A “genre photograph” of sorts, this is a very common scene at Goten. The man in the foreground on the right is putting his shoes back on (you must remove your shoes and either carry them with you or place them in the cabinet before entering the palace area), while the students on their school trip are heading off to their next destination. On the left, one of the monks is hard at work (on a rather hot day!) raking the gravel. Just a moment in an average day!
「意外に涼しいです。」
They went up on the roof today to do some inspecting and make sure everything was okay up there. Kon-do is a rather tall building, there is no way I would want to go up on the roof, but fortunately I wasn’t the one who needed to go up to do anything! Sounds like there weren’t any problems, and even though those of us on the ground were trying to avoid the very hot sunlight as we watched, apparently it was relatively cool up there.
Omamori (お守り) are charms or amulets available at temples and shrines. The word contains part of the word for “protect” (mamoru 守る), and they are meant to protect the bearer from misfortune and bring good luck.
Temples and shrines in Japan offer omamori for all of your luck needs, whether it be for academic purposes, health, romance, or safe travels. The charms that offer these services are usually pocket-sized and come in all sorts of shapes. Omamori are generally considered to be effective for one year, and many people will return the omamori to the place where they acquired it for proper disposal after a year has passed.
Many omamori contain pieces of paper with blessings or prayers written on them. Opening the charm to see the paper, however, is thought to void its protective powers.
You can see many people hanging these charms from their bags and cell phones in Japan. Omamori can make great souvenirs, and even if you don’t consider yourself a superstitious person, having a good luck charm couldn’t hurt.
Ninna-ji has all kinds of charms, including several that are original designs, such as the Otafuku charm. Look forward to some up-coming posts introducing different types of charms available here at Ninna-ji!
More maintenance in Goten recently! The other day there was a fitting for a new set of shōji doors on the little room at the entrance of Goten. (This is where visitors bring their stamp books to get their commemorative stamps from their visit to Ninna-ji.) The new doors will have a larger and higher glass pane so that it will make it easier for visitors and the people working in the room to see each other. The glass panes have sliding shōji panels that can be left in place making the doors opaque or can be moved up to reveal the translucent glass pane. The craftsman making the doors will be back another day soon with the completed product, as you can see in these pictures when he came for the fitting the Japanese paper that is so characteristic of shōji doors had yet to be applied.
When I’m not typing blog posts or giving tours of Goten, you can find me sitting at the entrance right here, taking tickets and fiddling with incense. The framed documents above are Ninna-ji’s World Heritage registration forms, one in English and the other in Japanese. The entirety of the temple is registered as a World Heritage Site, not just Goten, but it is a nice place to display the documents.
Last week we added some extra lighting to the cases in the temple shop. It makes the items in the case stand out much better!
You’ll notice that there are shops of some kind at most shrines and temples you visit in Japan. Some sell only a few temple-specfic items, while others offer souvenirs in addition to more traditional fare. Ninna-ji has a selection of various items including incense, incense holders, prayer beads, Japanese-style hand towels (tenugui), good luck charms for all purposes, as well as a few disposable cameras just in case.
Ninna-ji has an incense that has been specifically made for the temple. It is used during prayers and ceremonies, as well as inside of Goten. When you walk inside the entrance to the palace area you will likely be able to smell this incense burning in the above container.
… mean more cleaning up in the gardens! This shot was taken last week, but with the rain this week, there will be someone out raking again soon.
The other day the North Garden got spruced up a bit. The noise of a leaf blower was quite a change from the usual tranquil atmosphere of the garden, but since the temple is open 365 days a year there is no choice but to take care of these jobs when visitors are present. During the cleaning the garden may not have had the same meditative quality as it always does, but I think that seeing some of the work that goes into maintaining the temple is valuable experience, too!
Some visitors bring stamp books with them and ask at Goten or at the little building next to Kon-do for a stamp to commemorate their visit. The picture above is of a monk completing a page at Goten where the chrysanthemum seal is used. The Japanese notes the name of the temple along with date. You can see the completed version below.
For visitors who have left their books at home, there are also completed stamps available on single pieces of paper which can later be pasted into a stamp book. Both options cost some change, in the case of Ninna-ji, ￥300.
Of course if you happen to be in the market for a stamp book, you can find them at many temples and shrines. The stamp books available at Ninna-ji can be seen in the picture above.
Stamp books for the purpose of collecting stamps at shrines and temples are usually not bound like normal books. Between the front and back covers there is a long piece of paper that is folded like an accordion. The folds demarcate the individual pages. Take a look around the next time you visit a temple, you might see a stamp book to start collecting stamps in! If you can’t find them, you can ask for them in Japanese: the word for the stamp book is “goshuinchō” (said “go-shoe-in-cho”) (御集印帳 or 御朱印帳) to ask for the stamp, just leave off the “cho.”
Ninna-ji Official English Blog 