Today I played chess at a chess club. There were only eight people there, so there wasn't a lot of variation in skill level. That's difficult for me because I'm either shooting fish in a barrel, or I'm get killed. It's rare that I learn anything new, but a friend of mine in America was able to teach me some things by beating me. I went to the event expecting it to be a competition, and in hindsight, it's probably for the best that it wasn't. I had some fun, met some people, but I don't think I would go again. I still enjoy playing chess, but the "chess club" setting is not that much fun for me. I'd rather play with someone that I know, someone that I enjoy talking to, rather than with some random person with whom the only thing I have in common is chess. And I don't even like chess that much.
In April, I went to Tokyo. If you haven't read the previous posts on that trip, no worries! They are not in chronological order. One of the day trips was to Daibutsu (pronounced with a long I and a long U), which is a buddhist temple. It is home to a massive statue of buddha. There are temple grounds and a shop, like all temples I've been to in Japan, but this one is known for its giant statue.
It's going to be hard to convey the size of the statue, but it's really big. We went when the cherry blossoms are blooming, and that's a great time of year. It's comfortable temperature outside, it's not raining that much, the cherry blossoms are gorgeous, and there are usually events going on. There is a school break at that time, and that's when the trip was planned, and I wouldn't have picked a different time.
The statue is part of a larger temple with other stuff around. There are a variety of different layouts of temples here, some that focus more on the buildings, some that focus more on the shrines, and some that focus more on the natural environment. This one has a obvious focus on the massive statue in the middle, but there are buildings around it. Of the publically available buildings, they seem like mostly shelter from the elements, or shops.
Alright, there it is, a massive buddha statue. Classic pose, familiar coloring, not a lot of frills, as would befit the teacher of a philosophy that rejects material connections. One could question how attached people could get to a giant statue, but one probably shouldn't.
That's another angle. I remember that there was something on the backside of the statue that made it not very photogenic, so these are probably the best angles of it. The other side was in shadow, so not a great angle either. I don't know much about photography, but I know not to take pictures facing toward the sun, unless you are doing that on purpose.
Ok, so this is an interesting story. As I remember it, a student saw this statue and thought, I wish that the statue would get up and walk around Japan and make everyone happy. So you know what we should do so that can happen? We should make slippers for the statue, because while I'm sure there are a number of things that are preventing this inanimate object from getting up and moving around, one of those things is not having any slippers. And of the things that this student could change, the lack of slippers was within reach, so they worked to get a reasonably-sized pair of slippers made. That's a line of thinking that I can get behind: if anyone were to point out any of the other things that would need to happen for the statue to get up and move around the country, the student could say "Well, I fixed one of the things preventing that, why don't you step up and do your part." As far as I know, there is no expectation for the statue to get up and walk around, but it's got a pair of slippers hanging up near by if it needs them.
Most temples have these gates out front. These are not Torii gates, these are different. I don't know if there is some teleportation symbolism like I think there are for torii gates. Torii gates are supposed to be gateways to the spirit world, if I recall correctly, but I don't know if these have a similar meaning. They always have two statues in the boxes in the front. Sometimes the statues look like demons, sometimes they look like humans.
In this case, one of them looks like a demon. I think that the wire is to keep out animals, rather than trap the demon creature in. Different temples have different types of wire, and some have more than one, so it's probably to keep birds from nesting and pooping on them. I have no idea why there are demons inside them (or if they are demons, maybe they are something else). Maybe they are there to scare off other bad spirits.
It was cherry blossom time, so I got some pictures of those. There is not much to say about them. Enjoy.
As with a lot of things in Japan, making it look pretty is of great concern. I figure if they are going to go through the effort to put it up, I might as well go through the effort of taking a picture and posting it. I have no idea what this is what it represents, but it's just another pretty little piece of Japan.
SarisonZero lives and works in Japan. He's recruiting players for a DnD game if you know anyone interested.