Lapis Lazuli Lady

Sept. 5

No meditation today, but I did get an extra hour of sleep, which helped since I was slightly hungover. I put the previous night’s drunkenness to bed and prepared for another long day. We rode the number 12 bus into the countryside to Jōruriji, the Pure Land temple of lapis lazuli. While I did not see any actual lapis lazuli (besides the slivers adorning my necklace made by the beautiful Star of Mae), its compact three story pagoda (the main image of which, a Yakushi Buddha, had been attacked by some sort of Japanese raccoon and was away being repaired), lovely pond in the shape of a Sanskrit “a,” and nine Amida statues set inside a small rectangular building (the statues could just barely fit in the small space) were more than fulfilling. And the flowers, my god! Kikyu and hagi (bushclover) lined the walkways, as did bursting pink blooms and lotus flowers. Big caterpillars shuffled along green leaves, and yellow butterflies flapped about (I tried unsuccessfully to track one with my camera). Some maple leaves were beginning their wardrobe change from summer green to warm red, yellow, and orange tones.

A kitten sat at the edge of the pond looking hungry watching koi fish swim about with old-man turtles. What a wonderful place Jōruriji is, cool and calm tucked into the hillside off the beaten path (no other foreigners for once!!).


A quick lunch at the boulangerie (quite a feast for the eyes, nose, and mouth) near Kintetsu Nara station and we set off to Yakushiji, home to a Nara period pagoda and extremely old statuary. The air was hot and thick as soon as we stepped off the train, hence my immediate dehydrated and nauseous feeling.

Thankfully there were flowers of such colorful beauty the entire walk to the temple that distracted me from this unpleasantness. Sat on the steps of the nanmon (southern gate) next to some junior high school girls while they sketched the old pagoda and marveled at Cynthea when she said one or two words in Japanese (“sugoi!!”). Strolled the grounds, my eyes eagerly consuming the ancient artifacts. Fanned my face while admiring charred Yakushi, Nikko, Gakko, Miroku images. Pondered the provenance of strange looking figures on the Yakushi pedestal. Longed for an icy cold beer (or even water at this point). Soaked it all in. Wonderful dinner again. Enough said.

Sept. 6
Our journey to Murōji, a mountain complex that lies south from Nara about an hour by train, was the best of times and the worst of times. I shall get the bad times out of the way first so as to leave a fond impression, for Murōji is indeed a place to be fond of. For one, I bonked my head so hard leaving the gates of the seminar house that I seriously thought I might have a concussion. Thankfully Amanda brought me ice in the subway station, which I wore as a hat, surely attracting even more attention. More bad news: as it turns out, a large population of huge orange bee/wasp creatures flourishes amongst the craggy peaks of Mt. Murō, and they are hungry for unassuming visitors.

Two of our students were stung within five seconds of each other almost as soon as we entered the temple grounds. I was gazing at the bright pink flowers that offset the red of the temple gates when I heard a gastly shriek. Regaining focus, I turned around to see Jodi writhing in pain. Then Erin was hit. Chaos! Bees swarming and students (myself included, truth be told) running about being chased by angry orange fuzz puffs. It must have been quite a sight for the three elderly men with huge cameras around their necks who walked by, pretending not to notice us (they had done the same thing on the train out). Cynthea immediately set out to help the two crying ladies, and soon realized that this was no ordinary sting. Apparently this is creature supplies a particularly potent toxin that can (in extreme cases of course) lead to death! After we made it through the Miroku Hall, where I learned that until just last year women were not allowed inside, the gravity of the situation became apparent, and Cynthea escorted them to a hospital, leaving me in charge of the day and the students and the complicated journey home. Thankfully I’m pretty well read on Murōji so I felt up to the task (but really I had no choice). The tenor of the day shifted at this point, and although we were all quite worried about our friends and constantly looking out for the monsters (who kept coming dangerously close to my face), the day was not lost at all. Murōji is a spectacular place, for both its constructed and natural beauty.

We explored the golden hall and saw all the main Buddhist images, then moved on to the pagoda (smallest full-scale five-storied pagoda in Japan!) before hiking up to the Okunoin, a remote esoteric ritual hall at the very tip top of the mountain peak.
Picture a seemingly endless continuum of steep (very steep!) stone steps leading to an unexpectedly large hall adorned with gold and silver, gongs, and tapestries of splendid colors. There was even a small restaurant at the top.

It never ceases to amaze me how places like this are developed. Can you imagine carving some 400 steps of stone? Or transporting the materials to build the hall…hundreds of years ago? We ate our bento lunch on its wraparound porch on smooth wooden benches, enjoying the spectacular view, then descended, passing both the very elderly and the very young.

Post-Murōji: Melon shaved ice (such a treat on a hot day!). Milled about the small shops. Tried unsuccessfully to barter a ride for us all from a man with a huge bus. Led everyone on a mission to find a Dragon King pond that apparently did not exist. Rode the bus to Onodera to see the cliff carvings of Miroku and the Sanshō mandala (again, how is this stuff made?). The journey home was unexpectedly smooth and easy, and we passed the time snapping photographs of young girls wearing extremely inappropriate t-shirts (I am sure unbeknownst to them or their mothers). Walked to dinner past a bus full of Asian (most likely Chinese) tourists, who waved excitedly and giggled out the window at us as we passed. A third splendid dinner at Kinasa!

Sleep.