"Z"ippy Kendara

Part 3 of the Buddhist Guardian series.

His name is Kendara (健陀羅), one of the four Guardians at Yashamon Gate (夜叉門) of Taiyuin (大猷院) at the World Heritage site in Nikko city, Tochigi Prefecture. Taiyuin is a Buddhist temple at which the 3rd Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu Tokugawa (徳川家光) is worshipped.

Kendara is the most explicit figure among the four Guardians there. His upper body is mostly naked, he does not protect knees with funny animal pads, either... He does so probably because he is proud of his fairly pale skin! I like his shoes, though:)

He is armed with a golden sledge hammer.

Let's take a closer look at him.

Close-up of his fierce face.

He has wavy orange hair and brown/orange fangs. Note the unusual orientation of his fangs. They are growing upwards!!! Don't ask me why... So horrifying! I like his eyebrows, though...

Although he is composed of terrifying body parts (masculine shape, fangs, facial expression, weapon), he looks somehow comical (I agree with you, Miss Becky!!! Thanks for your thoughtful comment on Bidara post:). This is probably due to his "voguing" and zippy pose!

He is a guardian of the "West".

If you are curious about his friends, please say "Hi" to them;

Umarokya

Bidara

White Wednesday

Oops, last photo above is the badge for White Wednesday meme. Please visit Kathleen's blog to see more white photos. Oh yes, this is also a ABC Wednesday. "Z" is for Zippy. Please explore more "Z" entries.

Bidara

Part 2 of Buddhist Guardian series.

His name is Bidara (毘陀羅), one of the four Guardians at Yashamon Gate (夜叉門) of Taiyuin (大猷院) at the World Heritage site in Nikko city, Tochigi Prefecture. Taiyuin is a Buddhist temple at which the 3rd Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu Tokugawa (徳川家光) is worshipped.

Hi my name is Umarokya! Click on me to enlarge.

He is as scary as Umarokya (烏摩勒伽), who appeared in the previous entry. Bidara has red skin, curly brown hair,  sharp gold fangs, shining gold stick in his right hand, and his left hand is ready to punch your face. Also note that he has catfish heads for knee pads. He wears slippers with the same color as his knee pads... Is it made of catfish skin??? That I am not sure... One of his roles is to guard the "South", whereas Umarokya is guarding the "North"


This is a Ruby Tuesday entry.

Umarokya

Umarokya (烏摩勒伽), which I think one of the Buddhist Guardians, is one of the four Guardians at Yashamon Gate (夜叉門) of Taiyuin (大猷院) at the World Heritage site in Nikko city, Tochigi Prefecture. Taiyuin is a Buddhist temple at which the 3rd Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu Tokugawa (徳川家光) is worshipped.

This scary macho guy in the photo has curly orange hair, sharp fangs, an arrow in his right hand, and an edgy sword in the left one. Also note that he has elephant heads for knee pads, which is scary enough to guess his height!!!

At shrines, you can see a wooden arrow called Hamaya (破魔矢: literally "demon breaking arrow"). Actually the arrow that he is holding in his right hand is the origin of Hamaya! Yes, that Shinto military weapon comes from Buddhism! Well, back in the old days, there weren't any such distinctions between the two religions in Japan.

At Taiyuin when you proceed from Yashamon Gate, you will find a Haiden Oratory (拝殿) where you get a lecture in Japanese only (sorry for the inconvenience for you guys). At the end of the lecture delivered by Buddhist monk there, you are encouraged to buy Hamaya made of metal. It's a Taiyuin original, which is cool. I think that this is a very smart strategy because by the time the lecture is over (15 min or so), I am sure that your legs are too numb to stand up for a while. Then you are surrounded by Buddhist monks, giving you a big smile, with expensive Hamaya Arrows in their right hands. Just like the blue Umarokya statue in this picture (but not a real sharp sword in their left hands)! I bed you that they will do their best to sell. Maybe they speak to you in English or your native language:)))


Part 2 of Buddha guardian series is "Bidara"(毘陀羅)

Hi my name is Bidara. Please click on me to get me the hell out of this tiny frame.

This is a Blue Monday and That's my world entry.

           

Yabusame Performance

Yabusame (流鏑馬) performance was dedicated to the Shinto deity, Toyokiiribiko (豊城入彦命), at Futaarayama Shrine (二荒山神社) in Utsunomiya downtown.
The performance took place last November during Kikusui Festival (菊水祭) but the photo I'm posting today...

Why?

I have been thinking about "Sacred horse" and "Ema (絵馬)" today. Lina, one of the lovely participants in "Show Me Japan", posted a beautiful B&W photo of "Ema" on her blog and I left a comment on it. Then I was asked to elaborate on this issue. And so I did with its historical background included.

Today on my blog, I might as well post a photo of an archer shooting an arrow while riding on a sacred horse!


This is a Camera Critters #144 and Sunday In My City entry.

               

Cafeteria At Night

No tricks were applied to this bizarre image; no multiple exposures, no art filters; no fancy artworks, no nothing, except I converted it into black and white, adjusted tone curves (to get closer to what I saw), and shrinked the image size to upload.

This is a cafeteria at Nasunogahara Harmony Hall (那須野が原ハーモニーホール) in Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture. I was outside of the building and photographed the cafeteria through a thick glass wall.

If you want to see more photos taken at this place, please click the images below:

         

This is a Black and White Weekend, Weekend Reflections, and Shadow Shot Sunday and Scenic Sunday entry.

                

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mt. Toyama Summit

Photographed on the summit of Mt. Toyama (外山), Nikko city. Bishamondo Hall (毘沙門堂), that is owned by Rinnoji Temple (輪王寺), is located at the summit. A bunch of old statues is waiting for you behind the Hall. And a fresh air, too!

Actually the photo of the entrance to this mountain was the first entry of this blog!!! And this is also the 70th post on this blog.
   
     Click on the photo to enlarge.

As the sign says, it's 880m above the sea level. It took me 30 min to climb to the top of this mountain from the shrine gate (entrance) that is located at approximately 560m. Note that I took my camera bag, water, and tripod with me. Altogether it weighed around 15kg.
 
This is an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 8. If you want to see more nice photos taken in Japan, please be sure to visit!!!

As usual, this is also a Sky Watch Friday and Foto Friday entry. The theme of this week is "fresh".

      

Tekomai Girl in Utsunomiya

Here is a Tekomai girl - part 2 that I photographed in my town, Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture. She is not our daughter. You can see our children there.

If you want to see other Tekomai girls, here we go. For those who are curious about Tekomai girls, we have something to tell you in our other blog, Budget Trouble.

         Click on the photo to enlarge.


This is a Sepia Scenes entry.

"Y"ellow Light Decoration

Photographed at Ashikaga Flower Park (足利フラワーパーク), Ashikaga city, Tochigi Prefecture. This park is well known for having a variety of wisteria trees. The tree in this entry is the biggest among them and it is still growing, branching, and expanding its mass enough to occupy 1000m²!!!

We went there for the Christmas illumination and the tree was decorated with "Y"ellow LED lights. I don't want to know how many LED light bulbs were required to cover the upper part of the tree.

I used Nikon F801S (old film camera) with Sigma 15mm Diagonal Fisheye (first image) and Nikkor 20mm F2.8D (second one).

If you are curious to see this tree during daytime, take a look at this video taken in May, 2010. In the YouTube video, this tree appears at 1:00 min mark.

This is an Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday (second photo) and ABC Wednesday entry.Y is for yellow.

         

Daruma Doll On Fire

Photographed at Futaarayama Shrine (二荒山神社) during Otariya (冬渡祭) festival. In my old post, I already described why Daruma dolls are put into the fire.　

    This is a B&W version of Daruma dolls on fire. Click on the photo to enlarge.

This is a Ruby Tuesday entry.

Swan Lake

Photographed at Ashikaga Flower Park (足利フラワーパーク), Ashikaga city, Tochigi Prefecture. Below are more photos taken there. Click on a photo to enlarge.

      

Here's Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.

Below is a Japanese version, broadcast on a Comedy Program.

This is a Blue Monday, Moody Monday (The theme is "Festive"), Shutter Day (The theme is "Best of 2010"), That's my world and Happy Monday entry.


        

New Year's Day

It's our custom to visit a shrine on New Year's Day. We visited Futaarayama Shrine (二荒山神社) and Takao Shrine (高龗神社). This photo was taken at Takao Shrine, the closest one to where we live. When compared to Futaarayama Shrine, this one is small and cozy and only the local people visit there.

After praying, I got an amulet for FREE!!!

This is a Spiritual Sunday, Our Weekend Memories, Sunday In My City and Shadow Shot Sunday entry.