We'd planned a trip to Yamadera (a temple on a mountain near us) on this day off, but gloomy weather put us off making a big trip. Instead, we got the train to Kitayama, and went to Rinnoji temple. It's the family temple of the Date clan (family of Date Masamune who founded Sendai). It was founded in 1444, but only moved to Sendai when the Date's did in the 1600s. The buildings are OK, but it's the garden that's really pretty.
There were donkeys but I have no idea why. John enjoying meeting people of his own intelligent level though.
Calm and peaceful.
Day was really overcast, but it was still lovely.
Date family emblem. See the sparrows in the middle? They're the reason for the Sparrow Dance.
Just down the road there was a smaller shinto shrine that we visited too.
And after reading this post, I had to take photos of these statues, and impress John with my knowledge about why one has an open mouth, and one a closed one :)
Now for the big question: when John was talking to the donkeys, who was going aaa, and who was going unnn? :D
ReplyDeletePS: Those sparrows in the Date family emblem look like real bad-ass birds!
Hmmm I believe John was actually ee-ore-ing at them, because he is mature like that, so I bet the donkey wished it could be going unn and finishing it's life off so it didn't have to talk to stupid foreigners anymore!
DeleteI know, I suppose bamboo and sparrows don't naturally lend themselves to scary warrior emblems, so they had to do the best with what they had!
Love these gardens - another place to add to the list of where I would like to visit when we come :)
ReplyDeleteOf course, they were lovely and I really want to go back at different times of year anyway :)
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