Yesterday, we wandered many streets of the surrounding Japanese cities — getting a glimpse of the Japanese culture far from the well-traveled roads. It’s hard to avoid the observation that this island is cramped, with narrow streets, narrow sidewalks and bustling activity everywhere.
We also visited two important cultural places — a giant Buddha (we even went inside the belly of the Buddha, which should be the name of a rock band, as Dave Barry used to say in his columns) and a beautiful temple shrine complex. Both sites are hundreds of years old. The temple, in particular, was astounding, using the landscape to capture the essence of spirituality.
I wrote this haiku to capture my thoughts of the shrine:
A water whisper:
Music amid the temples;
we walk silent paths
The site is known as Tsurogaoka Hachimangue Shrine and it is in Kamakura.
Peace (in 5-7-5),
Kevin
What a very cool challenge for this challenging adventure. Cool that you have your blog for your use
Bonnie
My ultimate goal will be to marry the haikus with photos (later on)
Kevin
Very worthwhile. I can’t wait. At the moment Nancy C. is working on my new web presence called digital bonnie, bringing all my blogs etc. wedded together in one place. Can’t wait until it’s done.So cool that she wants to do it.
Is it a great trip? Do your kids, wife love it?
Bonnie