Moriyama "pilot" with side-trip at Ishiyama-dera (pics and schwagg!)

[sjcarpediem]

Cloudy, 27C (30C)

So, I went today to see Moriyama for myself.  I happened to also know about Ishiyama-dera, which is the place where Murasaki SHIKIBU is said to have written her famous book, The Tale of Genji, the oldest continuously acknowledge novel in the world.  Since I am in the midst of a bit of private study on this and related matters, I took the opportunity to visit.  I had intended, originally, to finish the day with this excursion, but, as fate would have it, I saw Ishiyama-dera on my way to Moriyama rather than from.  I think it worked out better that way, anyway...  so here we have some pictures and commentary :

	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 01 This is the main gate, you can see the guardians and lanterns identifying Ishiyama-dera (the purported location where Murasaki SHIKIBU wrotestarted writing Genji Monogatari). Those papers stuck all over the place are to protect the temple grounds from spiritual invaders, etc. You should know that this being a Shingon temple complex, it is connected to a more mystic form of buddhism responsible for things such as heian-period wizards (onmyouji ; practitioners, calendar-readers, exorcists, etc their collection of arts is onmyoudou) so there's a lot of that sort of business. If you're ever unsure which variety you're daling with, sanskrit characters are a dead giveaway to Shingon. Through the gate is a long corridor off of which are smaller, walled temple buildings and gardens and then finally the staircase in 03 ; 02, 03 and 04 are taken in this "corridor", 09 and 10 are taken just off it...
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 02 A delightful handwashing station (for ritual purification!) fed by a dragon.
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 03 This is the main stairway up to the main plaza.
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 04 A charming wheel to indicate that water is flowing.
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 05 This would be the main plaza, taken from the top of the steps in 03.
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 06 To demonstrate the wealth of this temple...
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 07 An aid to the imagination depicting Murasaki SHIKUBU and her daughter (Daini no Sammi, who shamefully lacks a Wikipedia article!, but you can read one of her poems here ; this happens to be from one of the collections used in the traditional New Year's card-matching race game) in the background. It really is better to ignore these sorts of things, though, as they are UTTERLY WRONG(c) (!!). The English-version of the pamphlet specifies that she wrote here at the full moon of August 1004.
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 08 Speaking of Murasaki SHIKIBU, she's practically a deity ; here you can pray to her/her guardian... Sorry for the blurriness, maybe I'll try to retake this picture at some point. What I meant for you to notice is the superb example of the traditional thatching technique present on this roof, the likes of which I haven't seen since Daitoku-ji in Kyoto--not the thatching, but the craftsmanship.
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 09 A garden gnome! :-P Actually, it's a travelling buddha. This temple complex seems to be related to travel as there were a lot of charms for "safe return" and related motifs throughout (the literature that came with my admission fee says it houses gods of safe pregnancy and delivery...). Shiga, in general, I have read, is partial to the frog-symbolism used to convey wishes for safe returns (not so much safe conduct on roadways in general but specifically on the way back--I'm guessing it's from the pun in Japanese : a frog is kaeru, to come [back] is kaeru, "I'm coming back" would be karimasu, or more accurately kaetteimasu which is why I'm not fond of translation work...) and this is supposed to be tied to the history of Oumi merchants, thought I'm not clear on precisely how. I did notice a lot of this particular motif in Ishiyama and Moriyama. This temple complex is also a member of a particular pilgrimage trail--the Saigoku.
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 10 A beautiful view to enjoy with your tea...
	Ishiyama-dera (20100627) 11 Your average demon...
	Introducing Moriyama This is the view which greets people leaving from the West exit of Moriyama station. The station area is rather nice, everything dealing with signs of public or social life peters out considerably and rapidly from there, I didn't even get to the lakeshore (4km from the station) before determining it wasn't worth going any further.  There is a somewhat lengthy and thoughtful walking park emblazened with the town theme :  "hotaru sumu machi" (a town where fireflies live). Of course there are rice paddies. There are a lot of cars and a lot of traffic ; some thoroughfares seem better-suited to pedestrians than others. Etc. It could be worse. My apartment could be halfway up a mountain. The factories could be the most visible thing about the place, and they could expel various and mysterious but usually unpleasant odors. Moriyama has no mountains, so no chance of my apartment being halfway up one. Moriyama's factories are actually smaller than the many large apartment complexes near the station, and none seem to be of the kind that emits noticably foul and offensive chemicals. I won't lie and say I wasn't the slightest bit mortified and horrified getting off the train, though.

Anyway, I was so pleasantly impressed with Ishiyama-dera that I bought two metal-cut-outs of Murasaki at work and a charm for "safe returns".  I will send one of the bookmark-plates and the charm {one item to each, that is...} to anyone who comments or PMs with their snailmail addresses...

A favorite point about Ishiyama-dera : the wonderful, rich, clean, earthy smells and sounds of flowing water.  Just magnificent!

About Moriyama, I'd rather not comment, really, at this time.  Except to say I will want a bicycle, that I did see at least three restaurants, and that a lot will depend on my apartment so I really hope that it is quite nice.  Lots and lots of staring, again ; but people seem to have a slightly different attitude than they did in Shikoku about it, also, I'm much, much better with it than I was when I first came to this country--of course, I'm much better after living for a year somewhere where I'm not enough of an oddity to be stared at or at least people are cosmopolitan enough to know better than get caught at it.  This will probably be the source of some trouble, still, but at least for the time being I think it'll be cope-able.  The staring, I mean.

Ishiyama is very near the water--both the lake and the one river which flows out from Lake Biwa.  It made quite an impression, really!  (I was born in the land of 10,000 lakes, afterall...)  One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of people rowing.  I've been interested in rowing for a little bit ; perhaps, living in Shiga, the opportunity to partake of this sport will present enough of itself for me to snatch at it.

Overall, I think I will have a more active outdoors life there than I had in Kawanoe, which is fine by me. I also think I will write a handbook to surviving in the inaka. For various reasons which may or may not be discussed at a later date...

View the Ishiyama gallery, here.

Comments

[tsubasa-en11.livejournal.com]

And perhaps you can publish that book in the future for foreigners to cope with inaka life. :D

[sjcarpediem.livejournal.com]

I could probably publish it online so it'd be free to read...