Category Archives: Osaka

Posts from Osaka

Osaka Castle Part 2

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Back in June, I covered some of the grounds and parks surrounding Osaka Castle.  Today, I have pictures from inside the grounds and keep.  Osaka Castle is full of history, but can become quite crowded as well.  When I went it was in the midst of Golden Week, and the crowds meant a long line to enter the keep and almost no chance of seeing any of the displays.  Although the peak of the building offers great views of Osaka, the interior of the castle is completely modern, and thus not great if you’re interested in the design and architectural aspects of Japanese Castles.

The exterior of the castle and its gardens, however, are quite nice and offer many areas to explore and learn.  There are many helpful signs around in Japanese and English that provide more insight in to the history and construction of the buildings and walls.

Osaka’s Shitenno-ji Buddhist Temple Part 2

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If you happened to read the first part of my Shitenno-ji tour you may have felt a vague sense of disappointment, incompleteness, or even confusion.  Don’t worry, all is answered here as our little tour moves past the gates and into the ground of the oldest state sponsored Buddhist Temple in Japan (the buildings aren’t the oldest, since they’ve been rebuilt, but the ground is the same-ish).  According to the English Language pamphlet provided with my entry fee, “Shitennoji was founded in 593 by Prince Shotoku and dedicated to the Four Guardian Kings, or Shitenno.”

Past the Sai-Mon (West Gate) with the Nio guardians is the garan, the main central area of Shitenno-ji.   The Inner Gate, Pagoda, Main Hall (Kondo), and Lecture Hall (Kodo) all line up from south to North, with an enclosed walkway around the inner courtyard.

Past the southern inner gate is the towering 5 story pagoda, which “enshrines relics of the Buddha himself.”

This is the Main Hall (kondo) which is north of the pagoda.  Inside is a statue of “Prince Shotocu in his incarnation as Guze Kannon.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the north west of the courtyard is a covered well with a bronze dragon statue.  You can tell from the head and the ball it holds that people rub them for good luck.

 

The entirety of the inner garan is covered in small pebbles.  In the background of this photo is the Kodo, the Lecture and gathering hall to the north and incorporated into the surrounding walkway.

 

Back outside the garan, there are still many interesting things to see.  The building in the background is the Rokuji-do, and is “said to have been established by the… founder of the Tendai Sect  of Buddhism.”  The rock stage (ishi butai) in front sits on a bridge over a pond with several islands for the turtles that inhabit it.

 

I was extremely lucky to catch this Great Blue Heron showing off on one of the turtle islands.  Unfortunately, no one was able to guess what it was from the shadow, but it hung around long enough for me to catch some pictures of it from above.

Finally, along the east side of the garan is a garden, treasure-house containing swords used by Prince Shotoku, a rare Lotus Sutra, and Buddhist art, and other buildings.  Here are a few more photos from the temple grounds.

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Shitenno-ji Temple, Osaka

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Shitenno-ji is located in Osaka, Japan. It is the first Buddhist temple to be built by the state, specifically under the direction of Prince Shotoku. The Prince had a significant hand in promoting Buddhism in Japan during the 6th Century. The architecture is similar to Nara’s Horyuji Temple with a main gate, lecture hall, five-story pagoda, golden hall, and other structures. Unlike Horyuji, which holds the world’s oldest wooden building, Shitenno-ji has been rebuilt several times. Still, the grounds are an interesting and historic diversion if you are visiting Osaka or the Kansai region. The outer grounds are free, but there is a small fee for entry to the interior grounds. Here’s a few pictures from a trip I took there.

Here’s the outer view of Shitenno-ji with a stone Torii Gate marking the boundary.

Past the gate is the statue of a monk. I’m not sure, but I think it is a blind monk. Many old Japanese stories tell of the blind surviving as wandering monks and beggars, often in similar clothing.

Like most Japanese temples, Shitenno-ji also has a large gate guarding the approach to the inner garan. This is teh West Gate or Sei-Mon gate.

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As with Nara’s Todai-ji Temple, two Nio guardian statues protect the temple grounds. On the left is Agyo with his mouth open, and Ungyo on the right. These two statues are actually to the south and are enclosed in the Inner Gate which you can see here.

Past this gate there is an open area that leads around the garan, the main temple. To enter past the small gate and see the inner grounds, you have to pay a small fee.

I’ll have the second half of this post ready to go for you on Friday, till then, see if you can guess what I found lurking on the Temple grounds. Here’s a hint:

Guess correctly (you have to be specific!) in the comments by Friday and I’ll send you a full-res photo with permission to use it for non-monetary purposes via email.

Be sure to checkout Part Two of my photo tour!

Emperor Nintoku’s Kofun

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One of the things I love about Japan is its rich history.  Unlike America, which  has only been around for a historical blip, Japan has been going for hundreds of years.  One of the interesting historical tid bits are the Kofun, the ancient tombs of the Kofun period (huh, wonder why they chose that name for the 3rd-7th century…).

I dutifully took Japanese Civilization at the University of Arizona and we eventually covered the keyhole-shaped tombs. They were so interesting and rather unique that for a long time I had wanted to visit one.  When I went to Osaka, I ditched my travel buddies to seek out a bit of history a short rail ride away.  Unlike aerial photos these aren’t as magical as I hoped. The major kofun are of such major historical importance that you can’t actually go on them.  Still, here are a few pictures from my trip so that you can spend your time shopping or hitting up Osaka Castle instead.

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