At Last, a Visit to Onozaki`s Suwa Jinja- to learn its name and ask about its...
By Avi Landau Just next to the Mcdonald`s outlet on the Tsuchiura-Gakuen Line is Koike`s Suwa Shrine There is a curious little Shinto Shrine which sits a few hundred meters from the TX Tsukuba...
View ArticleFeeding Hungry Ghosts- Late August is the season for SEGAKI (施餓鬼) Services in...
Buddhist priests feeding GAKI as depicted in a 12th picture scroll called the GAKI SO-SHI. Similar ceremonies (without visible GAKI!) are held at the end of August each year in Japan. I usually...
View ArticleDiscovering Another Prayer Wheel (輪廻車、後生車) in the Tsukuba-Tsuchiura Area
By Avi Landau I cycled by this low, inconspicuous, stone pillar, standing by the roadside in the middle of nowhere (on the border between the Yasaku and Shishizuka in Tsuchiura) – but instead of...
View ArticleHigashioka’s Fudo-Ko: A Meeting With The Unmoveable One
By Avi Landau It was the 27th, and July is an odd numbered month (the 7th), so I knew where I could find Mrs. Okamino. I built up the determination to step out of my house and into the throbbing...
View ArticleIn Japan, August is a month of REMEMBERANCE
Keiji Nakazawa`s HADASHI NO GEN (Barefoot Gen) By Avi Landau It is in August , when Japan is most ALIVE ,with the droning of cicadas, the wild expansion of vegetation, and with the air itself...
View ArticleThe Amida Hall in Kasuge, Tsuchiura (粕毛の阿弥陀堂) – and the story of the...
The Amida Hall in Kasuge, Tsuchiura , rebuilt in 1760, is an Important Cultural Property of the city. It houses an ancient image of Amida which is said to have been rescued from anti-Buddhist vandals...
View ArticleThe Last Straw? Yoshiro Yaguchi Keeps Unique O-Bon Traditions Alive in...
A tray for offerings (O-Zen) made from Makomo grass by Yaguchi-San on Aug. 12th By Avi Landau Traditionally, the summer O-Bon Festival, in which Japanese families celebrate the return of the...
View ArticlePraying For Good Tobacco Harvests at Mt. Kabasan`s Kiseru Matsuri (きせる祭)- The...
Japan`s largest KISERU ( traditional pipe- of South-East Asian origin) is filled with tobacco, lit, carried while still billowing smoke, up Mt. Kaba to the Tobacco Shrine- notice the pump inserted...
View ArticleJundo Cohen’s Long Anticipated Work on Zen Master Dōgen Comes Out to Rave...
The Zen Master’s Dance – A Guide to Understanding Dōgen And Who You Are in The Universe by Zen teacher (and long time Tsukuba resident) Jundo Cohen The Zen Master’s Dance makes some of Zen’s subtlest...
View ArticleThe Bamboo Shade is Lifted Once a Year- on January 28th – Revealing the 12th...
For 364 days a year (365 in leap years) the cliff carving looks like this- covered with a bamboo shade On January 28th each year the curtain is removed- and while a new one is being made, the...
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