Some repairs

The cypress bark roofs require regular repairs to keep them in good condition. Here is a professional hard at work at the temple in early February.

In the News: Omuro Cherry Tree has been cloned!

Recently Ninna-ji was in the news (see the article here) for planting a new Omuro Cherry tree in the orchard! The orchard is filled with about 13o trees and the oldest trees are over 360 years old. Some of the trees have been showing signs of aging and damage, so the temple has been coordinating with outside resources to develop ways to maintain the Omuro Cherries since 2007.

Just a few days ago a sapling cloned from the existing trees was planted in the orchard. It won’t bloom until next spring, but we have high hopes that it will be hardy and bloom with beautiful cherry blossoms! The temple plans to plant around 50 more of these cloned saplings in the near future.

On Location at Ninna-ji

A few lucky visitors got a peek of a movie being filmed here at Ninna-ji last month! The filming was done near the five-storied pagoda. When I heard about the location and that they would be shooting all day, I was curious what they would do about visitors to the temple walking into that area. I was surprised at how nice the film crew was! They did not object to people watching, just told the onlookers when to move so as not to be in the shot or reminded people to not take pictures. I’m not sure that anyone could tell what movie it was or who the actors were, but quite a few people stopped to watch while I was there.

Since I was under the same rules as the other onlookers, I’m afraid that I can’t offer you any pictures of the actual filming. I did snap this shot after most of the staff and actors had left the set, you can see some equipment and a large reflector used during filming.

Ninna-ji has been a filming location for other movies and TV shows as well. The temple offers not only beautiful scenery, but  the temple grounds are also free of utility poles and telephone lines, a notable convenience for filming historical fiction.

Upcoming Event: Kaisanki

On September 8th there will be a ceremony held in Mie-do to commemorate the founding of the temple and Ninna-ji’s founder, Emperor Uda. You will not be able to see much of the ceremony as it happens inside of Mie-do, but you will certainly be able to hear it! If your timing is just right, you might be able to see the monks as they enter or exit Mie-do. The procession of the monks in their formal robes is quite a handsome sight and makes for a great photograph!

Visit Ninna-ji on the 8th to celebrate the temple’s founding with us!

Typhoon on the way…

I was thinking of attending the Mini 88 Temple Walk this Sunday, but it has been canceled due to typhoon #12. The typhoon caused some heavy rain starting yesterday, and the brunt of the storm is supposed to hit the Kyoto area tonight and tomorrow. Be careful out there!

Maybe the weather will be better for October’s 88 Temple Walk…

Goma Hō

Every month at Ninna-ji on the 21st and the 28th a ceremony called “Goma Hō” is held inside of Daikoku-do. “Goma Hō” is a Buddhist rite which involves placing offerings into a fire. During the ceremony, a monk recites prayers while burning pieces of wood in a precise manner. Plain pieces of wood are placed into th fire along with pieces that visitors to the temple have written prayers upon. It is believed that the smoke from the fire travels to the heavens where it reaches the gods who will then grant the prayers. The ceremony is held at many temples and the prayers are directed to the principal deity of the temple.

If you visit Ninna-ji when this ceremony is being held, feel free to take a few pictures, but please keep in mind that it is a religious rite and be respectful! Loud talking and constant camera noises will distract the monk and are not very polite.

Summer in the North Garden

The summer months mean more growth in the gardens and therefore more cleaning and weed pulling. Grass and weeds take root amongst the rocks and the monks have to head out and clean things up. Of course after walking on the rocks to take care of the weed pulling, next is re-raking the rocks into shape. The pond also got a little bit of sprucing up by way of a net used to clean up some debris around the edges of the water.

Completed Doors in Goten

Here are the completed doors I showed you in this post back in early June. The new shōji doors were installed just a few days after that post. The glass panes and sliding panels that can be lowered to cover them are very useful and much more convenient than the previous doors.

The old doors were installed the opposite direction, the flat paper-covered side faced into the room and the side with the wood slats faced out. I was surprised to see that with the new doors it was different, but it turns out that the way the doors are now is the more correct style for the current setup of the area. In the past the temple shop occupied the open space that is now in front of this room. Since then, the temple shop has been relocated to further within Goten. Shōji doors are meant to be installed so that it is easy to open and close for the main people using the doors, in this case people who work at the temple are more likely to be within the room going out, so having the slats on the inside makes the doors easier to open.

Tools of the Trade

I have posted a few pictures of the gravel in the gardens being raked, it’s about time I show you a better picture of the rakes being used. The flat rakes are used to level out the gravel, while the rakes with the “teeth” are used to make lines. This kind of old-style broom is used all over the temple for cleaning up fallen leaves (or flower petals!) and stray gravel.

Tweeting for the Temple

I would like to say おいでやす* to visitors who found the blog through my recent twitter update! From now on, I will occasionally be tweeting for the temple on our official Twitter account. You can find our Twitter feed here, or, starting this week, in the sidebar to the right!

Japanese is a great language for Twitter since you can write so much and still stay within the character limit. (Or maybe it defeats the purpose of Twitter because the tweets are too long? A debatable topic, I think.)  It was difficult to come up with something short enough to fit the character limit in English… I didn’t realize that spaces counted, too!

In short: Tweeting is hard work.

If you ever get the feeling that these blog posts are just too long, follow us on Twitter and learn more about the temple through the medium of tweets!

* “oideyasu” means “welcome” in Kyoto dialect