Highly Recommended: Nara Temple Stay & Field Recording (Patreon)

Lots of stuff!

The above attached field recording is one I took while staying at the Mountain Shigi-san/信貴山 in Nara. It's a little less that four minutes long and in it you can hear the (5am) morning prayers at the Chogosonshi Temple. The sect of Buddhism there is Shingon/真言, so an esoteric flavor that I like quite a lot. The ceremonies always make the hair on the back of my arms stand up. Drums and bells and sutra chanting, sometimes conch shell blowing. 

Here's what the temple looked like.

While listening, beware The Crow. There were lots of morning birds, but The Crow was HUGE! In this recording or the second one I'm going to attach here, you could even hear his wings flap as he flew by me. He was very curious about what I was doing.

The water you hear was some underground sewer system running under the rock grates (unfortunate sound-wise). It was probably from washing the morning's dishes. I hope. 

In the second recording (attached below) there is more of the ceremony, but no water. Still lots of morning birds. In this one though The Crow's curiosity got the best of him, and he got very close to me. He was so loud and magnificent. Then at the three-minute mark, you can hear me stifling a giggle. 

Backstory: A little earlier, during this serene 5am-morning stroll, Richard opened his phone and some weird app started making this comical *boing-boing-boing* noise and he was trying to shut it off and it was so funny. So, yeah, three minutes in, I'm remembering the look on his face, horrified, as he is trying to get his phone to shut up.

Then a little after that you can hear a bunch of monks walk by in their wooden geta shoes and you can hear one of the head monks tell me good morning and me answer.

If/When you visit Japan, I highly recommend spending the night at one of the temples on Shigi-san in Nara. There are three temples where you can stay on the mountain. There's Jofuku-in/城福院, Senju-in/千手院, and Gyokuzo-in/玉蔵院.

We stayed at the facilities near Gyokuzo-in/玉蔵院. I found out they even have an English-language website. Right here. 

Staying at a temple is called shukubo/宿坊 and it's meant to be a little austere. The bath/ofuro, toilets, and eating are all kyodo/共同, shared. But at the Gyokuzo-in everything was quite new and very clean. The monks and staff were very kind and welcoming. We were two of only three people who stayed there. 

Oh, and do make sure you don't stay at the hotel of the same name. It is a lot more expensive and not on the mountain at all. In Japan more likely than not, you pay per person in the room. So one person here was 11,000 yen, two of us 22,000 yen (about 200 dollars for the both of us). But with that you get a kaiseki/懐石料理 or shojin/精進料理 dinner. Kaiseki is fancy food with fish, shojin is a Buddhist meal with no meat. My one regret is that I ordered us kaiseki instead of shojin. I would have liked to have tried the non meat one. 

Here's what the kaiseki dinner looked like. Top left o the red tray was a nabe soup with veggies and some meatballs. 

You also get a nice breakfast, too. 

Here are some morning shots. 

You're allowed to walk all around the mountain paths and visit the temples and all manner of cool thing until ten pm. So we did that. Even made the long hike to the top of the mountain to see all the shrines dedicated to various dragon gods and a breathtaking view of the city below. 

Here are some night photos from the day before. This is on the way to the top of the mountain. It was magical and a little spooky.

Below is one of the many lantern lit paths. 

Oh, and another thing you can do when you stay here is go to a goma/護摩 purification ritual early in the morning. 

I stayed here over 25 years ago, and it was one of the most amazing things ever. This year because of Covid-19, the monk wore a mask and didn't chant out loud. It was still incredible, all the fire, all the various woods, oils, herbs incenses being burned. 

Here's a photo of that. He said it was okay to take a photo before he started. 

Okay, that got long. But some neat Nara stuff. It's a little known place that is well worth the trip. 

Bedtime Story, postcards, and all envelopes I can send will be worked on this coming week. 

Happy New Year, XOXO, stay safe and well, my critters!

terrie