| Submitted by: Mark Leeper United States |
| Submission Date: 09 February 2005 |
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A one-time conversion by the sword is one thing, having to watch people every moment because they are going to be something else if you don't is another matter entirely. Imagine if the Jewish population of a country was drastically different on Purim than it was on Yom Kippur. I love the idea of offering passive resistance to proselytizers and evangelists. Anyway, today we look at the roots of religion in Japan.
This morning we got up early, skipped breakfast, and by 7 AM were headed for Kamakura.
We lucked out on the train. We wanted a seat to just ourselves for a while. There was a Salaryman sleeping in one pair of facing seats. You see people sleeping on the trains a lot, probably partially due to the lower crime rate. Anyway we sat down next to the sleeping man. He woke up and looked at us and closed his eyes again. Then looked at the doorway, jumped up, and ran out just before the door closed. He almost missed his stop, I guess. It is a good thing we picked that seat.
If you want a good feel for the environs of Tokyo, particularly near the train lines, you can get that in GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS. (Yes, I am on about that again, but for good purpose. There are ways in which that film is to me a treasure trove of Japanese post-war society. I wonder if we recognize how much information is really packed into one of our films.) That seems to show electrical trains and a lot of wires everywhere as power for the trains and as electrical wires, and as power for street-light and traffic lights. That is pretty accurate. It almost looks like some huge spider has built webs everywhere. (West Shinjuku is an exception.) They are very functional but a little ugly. That seems to be the Tokyo philosophy. Put up with a little ugliness for functionality. (We somewhat stand out however because that is how we are dressing this trip and most Japanese are very style-conscious.) Anyway, the wire situation may explain some of why radio reception is so bad. When you are driving and go under power lines you lose reception. There may be power-lines just about everywhere. The radio situation is better at night than in the day, but not very good either time. Most frequencies seem like they are pulling in signal and the little light on the short-wave indicating signal lights up, but what you get is buzz.
The ride into Kamakura is fairly quick but we get to see a little more of the surrounding countryside. There is clearly more poverty in Japan than we had thought and a lot of people live in ramshackle houses just outside of the big city. Houses made of rusty corrugated steel are not uncommon. And everywhere you look are power lines.
We arrived in Kamakura and went to see temples. In 1159 The Fujiwara and Minimoto Clans were fighting for supreme control. In 1159 was their final battle and the Fujiwara, led by Taira Kiyomori, became the rulers of Japan. They ruled from Kyoto. But the third son of the commander of the Minamoto forces managed to survive. Yoritomo set up his base in Kamakura and prepared to retake control. He succeeded and became Shogun at Kamakura in 1192. He did not leave an heir who could take control and his wife's family, the Hojo Clan took control on his death. They defended the island from two invasions by the Mongols only to lose power in 1333 and Kyoto once again became the capital.
Engaku Temple is really a whole complex of buildings. It was founded in 1282 when the Mongols were invading and trying to seize the home islands. Zen Monks first built a temple here as a safe place.
There was some sort of gathering to celebrate the national holiday and there were a bunch of children's events. It is peculiar to hear a Buddhist temple blaring When You Wish Upon a Star, and music from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and ALADDIN, all to make little Buddhists into better Buddhists.
It strikes me that Japanese Buddhist temples are very different from those in Thailand. We found the temples in Northern Thailand to be full of carvings of demons fighting and of Naga snakes. These are nice but have much less representational art other than depicting the Buddhas themselves.
We had intended next to go to Kencho Temple. It is the most important Zen temple in Kamakura. At the time our guide book was written it also had the heftiest admission of 200 yen, but it seems reasonable. Recently they decided that tourists would consider no visit to Kamakura complete without visiting them so they raised the admission to 1500 yen. And they didn't bother to throw in balloons, lunch, or a stage show. I decided that my visit would be more than complete without visiting them.
Jochi-Ji is a smaller temple. Sorry, there just is not much to say about it except that their handout was only in Japanese. A lot of these temples are very similar. This one had only three or four buildings plus a modern house where a family seemed to live with a dog who barked at visitors. At most of these temples you do not go in but stand outside and look at an image of the Buddha in a dark room. Am I missing something?
Tsurugoaka Hachiman is another big complex, more a shrine than a temple. It is more colorful with a huge box where prayers threw their coins rather than a small box in front of where they prayed. It almost looked like a carnival game. This one had free admission and was the most interesting complex we saw. It also had the most lively atmosphere with venders setting up on the walk away. This is not Zen but Shinto, but that is mostly noticeable from the Torii gates.
It was time for lunch and we were on the main drag, which offered quite a profusion. This is a tourist town and prices are somewhat elevated in the restaurants, but still really not bad for what you get. We found a noodle shop where the big bowls of soup were 650 yen. That is a lot more than we paid the day before, but still not bad for a filling lunch. The day before we had real problems explaining which dish we had chosen since the plastic reproductions were outside the restaurant. This time I was smarter. I pulled out a pad of paper and copied the Japanese names for the dishes and the price. I don't know Japanese but it is still easy enough to copy. The woman read my writing with no trouble. I also got an order of gyoza, (the Japanese equivalent of Chinese fried dumplings sometimes called pot stickers). Evelyn had figured a worst case of $80 a day for meals and we are getting filling good meals for $15 for the two of us. We may want to get some more variety, but it is not expensive to eat what the Japanese eat.
Next we wanted to head out toward the Great Buddha. The center of town had a sight (and sound) we were finding very familiar. Apparently they have some political voting coming up (I think). But wherever we go there are loudspeaker cars or trucks and someone yelling rhetoric to the crowds. This one had a car with speakers hooks up and along with the speaker there was a woman in the car waving to the crowds. It seemed incongruous. The local ticket machines have a little cartoon clerk figure bowing to the patron about to buy a ticket. I wonder how hard up for respect you have to be before you get some sort of charge from seeing a machine programmed to respect you.
We started to walk out toward the Buddha. Evelyn asked directions from a couple coming in the other direction holding a map. We had no language in common but each made themselves understood. We continued on. About five minutes later we stopped and were looking at the odd beverages in a vending machine. The couple came running up. They had omitted telling us there was a turn we had to make and had chased after us to make sure we didn't get lost. OK, that is my best story about the Japanese. My worst is coming up in a couple paragraphs.
They do have odd things in vending machines. We have seen beer and saki vending machines as we went. The strangest we saw was a machine for vending big sacks of rice. Actually the country seems to have lots and lots of vending machines wherever you go. It is apparently an efficient way to distribute goods. On person can maintain many vending machines. Also that person may not have to pay the huge real estate costs that having a store would entail. Particularly in the city you see vending machines all over. I have been curious to try a beverage you see a lot called Poccari Sweat. Perhaps it is like Gatorade.
As we walked the neighborhood seemed to get a little more downbeat and tattered. We passed a woman openly drinking something alcoholic on the street. The shops seemed a little dingier and we passed two shoe shops relatively near each other. Also a leather-goods store. 'The ghetto,' I said to Evelyn. She chuckled as if I had mad a joke. 'I am serious, we have just passed two shoe-shops'
As we walked the neighborhood seemed to get a little more downbeat and tattered. We passed a woman openly drinking something alcoholic on the street. The shops seemed a little dingier and we passed two shoe shops relatively near each other. Also a leather-goods store. 'The ghetto,' I said to Evelyn. She chuckled as if I had mad a joke. 'I am serious, we have just passed two shoe-shops'
What is this all about? Well, it seems most societies have their untouchable class. Even the Japanese who have such a cohesive society have their equivalent of the Jews in the European Middle Ages, the Untouchables of India, Blacks in America, etc. It is rarely talked about in print, but I think these were the Burakumin. They are always the last to be hired and the first to be fired, from what I have heard. They get very few opportunities to marry outside of their numbers and when they do the spouse becomes Burakumin. There is no equivalent of Affirmative Action or any sort of domestic help or even sympathy. The rest rarely talk about them. The symbol used is four fingers held together like the legs of an animal. These are the people in unclean professions like the leather trade and the descendants of such people. They are thought of as unclean. I could be wrong about he neighborhood, but it seemed likely.
We continued walking and eventually things got upscale and touristy again. We knew we must be getting near the Great Buddha. We even saw ice cream stands, which you are starting to see in Japan, but they are rare. Finally we got to the grounds, washed our hands as is the tradition, and went to see the Buddha. It is a magnificent statue, even if he looks to have a sort of sour look on his face as if he had smelled something unpleasant.
We paid and went inside. The Buddha is hollow and for a nominal fee you can go inside. There are even two windows in the Buddha's back that look very incongruous. They cite the following statistics:
age: 720 yr. weight: 274428 lb.
height: 44 ft face: 7.7 ft eye: 3.3 ft ear: 6.6 ft
mouth: 2.8 ft knee to eye: 30 ft round of thumb: 2.8 ft
I take these specifications with a grain of salt. I estimated the total height including the base at under 40 feet. The technique is to find a point that looks like it is halfway down, then find a point halfway down from that point, etc. Until you get to a height you can estimate because there is something near you can use as a reference. With three cuts it was down to a height shorter than a man next to the statue. Maybe 4 1/2 or 5 feet. I guessed the total height at 36 or 38 feet. Lonely Planet says 11.4 meters. That is about 37 feet.
We walked back amongst some of the usual souvenir shops. I told Evelyn that building the Buddha must have been a godsend to these souvenir shops.
Nearby is Hase-dera Temple. The first thing you find of interest is row upon row of stone dolls, the Statues of Jizo. The Lonely Planet refers to these as statues of departed children, but the truth is, I believe, that these children never arrived. The TV documentary JAPAN: THE ELECTRONIC TRIBE said that these were statues to stillborn and more recently also aborted children. Parents dress the dolls up and try to make up to the children in a life the children never saw. It seems like an intelligent outlet for the pain.
There are more Buddhas to see including one Buddha 24 feet high. Another room has a giant prayer wheel. |
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