A Trip to Nagano
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009In early summer, we spent two days with Yasuko’s family in Nagano visiting Zenkouji, a 1400 year-old Buddhist temple, and one of Japan’s biggest wooden structures. As legend has it, Zenkouji is home to the first ever Buddhist image to arrive in Japan, the Amida Golden Triad also known as the “Ikkou Sanzon Amida Nyorai” which features three standing Buddhas sharing one halo. The image came from Indis by way of Korea in the year 522 and has been kept secret from the public’s view ever since. Every seven years an exact copy of the Amida Golden Triad is revealed in a grand ceremony called Gokaicho, which was the purpose of our visit. During the ceremony, a giant totem like pole is put in the middle of temple grounds, attached by a long rope to the Buddha’s middle finger. By making a once in a life time pilgrimage, visitors can touch the pole and make a direct connection to the Buddha to ensure salvation.
It was a fantastic festival and the people of Nagano made all the stops to make it so. Here are a few images…
Historically open to women when other temples were not, now up to eight million visitors (more than half women) visit the temple annually.
This is my father-in-law geeking out with me…
And some little funny camerashop mascot…
