Bannaji snow

It so rarely snows here, that when it does I get kind of excited about it.

 

So, I took a little trip to Bannaji today to take pictures of things with snow on them.

Golden Week

Well, for those of you who don’t know, golden week is when Japan has three big holidays right in a row. This means that everyone and their brother must go and travel somewhere over the extended weekend. It’s the busiest travel time of the year next to New Year’s. From my own personal experience I have learned to not do any serious sightseeing during golden week…as the crowds simply make it… un-enjoyable.

I did, however, manage to have a nice break!

I went to the National Art Center in Roppongi to see the Artist File 2010 exhibition. As usual, the National Art Center managed to bring in another top-notch exhibition. I really enjoyed experiencing the varying perspectives of each artist through their works. In the case of this show, some notable indivduals were Naoyo Fukuda and her embroidered books and business cards, Takashi Ishida’s Moving Picture and Still Picture, and the surreal, paint-laden canvasses of Toru Kuwakubo. Yep. It was a good art show.

Then! Lindsey came to Ashikaga!! Wooohoo!! We had kimchi-yakisoba and french toast and had a FANTASTIC time! I played the music festival at Banna-ji, which went all right. I was actually nervous (which I usually am not) and I thought I could have played better, but my singing was adequate. I really appreciated having the chance to participate in the event, and I am thankful to all of my wonderful friends who made it out to the festival. THANK YOU!  (I’m sorry I didn’t play my best for you though.)

Then! There was a kitty! On my back step!

Kitty….. Since it was about  90 some degrees outside and I felt quite bad for it, so I gave him some water and named him Sergeant Pepper. Yep. Well.. “Sergeant” only  because the positions of “Chairman” and “General” are currently occupied.

So… yeah. Good golden week. Art, music… cats? Oh! And a fantastic balcony-barbeque that happened yesterday (though I ducked out early, since I wasn’t feeling well). Yes. Definitely a good golden week.

大日尊野外ステージ音楽祭

I have a little gig on may 4th at Banna-ji in Ashikaga. My set starts at 11:55 AM. If you have some spare time on your hands this golden week, please drop by! There will be a lot of talented musicians playing at the festival!

- 大泉太鼓 10:00 -10:45
- Red Hibiscus 11:00 - 11:45 
★ Bridget Beaver 11:55 - 12:10
- 黎明座 12:30 - 1:15
- Frank Kaneko and the country western boys 1:30-2:15
- The Vicelords of Valhalla 2:30 - 3:15
- Parque Viente 3:30 - 4:15

Hope to see you there!

★Listen to my music on Purevolume

★Join the event group on Facebook

夜の鑁阿寺

 

鑁阿寺

I actually went to Bannaji Temple (or dainichi-sama... which is apparently what people call it) for the first time on my way home from school one day. I also visited the same day that I went to Ashikaga Gakko - since it was Showa day there was a whole lot more going on. They had this crazy puppet fortune teller that was cool. It gave me my love fortune... which turned out to be not spectacular, but not terrible, either. I tried to take a video of it w/ my cell phone, but I hadn't quite figured out how to take better-quality videos, so please excuse the poor quality:




There were a ton of people hanging around the temple, so I found it a little difficult to get some good shots sans...human beings.
There is a small pagoda on the grounds, whose form is very similar to the Indian stupa, not a big ol' pagoda like your stereotypical one at Toji in Kyoto.
There is a koi pond & garden which was nice, but there were these junior high school boys who were in my photos. Oh well, I guess they just added to the ambiance. Bordering the garden is an interesting belltower that has these sides that curve upwards toward a interlocking tie beam roof structure that surrounds the actual bell.
Next to the main hall there's another big hall that has red beams and white clay walls. Behind it are a storehouse, a tiny shinto shrine, and bigger shrine (to what, I don't know) which was painted a bright red (looks like its fading now).
So.. according to the brochure Bannaji temple was founded by Ashikaga Yoshikane about 400 years ago, which would be the Kamakura Period, AKA the Ashikaga period, which was when the Ashikaga bakufu ran the show. There's a nice little family tree at the end of the brochure that shows you the Ashikaga clan.







































I love that that dude just decided to take a nap on that bench.
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