Ito

Miraculously, I did not much today. I walked in the ocean. I read by the river side.

I soaked. I ate. I even took a nap! But near then end of the day I checked in with the world and discovered a friend had died. Thanks to this Temple be speckled country I had a place to go to pray that he found the peace he could not find in life. 

Bukkoji Temple was the closest. A woman opened the doors to the temple for me. She was trying to tell me about the temple stamp and the various prayer options I could purchase in japanese, which i do not understand, when I told her why I was there. She brought me to the alter and led me in Japanese in a repetitive prayer and indicated a moment in which I was to say my words of prayer to my friend. 

She was very consoling. 

Life and death do continue on.

From great sadness comes the appreciation of simple happiness. I watched a crane fish for food, a duck work his little feet to paddle up stream, and a pigeon trying to woo his mate with a groovy head bobbing maneuver.

Ito- to chill

I have seen something like 16 places in Japan. All this traveling has been a bit taxing. I met a woman in Kagoshima that told me about this onsen in Ito. She teaches english near Tokyo and told me she comes here to relax. Soak, read, sleep recycle. Sounded good to me. This place is a 100 year old wooden building, with 3 soaking tubs: 2 private, one public, kitchen, laundry, lounge areas, and tv room. And it's a hostel on top of all that(= cheap)!

My room is on the 3rd floor second from the left. It's a female dorm but I am the only one in it.

Inside

My room

My deck over looking the river

The public bath

The private one

Mom would have loved this place and she deserved the pampering.

My first night here I sat in the lounge drinking tea after my onsen. I met this gentleman from Denmark in Japan for his second time for vacation and taking Japanese lessons. We talked for a bit. He too had experienced some family tragedy. We discussed our different coping mechanisms. He told me that our conversation was the deepest he'd had his whole time in Japan or even this year.  Turns out he's a sound engineer for the theater. Mom loved the performing arts. I don't think my mom had ever been to Denmark. Ken's taking her there.

Osorzan

This whole trip I have tried to be open to the directions I am led. And as it happens they have all led me to exactly the right spot. While in Toyama I had a 5 minute conversation with a man about what I was doing and he suggested I go to Osorezan. So I did. It took a single car train to not where and a bus ride. All in total about 2 hours one way.

The place I brought me to was un-paralleled. Finally no school children and hardly any people. This final resting place was truly peaceful, and yet there was an incessant insanely loud strum of either frog,cycadas,or crickets, or a combination so loud coming from the woods just beyond this barren site. I cannot describe place better than as is already written, "Osorezan is also known as entrance to afterlife, because it features geographical elements similar to descriptions of Buddhist hell and paradise, including eight surrounding peaks and a river, Sanzu no Kawa, which has to be crossed by all dead souls on their way to afterlife and is often compared to the River Styx of ancient Greek mythology."

This is a place where people come to pray for the repose of their parent or guidance for their children in the afterlife.

What better spot than here to receive some marbles and the last of the ashes I brought.

The bodhisattva that the founding priest carved and established here was Jizô. "Jizô's virtues is linked to that of the mother earth, which never minds being tread on and willingly supports all in the world from below. His compassion is compared to motherly love, through which he shares the suffering of those who are on pain. Jizô vows to suffer hell himself to allocate the pain of those condemned to hell, to free human beings from the illusion of life and death in this world, and to lead even heavenly beings of the purer world to eternal salvation. Thanks to these vows of the bodhisattva Jizô  the sulphurous valley in the depth of this mountainous area becomes a land of salvation, where absolute peace and happiness are freely given. Here one can listen to an inaudible sermon. Which teaches that any place is Paradise so far as Jizô is there."

How more perfect could this place be for my mom. I did not have nearly as much time at this place as I would have liked.

Even before you enter the official grounds  6 Jizô's( I think).

The gate

The guards

A turtle with passengers, for luck

The drawing on the exterior was stunning

Gorgeous sign no idea what it says

The terrain.

Daiol-Ishi. He was in the back of the grounds and seemed strikingly important and alone.

I gave him some company and someone to watch over.

This individual with single child I found to be symbolic.

So with its other offerings I added one more.

And then I got the the waters edge. Poisonous for the living, but not for the dead.

I kneaded at the waters edge and asked for whatever was there to guide my mom to her new place. As I tossed up her ashes into the water the heavier particles fell,but in the wind the dust briskly danced away in figurative clouds. I included a coin for the ferry man.

Sayonara mamala, happy journeys.

Aomori

Second long travel day got me to Aomori. 4 trains to Aomori and a 40 min bus ride out of the city in to the holds, specifically Moya Hills. There was a beautiful hostel.

My room, it was a female dorm room, but I was the only woman there. There were a few Japanese men of a motor bike outing.

The owner was a self-proclaimed Ireland freak. He has been there 4 times. He even ha Guinness on tap. and sold whiskey and s scotch  by the shot. Very funny. He speaks great english. 

After a long travel day siting before the in hostel group dinner, I went for a walk. Saw this sign. no idea what t says, but it looks like a guys with a bucket to me. 

Up a hill where even in the woods you can find shrines. This one was full of crickets, quite startled by my opening of the shrine.

At the top of the hill was a ski resort and a magnificent view.

I went back to the hostel to a huge meal that required a walk afterwards as well for digestion. 

Then at 9 the owner offered tea made from flowers from his garden and cookies. We sat around and mostly they talked in Japanese but made some effort to include me and the owner translated some. 

To bed for the next day was the last of my ash pilgrimages.

Toyama

So the one person I really know from before I came to Japan was Rui. She was in a show I curated while she was a resident artist at Wheaton Village. She is a teaching assistant at Toyama glass School. After my day trip to Kanazawa I took a long bus ride to the school. It was out there, but I found it.

A beautiful studio in the quite hills. I would love to work here. There were students of all types from different place not all Japanese. Even one of the faculty was American and another, I believe, Belgium. Rui showed me about, but the best part was getting to eat conveyor belt sushi with her. So much fun!

Then off the next day for my second day of long travels to Aomori, where I got to ride on this really big train on the top deck for one section of 4 trains and a bus.

Kanazawa (a day trip)

Kanazawa is a short train ride from Toyama and it has one of the 3 top gardens in Japan. It also has a castle right next to it, which seems to be a pattern. Every times arrive in a new station I goto the Tourist Information Center. They are so helpful. They have maps and make great suggestions about things I wouldn't otherwise know. And they always speak some amount of English. This one told me of a free english speaking tour at the garden and castle. I thought this would be a novel experience as usually I look around and enjoy things but I have no idea what they mean. So I got a private tour of Kenrokuen Garden and castle. The garden was a samurai garden. Which more or less meant they put things in that they liked even if it meant moving a tree from one part of the  city to there.

It had a light house, bridge, and water that were all supposed to be reminiscent of a Japanese guitar instrument.

It had a large bronze statue of a samurai as a monument to the civil war dead when they de-sworded the samurai. Apparently this was a good samurai. 

It had dragon head rock. (I have no idea how this fits in the theme).

These three icon represent birth, marriage, and death. The report most portent things in life.

It had this really big pine. Quite beautiful and old.

This tree once it was growing they intentionally pulled the soil out from underneath so you could see through the roots.

Got to stick a picture in once in a while that proves I was really there.

It had the oldest fountain in Japan, a model for another fountain in the castle. The amazing this about this is that is uses no motor. It's all about gravity and pressure from the levels of water in the two above ponds. About 3.5 meters high. Ingenious!

It had this crazy winding tree.

Just missed the irises.

Really beautiful place.

This is the oldest building on the grounds. A tea house.

In front of it is a hollowed out petrified bamboo stump filled with water.

Guess where a mom marble went....

Someone will find this one for sure.

The castle was being restored but the tour informed me of some of the functions and the materials. I learned about the rock dropping holes. The purpose for moats. The gun ports. The plasters walls that need to be repaired every 10 years. Chosen because the samurai like the look. Earthquake proof walls. Dove tail joints in rock walls. And the different types of wood used for different parts of the structures.

All very educational.

Upon leaving Kanazawa ( for some reason the name of this place makes me think Shazam), I came upon this fountain that changes images telling the time, place, and welcome in English and I believe Japanese. So cool!

And an amazing architectural gate at the train station. Let nothing be unadorned!