Interesting finds in Nagoya

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Today is our last day in Nagoya. It was a quick stop but we got a lot in on one day. I had read that there was a big Buddha statue in the east end of Nagoya, and after some research, I figured out the subway map and which direction to go. I had almost doubted myself for the fact that every person we talked to had no clue what we were talking about. As far as we knew, it was called the Topanji temple, which no one had the faintest idea of what we we saying, but even us mentioning a big buddha, they just shook their heads. Now I find it hard to believe that you live in this city and are completely unaware of a giant buddha statue, or more than likely we were probably pronouncing it wrong, but drawing the buddha and all our descriptions were met with blank stares. Come on, Buddha? A big ass buddha? So I almost started doubting that it existed, but just following the directions I had written down, we get off the subway, walk up a hill and down a very nondescript street and bam! Big ass buddha. I felt like I had discovered it , by the way I got so excited like a kid in a candy store, almost running ,without caution, yelling to my companions, " Its here! I knew I wasnt crazy!" What is crazy is that not everyone knows its here. So we found it, finally, a giant green statue of Buddha, set in a very serene spot next to a cemetery. I immediately grabbed my camera and started shooting and exploring the area. The sun was out today so it made it a perfect day to wander and explore, and with further investigation, I stumbled across an awesome bamboo forest just a bit behind the shrine, the trees standing tall and blocking the sunlight. The further that Bonnie and I walked, the more we discovered. We walked further towards a temple,where we could see thru the open doors, a shrine facing us. We removed our shoes and walked into this room, covered with the bamboo mats that were cold against our feet, a big shrine in front of us, and an older japanese gentleman kneeling on the floor with a long narrow piece of wood in front of him, paintbrush in hand, carefully writing japanese characters down the length of the wood. He didn't look up once when we entered, not even a glance. He didnt acknowledge our presence, and even when Bonnie said in a very polite voice,"sumimasen"(excuse me ) He didn't even flinch, but I thought I could hear him release a long breath. My first impression was that we were an annoyance to him and his work, and I wanted to do as little as possible to disturb him further. So we tip toed around a bit trying not to make any noise. Luckily Bonnie is familiar with buddhist culture and traditions, so it was easier for me to follow her lead when we were to kneel out of respect for buddha and the gods. We were kneeling at this one shrine, and whispering as to what exactly we should be doing, either clapping twice or bowing, when the older japanese gentleman got up, and in apparent annoyance at our ignorance and started speaking very quickly in japanese and walked over to where Bonnie was and tried to explain to her what she should be doing. Well obviously, We don’t speak japanese, and I just sat there staring at this man because I think he thought that the more he spoke to us, the more we would understand. At this Point I really wish I knew japanese, and Bonnie was just throwing random answers out at him and I sat in the middle of confusion. He finally (in a way, )starting showing us what to to,( still speaking very quickly in Japanese) and we mimicked him, similar to when people are being taught intricate dance moves. Looking to him for guidance all the while trying to mimic the actions. He then motioned to us and lead us to a side door that lead to the outside, and I thought to myself, ok...so we’re getting kicked out, but the outside lead to another little shrine in an attached house. It was here I realized that he wasnt annoyed with us but genuinely trying to show us around and what to do. So we walked into this house( well i dont know what else to call it) and first thing to the right is a statue of a deity, laying on her side, breasts exposed. She was cloaked in purple fabric laying on top a chest of sorts. We walked into the room where we saw a bigger shrine, dragons on either side, and cases with idol objects on the back wall. A lady came in, who was really nice, started speaking japanese, leading us to the side door again and motioning us to put on the slippers provided to the right of the door. Outside this door was a set of steep stairs that led us to the top of this house, where there was another little shrine and a tree that had pieces of paper tied around its branches. This was, I had learned, peoples prayers that they wrote down and then tied to the tree. We walked back down the stairs where the lady, smiling, led us back inside and pulled us towards some of the objects in the shrine that she wanted to show us. She pulled us over to this rock, where a piece of paper with Japanese writing was obviously describing the symbolism of this rock. It was round and smooth and very nondescript. She made Bonnie touch the rock and showed her how to rub it. I leaned over i touched the rock myself. She then led us towards the cases in the back, where it seemed these shelves incased in glass was holding something very special, so special they had place lace fabric inside the glass door to blur your direct vision of what was inside. The lady seemed to be saying to us,"look look" and I peered in closer to see what the contents were. At first because of the lace blocking my vision, it took a while for me to make it out. But then I looked closer and was like, "Oh I see, they're mushrooms i think, is shiny and round on top and then ... oh ... wait a minute, thats not a mushroom .....its a penis." huh, double take. oh yeah its a penis and this lady is smiling and pointing towards this cabinet of penis statues. And big penis statues at that. I step back a bit and realize i am standing right next to a large penis statue.huh, and the round rock? what is that?, oh wait, it represents a vagina ! And this is obviously the god of fertility, and oh god,....i fricken touched the dam vagina statue. How do you reverse that???? Single girls should not be rubbing the god of fertility shrines. Can I get a redo? So I examine further and also find statue's of people in different sexual positions, and then more penises. Maybe this has to do with karma sutra? Not sure but I assumed fertility because I had seen a carton of eggs placed on the shrine, I assume symbolizing someones offer to the fertility gods. Now I know this sounds shady, but it was a legitimate temple where sex is regarded as natural and spiritual and of course the way to produce life, So after the shock of what I just witnessed, I think that this temple was really cool. Except for the touching of the vagina.


So onward to the Nagoya aquarium, which is one of the biggest in Japan. After a subway ride later( much too long for Dave, who apparently can not handle any motion at all and pretty much has yakked everyday this trip) We arrive at the Aquarium.We did a little mini stop into the Nagoya shrimp factory which had every single kind of shrimp chips, (which I love, ive loved them since I was a kid,) And bought a huge jumbo bag to share. As soon as we go in, We basically separate and go in different directions to explore on our own, which I much prefer. So a lot of cool things there, i think the pictures will do the talking on this one. After the aquarium, i had on my list to do the Nagoya castle, but it closed in 30 mins so we left Dave and Bonnie who were doing their romantic valentines dinner tonite, and headed over to see if we could make it. Nope, denied. Castle closed as soon as we got there. But thats alright though.,I was super happy with what we did accomplish, and ended off our day checking out the Nagoya tv tower and having ramen for dinner.(p.s. for breakfast today i had one of the best fresh steamed buns ever!!!!) So reunite with Jill and yuki tomorrow back in tokyo, How fun!

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Comments

[Auntie S.]

Sounds like your having a blast!
Of course you packed up that dragon and are bringing it home to me right??? It looks like you are having a riot, learing the culture and spiritaulity of Japan. I am looking forward to your next blog entry, with more dragon pix of course!! On to Tokyo with you--Have fun, stay safe and eat lots!!! (I think I gained 10 lbs looking at all the food!)

[Auntie S.]

P.S.
Jack says you should find jade monkeys.....

[Maia]

I also went through the same thing with the Buddha statue
LOL! I had seen the Buddha statue when I came from the airport to city center on the train, but when I asked every person on the city about it, nobody knew of its existence. Then a japanese couple with whom I stayed did a search on the internet and found about it. But I had no time to actually visit it. So it was nice to encounter this blog post an learn a bit more about it. Thanks!