Bad Luck Bush

It's not really called a bad luck bush. At the shrine, people buy pieces of paper that have fortunes written on them. Most people tie their fortunes onto something. There is a place to tie them, but some people chose to tie them on this little bush for some reason. Click on the label below for more posts about shrines and temples. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

The bush is on the right of the entrance.

Jindai Temple Again

The wooden ramp was still over the stone steps at Jindai Temple today. There will be a daruma festival March 3 and 4, so many people will visit the temple grounds. This is also the season for ume blossoms. People will go through the temple on their way to the Jindai Botanical Garden to view blossoms.

The view from inside the gate.

A detail of the thatched roof gate.

A display of prayer beads, small statues, and incense. The small statues are bought and then placed on an altar to pray for babies and children who have died. To respect privacy, I didn't take a picture of the altar.

For 200 yen, you can grab your future. You stick your hand through that hole in the plastic top of the box. You select one of the many small envelopes. There is a fortune in it as well as a trinket.

The koi or goldfish pond on the temple grounds.

Kids Web Japan-- daruma

The Way

On the way back to the temple from Jindai Botanical Gardens.

A little farther down the hill. There's a small soba shop on the right.

The stairway to the pet cemetery. That's a tree trunk coming out of the side of the stone wall.

A soba mill at the top of the hill. It is grinding soba flour.

A rain chain outside this soba shop at the top of the hill.

More Temple Treats

These are glazed plums in small cone dishes. There are slices of mikan (orange) in some of them.

Soft cream is sold here. Mochi wrapped in a leaf is being steamed.

Pickles.

A crispy snack made with flour.

Temple Treats

These men were selling gingko nuts. This is the season for gingko nuts.

Here is glutinous rice with azuki bean paste inside. They are yummy.

Little Brother, Big Sister, and I had one of these.

These are called dango, balls of glutinous rice on a stick. Some are dipped in sauce. Some have azuki bean paste on them. The black paste is black sesame seed paste. All of these are delicious, too. Papa had one with azuki bean paste on it.

These sweets are always sold at the temple, but there were more vendors today.

Note: I have seen the Japanese word azuki written as "adzuki" in English.

Ringing in the New Year

Temple and shrine bells are rung on New Year's eve. Many people go and wait for a monk to ring in the new year. Several locations are televised. We go downstairs to Baba's house to watch on television. This bell is in Kyoto. A group of monks rang this bell. Can you see all the cables?

It was 12:00 when I took this picture. I think it was a few seconds after because I took time to say "akemashite omedetou gozaimasu". That takes time!

It is considered lucky to eat lots of soba during the New Year's holiday. Baba serves it right before midnight. We start to eat after the bell rings. Some people boil their own soba. We eat instant noodles. Perhaps that is not very traditional. Although, I did see a lot of people buying cup of noodles at the grocery store.

Little Brother was eating these. See the noodle trailing off out of the picture on the right? He's slurping it. His technique (angle) may be off a bit but slurping noodles is actually polite in Japan. In fact, you're not supposed to bite noodles. Soba shops are very noisy!

Kids Web Japan --temple and shrine bells

Temple in a Small Town in Niigata Prefecture in the Fall

After going through the gate decorated with chrysanthemums, we crossed a bridge that was decorated with even more. We climbed the stairs to the courtyard of the temple. That's where all the stalls of chrysanthemums were. These are photos of other areas of the temple.

This is the entrance to the prayer room. The wooden chest at the top of the stairs is for donations. People put coins there. Then they clap their hands before praying.

This bell was in the courtyard on the right of the stairs. It is probably the bell that is used to ring in the new year. Below it is an old fire truck.

Hands are washed here before praying. Note the chrysanthemums near the head of the fountain. Click on the label below to see the old post for more pictures of this temple.

These towels were hanging near the fountain. My first thought was that they were hanging there to dry. They could be there for people to use to dry their hands. Handkerchiefs are usually carried. In Tokyo, dryers and paper towels are now in restrooms. Perhaps this is their solution here. (Click to see the graves in the background.)

This is another box for donations. It is near the fountain in the picture above.

This is the same wooden box but at a different angle. I wanted to show how it was built. It has a very narrow slit where the money can slide down into the box. Do you know why it was built this way?

As we left we passed by the bridge decorated with chrysanthemums.

On the Way to the Chrysanthemum Festival at the Temple in Niigata

We walked to the temple to see the chrysanthemum festival or kiku matsuri. This Japanese cake shop had chrysanthemums in front.

This is a small shrine in front of the cake shop. My friend said there is sometimes money left next to the figurine inside. There are directions to the temple on it.

This is the entrance to the temple. It was decorated with small chrysanthemums.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Chrysanthemums and Tea

These chrysanthemums were just inside the entrance. There were many of them. The two starburst chrysanthemums at the end of the bottom and second shelves had papers with gold paper at the bottom. They had won a competition. I took many pictures of the
chrysanthemums. I have chosen these to post:

This one had a piece of heavy paper under it for support.

This chrysanthemum was given a tree post for support.


This is the base of the chrysanthemum plant. It was planted next to the tree post and was trained to grow up its trunk and on its branches.

There were chrysanthemums everywhere.

There were many chrysanthemums in stalls built especially for them. These stalls had bamboo screens in the back and corrugated plastic for roofs. There were purple sashes at the top. Tea was served near the red umbrella.

This display was on the steps of the temple next to the tea area.



These red chrysanthemums were part of that display.

This was set up on other steps. Kerosene heaters had aluminum tea kettles on top. Trays of tea cups and hot pots for hot water (under the tea towels) were warming in the sun.

We sat near the red umbrella and drank tea. It was served with a slice of pickle and a sweet gumdrop-like treat. I put it next to me on the bench to take this picture. It was nice to sit, drink tea and enjoy the chrysanthemums. There were many bees enjoying them, too.