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Onomichi Station (尾道駅) Ichiban-gai Street (一番街) Jiko-ji Temple (持光寺) Hodo-ji Temple (宝土寺) The Onomichi Channel (尾道水道) Senko-ji Park (千光寺公園) |
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| Onomichi Station (尾道駅) and Onomichi Castle (尾道城) | ||
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(Friday 18 October) Onomichi Station and Onomichi Castle | |
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(Friday 18 October) Sowa-Inari-jinjya Shrine (蘇和稲荷神社. built in the 5th year of Kansei [寛政5年] or AD 1803), Higashi-gosho-cho (東御所町; near Shimanami Koryu-kan [しまなみ交流館]), Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) Viewed from Waterfront Building (尾道ウォーターフロントビル), Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) Viewed from Waterfront Building, Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) Onomichi Castle (尾道城), viewed from Tsuchidoko-shita Bus Stop, Onomichi | |
| Ichiban-gai Street (一番街) of the Onomichi Shopping District Arcade (尾道商店街) which is the 1.6 km shopping street between west and east. At the west end, the statue of the famous writer Fumiko Hayashi (林 芙美子) stands. | ||
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(Friday 18 October) The west entrance to Ichiban-gai Street (一番街) of the Onomichi Shopping District Arcade (尾道商店街) which is the 1.6 km shopping street between west and east. At the west end, the statue of the famous writer Fumiko Hayashi (林 芙美子) stands. | |
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(Friday 18 October) The statue of Fumiko Hayashi (林 芙美子, 1903-1951) at the west end of the Onomichi Shopping District Arcade. She was one of the most distinguished Japanese modern woman writers wandering in the streets of Tokyo in 1920s. It is nearby the house where Fumiko Hayashi once lived. She was born in Moji, Kitakyushu (北九州市門司) and her family moved to Onomichi when she was a child in 1917. She graduated from primary and secondary schools here.
Her first novel, the semi-autobiographical poetic-diary, Horoki (『放浪記』; Journal of a Vagabond, 1930) gained a widely popularity and established her status in Japanese literature. She also published a poetry collection, I Saw a Pale Horse (trans. Janice Brown; its original title, 『蒼馬を見たり』), Hayashi's literary origins are colorfully revealed. Little known in the West, these early poetic texts focus on Hayashi's unconventional early life, and her construction of a female subject that would challenge, with gusto and panache, accepted notions not only of class, family, and gender but also of female poetic practice. Her most popular saying is: "Hana no Inochi wa Mijikakute Kurishiki-koto nomi Okariki" (「花の命は短くて苦しきことのみ多かりき」: "After the short flowery time, so many troubles come to women only" [trans. Eishiro Ito]). |
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(Friday 18 October) The statue of Fumiko Hayashi, Onomichi. The inscription extracted from Horoki (『放浪記』): "Umi ga Mieta/ Umi ga Mieru/ Gonen-buri ni Miru/ Onomichi no Umi wa/ Natsukashii" (「海が見えた 海が見える 五年振りに見る 尾道の海は なつかしい」: "I see the sea/ My dear sea/ I have longed for my sweet sea of Onomichi / for these five years" [trans. Eishiro Ito]). | |
| Jiko-ji Temple (持光寺), Onomichi | ||
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(Friday 18 October) Jiko-ji Temple (持光寺), Onomichi. This temple belongs to the Jodo-shu Nishiyama-Zenrin-ji-ha sect of Buddhism (浄土宗西山禅林寺派). | |
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(Friday 18 October) Stone san-mon Gate (山門) called "Enmei-mon" (Gate of Longevity), Jiko-ji Temple, Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) Historical Temple Walk near Jiko-ji Temple | |
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(Friday 18 October) Hon-do (main Hall), Jiko-ji Temple, Onomichi. It enshrines the statue of Gokoshiyui Amida-nyorai (五劫思惟阿弥陀如来; Amitabha Tathagata in Five Kalpas' Meditation). A kalpa is a very long period of time, more than million years.
Cf. "Kalpa (time unit)" in Wikipedia (Accessed: May 13, 2007): In Buddhism, there are four different lengths of kalpas. A regular kalpa is approximately 16 million years long, and a small kalpa is 1000 regular kalpas, or 16 billion years. Further, a medium kalpa is 320 billion years, the equivalent of 20 small kalpas. A great kalpa is 4 medium kalpas, or 1.28 trillion years. (Cf. Epstein, Ronald: Buddhism A to Z [Burlingame, California, USA: The Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2003]). ) The Buddha had not spoken about the exact length of the kalpa in number of years. However, he had given several astounding analogies to understand it. 1. Imagine a huge empty cube at the beginning of a kalpa, approximately 16 miles in each side. Once every 100 years, you insert a tiny mustard seed into the cube. According to the Buddha, the huge cube will be fuller even before the kalpa ends. 2. Imagine a gigantic rocky mountain at the beginning of kalpa, approximately 16 x 16 x 16 miles (dwarfs the Everest!). You take a small piece of cloth and wipe the mountain once every 100 years. According to the Buddha, the mountain will be completely depleted even before the kalpa ends. In one situation, a some monks wanted know how many kalpas had passed away so far. The Buddha gave the shocking analogy: 1. If you count the total number of sand particles at the depths of the Ganges river, from where it begins to where it ends at the sea, even that number will be less than the number of passed kalpas. In Hinduism, it is equal to 4,320 million years, a "day of Brahma" or one thousand Yugas, measuring the duration of the world; a "month of Brahma" is supposed to contain thirty such Kalpas, or 129.6 billion years. According to the Mahabharata, 12 months of Brahma constitute his year, and 100 such years the life cycle of the universe. Fifty years of Brahma's are supposed to have elapsed, and we are now in the shvetavaraha-kalpa of the fifty-first; at the end of a Kalpa the world is annihilated. Each kalpa is further divided into 14 manvantara (each lasting 306,720,000 years). |
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| Hodo-ji Temple (宝土寺), Onomichi | ||
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(Friday 18 October) Information board of Hodo-ji Temple (宝土寺), Onomichi. It was founded by Ikan Yukai (融海 意観) during the Jowa era (貞和年間; 1345-1349). It belongs to the Jodo-shu sect (浄土宗). It enshrines the image of Amida-nyorai (阿弥陀如来; Amitabha Tathagata). This temple abuts on Kibi-Tsuhiko-jinjya Shrine (吉備津彦神社). | |
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(Friday 18 October) "Roku-jizo" (六地蔵; the Six Statues of Ksitigarbha-bodhisattva), Hodo-ji Temple, Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) "Hon-do" (Main Hall), Hodo-ji Temple, Onomichi | |
| Onomichi-suido (尾道水道; the Onomichi Channel), the Seto Inland Sea, viewed from Senko-ji Park (千光寺公園), Onomichi | ||
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(Friday 18 October) Onomichi-suido (尾道水道; the Onomichi Channel), the Seto Inland Sea, viewed from Senko-ji Park (千光寺公園), Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) Onomichi-suido (the Onomichi Channel), the Seto Inland Sea, viewed from Senko-ji Park, Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) Onomichi Ohashi Bridge & Shin-Onomichi Ohashi Bridge, The Seto Inland Sea, viewed from Senko-ji Park, Onomichi | |
| Senko-ji Park (千光寺公園), Onomichi | ||
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(Friday 18 October)A monument inscribed with Soho Tokutomi's poem praising a local person contributing to the Meiji Restoration (明治維新). The Path of Literature (文学のこみち), Senko-ji Temple, Onomichi. Soho Tokutomi (徳富蘇峰, 1863-1957) wrote nearly 300 books throughout his long literary career. | |
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(Friday 18 October)Entrance Stone of the Path of Literature, Senko-ji Temple, Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) A monument inscribed with Shiki Masaoka's poem, "Nodokasa ya/ Koyama tsuduki ni/ To futatsu" (のどかさや/ 小山つづきに/ 塔ふたつ; "Tranquility, /Over hills, /There stand two towers." [trans. Eishiro Ito.]) The Path of Literature, Senko-ji Temple, Onomichi. Shiki Masaoka (正岡子規, 1867-1902) was born in Matsuyama (松山), across The Seto Inland Sea. He is well-known for introducing a new style of haiku, a Japanese short poetic form using only 17 syllables, much influenced by Basho Mastuo (松尾 芭蕉). The two towers are Three Storied Pagoda of Saikoku-ji Temple (西国寺 三重塔) and Kaiun-to Tower of Tennei-ji Temple (天寧寺 海雲塔) in Onomichi. | |
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(Friday 18 October)The Path of Literature, Senko-ji Temple, Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) Onomichi-o-hashi Bridge (尾道大橋) & Shin-Onomichi-o-hashi Bridge (新尾道大橋), the Seto Inland Sea, viewed from Senko-ji Park, Onomichi | |
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(Friday 18 October) A Path down Senko-ji Park | |
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(Friday 18 October) A Path down Senko-ji Park | |
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(Friday 18 October) A graveyard near Historical Temple Walk, Onomichi |
