.

Main entry gate for the temple area. Wheelchair accessible!

After passing through the temple area, we continued on to the park next door to the temple. This park has the most grass we've seen in one place in Japan, and has a pretty amazing view of the city of Kanazawa. You can see out to the ocean:


Check the Flickr set for more photos of Daijoji and the park.