Gotto love them.
Gotto love them.
Sandan,
Those are wonderful images. Thank you for sharing them. I hope to see Mt Fugi in person one day, but I truly enjoyed your images.
Savannah,
Your images are also great. I love Japanese gardens.
Japanese art is so amazing!
Japanese culture art
Been looking for several years for koi banners. Here is what I found.
http://my.core.com/~klee365/product.html
www.goldenkoi.com
A lot of you have not seen my favorites of Japanese culture and beauty... check it out from start. Some I took,others collected.
2005 Grand Champ Maruyama showa...
Why do they build the arches out in the water?
For boaters? Are they targets or lighthouses? (come hither, or go away-ther).
For water spirits? fish?
How did I miss this thread???!!! The pictures are amazing! Thank you for taking the time to post them all!
The Tori Gate marks the entrance into holy precincts, it is important to show suitable respect at the Tori, Japanese worshipers bow at this point while at the same time remembering that standing in the middle of the Tori when bowing prevents the Kami passing back and forth.
There are several different styles of Tori. The most common form is where a column on each side supports crossbars, which can vary in number.
Ok,Ok.. What is a kami?? A supreme deity goddess... brief history..
Amaterasu Omikami
Great Goddess Shining in Heaven
by J.C. Moua and Seth Tabor
Among the most highly revered of all the Shinto Kami is Amaterasu Omikami, the Great Sun Goddess. Amaterasu Omikami is virtually the supreme deity in Japanese mythology as well as the ancestor goddess of the imperial family.
In order to understand why Amaterasu Omikami is the object of such devotion, one must examine her origins. There are several versions of this creation story. The Nihongi, an eighth-century collation of many ancient Japanese myths and legends, records that the two creator deities, Izanagi no Mikoto (“The Male Who Invites”) and Izanami no Mikoto (“The Female Who Invites”), first descended from heaven and together produced the various islands of Japan, together with the mountains, rivers, and surrounding seas. Then they undertook their greatest work of all, to generate the high Kami that would rule over all these dominions. First they procreated Amaterasu Omikami, whose radiance shone through the six directions (north, south, east, west, above, and below). The divine parents were so delighted with this child that they immediately sent her up to heaven and established her there to rule over all she could survey. Next, Izanami and Izanagi created Tsukiyomi no Mikoto, the Moon Kami, whom they also set in heaven and designated as Amaterasu's celestial consort, to rule together with her. Third, the creator gods generated a “Leech Child,” which, however, appeared so bungled and misshapen that they regretfully put it in a boat and abandoned it to the winds. Fourth, Izanami and Izanagi procreated Susano-O no Mikoto, the Storm Kami, to whom they initially gave dominion over the seas but then later sent down to rule in Yomi, the underworld (Nihongi 18-19). Among other things, this myth makes clear that Amaterasu's primacy in the birth order reflected an unquestionable moral and spiritual superiority over her siblings.
Himeji castle is properly called Shirasagi-jo (White Heron Castle), perhaps because the cusped and inverted V-shaped gables resemble a flock of herons in flight. Look at roof photos, can see koi.
This Himeji Castle, otherwise called "Shirasagijo" (White Heron Castle), is situated in Himeji City of Hyogo prefecture about 50 km west of Osaka. It is about 370 years since Himeji Castle was constructed in its present shape. This is the only excellent castle which architecturally represents Japanese culture and, at the same time, has handed down its original design at the time of construction.
Looking up at Himeji Castle, not a few people might think about this unique Japanese architectural beauty that was not influenced either by Chinese or Western culture, despite the remains of the age of civil wars.
Himeji Castle is an inspiring product of the "Japanese Renaissance."
If Kami is the supreme goddess with light in six directions, ruler of all that she surveys - is preventing the kami a good thing? Can't be, can it? Or is the idea to catch her on one side or the other?while at the same time remembering that standing in the middle of the Tori when bowing prevents the Kami passing back and forth
I still don't get the arches out in the water. Why is that spot of water sacred and all around it is not?
Water is such a fluid element - (don't laugh, I understand the redundancy of that statement.) Fish are always moving around. I don't see how any one piece of water is more sacred than any other. Is there a shoal there? A coral reef?
In my culture, something like the Torii would soon be littered with flowers, banners, and little gifts. Candles. Its probably a good thing to have a shrine out in the water - prevents the litter.
A few shots for you Sundan
Savanna,
What did Moses do when he saw the burning bush? He knelt down before God out of respect, sacred land he was upon. It is almost same with tori gate and kami. While in middle of Tori gate you bow to kami out of respect.
Tori gate you see in the water is a very famous gate out of memory of Hiroshima lost soul by A-bomb. It is called gates of luck.
Always wanted to post this, thought some of you might find it interested. Its the real thing, code of Samurai. I try to live by it.
SAMURAI NO KOKORO
KNOW YOUSELF / JIKO OSHIRU KOTO
ALWAYS FOLLOW THROUGH ON COMMITMENTS / JIBUN NO KIMETA KOTO WA SAIGO MADE JIKKO SURU KOTO
RESPECT EVERYONE / IKANARU HITO DEMO SONKE SURU KOTO
HOLD STRONG CONVICTIONS / KANKYO NI SAYU NI SARENAL TSUYOI
DON'T MAKE THE ENEMY OF YOURSELF / MIZU KARA TEKI O TSUKARANAI KOTO
LIVE WITHOUT REGRETS / KOTO NI OITE KOKAISEAZU
MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION / HITO TO NO DEAI O TAISETSU NI SURU KOTO
DON'T CLING TO THE PAST / MIREN NO MOTANAL KOTO
NEVER BREAK A PROMISE / YAKUSOKU YABURANAI KOTO
DON'T DEPEND ON OTHER PEOPLE / HITO NI TAYORANAI KOTO
DON'T SPEAK ILL OF OTHERS / HITO NI ONSHITSU SHINAI KOTO
DON'T BE AFRAID OF ANYTHING / IKANARU KOTO NI ITE MO OSORENAI KOTO
RESPECT OPINION OF OTHERS / HITO NO IKEN O SONCHO SURU KOTO
HAVE COMPASSION FOR EVERYONE / HITO NO TAISHITE OMOIYARI O MOTSU KOTO
DON'T BE IMPETUOUS / KARUHAZUMI NI KOTO
EVEN LITTLE THINGS MUST BE ATTENDED TO / CHIIISAI NA KOTO DEMO TAISETSU NI SURU KOTO
NEVER FORGET TO BE APPRECIATIVE / KANSHA NO KIMOCHI O WASURENAL KOTO
BE FIRST TO SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY / HITO YORI SOSSENSHI KODO SURU KOTO
MAKE A DESPERATE EFFORT / ISSHO KENMEI MONOGOTO O SURU KOTO
HAVE PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE / JINSEI NOMOKUHYO O SADAMERU KOTO
NEVER LOSE YOUR BEGINNER SPIRIT!!!! / SHOSHIN O WASSURUBEKARAZARU KOTO
Wow - Emmalou - those photos! Are they real?
Sundan - the code of the warrior is pretty near the cowboy code, except for the "respect the opinion of others".
Cowboys are always right, and any one who disagrees is an idiot.
I'm not getting the question out right.
In my study of japanese gardens, I know that certain places in the Shinto religion are sacred. There are beautiful stones, circles with intricately woven ropes and with paper prayers fluttering in the breeze. I grok that. There are places on the earth where you step into a space - and you feel the holiness of the earth.
I don't grok the holiness of a single spot of water. Why do they put the Torii where they do?
I'm a storyteller, let me tell you about what happened to me one year.
My ex- and I, when we were still married, used to go to Victoria, Vancouver Island, close to Emmalou, every August. And we would take side trips on the way.
One year we flew in to Seattle and headed West. We went out to Long Island and then up to St. Anne's to catch the ferry to Victoria.
Along the way we found this national forest. Wonderful place, so we stayed. And we went back.
They have all these walks mapped out through the forest, but there had been a big wind and lots of the walks were obscured by fallen trees. A 12 foot wide tree falls, and the path is lost. Really-really.
And park budgets being what they are - some of the paths were wishful thinking anyway.
So we decided to take this walk. It went through gravelled,well marked paths, and then... it didn't. Fallen trees, rotting logs, the path would disappear and reappear. The path ended at a stream - streams in Northern Washington are steep and deep and COLD.
But a bit up the way, we could see a tree had fallen across. So - big adventurers that we were (hah!) we scouted through the woods to the fallen tree, made our way around the roots - which were more of a fence than anything, and shimmeyed across the tree to the other side.
Climbed up the embankment - closest I've gotten to sheer rock climbing, and back to the path.
It was WAY overgrown, difficult. My ex- is not amused by adventure. So I was doing this running prattle of the "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" - just making stuff up, certain that ex- wouldn't know the diff. And he didn't. But it kept him from *****ing.
FINALLY we got to this clearing. And there was this HUGE old cedar. It was so big that fifteen people couldn't have touched fingertips around it. It was so old that a 50 foot pine tree was growing in one of the crotches. It was so massive, that my cheap camera wouldn't take it in one photo.
And it was STILL. There was this feeling of ancient wisdom, acceptance, and peace.
No fancy knotted ropes, no Torii, no shrine. The tree itself was a shrine. A shinto priest would have fallen to his knees and cried.
Sav..that was pretty ****** cool...
There is a Grove here on the Island called Catherdral Grove..In it's prime, it was a beautiful thing to behold..trees as big as what you have described..acres and acres of them..nurse logs scattered all over the place..moss for miles..supporting lichens and toadstools of every color inaginable. You could walk for such a long time and feel the mist on your face. the ferns were as tall as a small tree...the walkways natural decayed mulch....but the things that always stood out for me was the silence..not a sound..not a bird..nothing. Was spooky in one way, but very humbling in another.
Sadly the forest itself has been revaged by time and weather..the giants have fallen,the acres cleared out. I won't go back.
Amazing gardens...