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Living Out Of A Suitcase
Posts tagged Statues
The Festival Of The Dead (Obon, お盆)
Aug 17th, 2010
The bustling cities of Japan empty out during this week long event in August. Family members return to their home towns to remember those that have already left this world.
Kokeshi (こけし)
Jul 14th, 2010
Kokeshi are small wooden dolls that are famous throughout Japan, and made in this region of Tohoku. There is some debate about the origin of these dolls, with infanticide being one of the theories. This huge metal kokeshi resides in Nishi Park here in Sendai.
Pagoda Girl
Jul 5th, 2010
Another shot of the statue in a park near our place, this time with the pagoda in the background.
Starlight Pageant (Hikari Pagento,光ページェント)
Jun 23rd, 2010
Perhaps the most iconic in Sendai, this statue stands between massive rows of zelkova trees which are lit up in celebration of December’s Starlight Pageant on Jozenji Avenue.
Statue (Douzou,銅像)
Jun 16th, 2010
Sendai is littered with statues. This one, featuring a young girl holding an origami crane, resides at Nishikicho Park, home of the Sendai Germanfest. Mmm… beer…
Girl (Onnanoko, 女の子)
May 30th, 2010
A statue of a girl stands at Tsutsujigaoka 4-Chome Park; cherry blossoms in the background.
Miyagino Avenue
Dec 6th, 2009
The east (rear) side of Sendai Station was totally revitalized some years ago. The train lines were all moved underground, allowing the main boulevard, Miyagino-dori (宮城野通) to be widened. Today it’s a beautiful area. The sidewalks are wide and uncrowded, lined with trees, and there are all kinds of interesting sculptures and small shallow waterways that run along them. It’s a nice relaxing way to walk to work, before you enter the hustle and bustle of the west side of the station.
Watermark’d
Nov 2nd, 2009
This was more of an exercise in Photoshop batch-processing than anything else, to automate the resizing and inclusion of a watermark in CS4. Selected photos were taken around downtown Sendai over the past week.
Running Up The Coast, Part 2
Mar 14th, 2009
Next on our epic 1-day journey through Iwate Prefecture was the Daikannon at Kamaishi City. As we left the outskirts of Ofunato City we saw a sign for Ryorigawa Dam. Why not? We veered off the main road and snaked our way through an unnamed village, possibly going the wrong way up some one way lanes, eventually ending up at the foot of the dam. Got out at the top, snapped a few pics, then we were back on the road again.
Ryorigawa Dam Resevoir
Kamaishi City (the red marker) is famous for a couple of reasons. From Britannica Encyclopedia (remember them?):
Kamaishi was a small fishing village until magnetite was discovered in the area in 1727, and Japan’s first European-style blast furnace was constructed in the city in 1857. In 1885 a government-controlled iron foundry was built using coal from Hokkaido and later using ore from China after the Sino-Japanese War (1894–95). Heavy damage was suffered during World War II, but mining revived after 1945, yielding magnetite ore. Iron and steel, mainly from Britain, are imported through Kamaishi’s harbour, which is also an important fishing port and part of Rikuchu-kaigan National Park.
Apparently Kamaishi is the main supplier of Japan’s pachinko balls as well. The main draw to this seaside town however is the Daikannon statue. We made our way up the spiral staircase to the top and took in the view. Legend has it that those who visit the goddess and ascend the 204 stairs to the top will be filled with a great happiness. I don’t feel terrible as I type this, so maybe it worked!
Some additional information, this time from the Japanese Buddhism Photo Dictionary:
“Originally a girl of T’ang China, who was selling fish on the market. She asked Kannon Bosatsu [Goddess of Mercy] to grant her a good husband. The wish was granted, and later the girl herself was considered an incarnation of Kannon Bosatsu. This form of Kannon (#10 out of 33) is now, in this area, considered the deity of young men looking for wives.”
We decided to skip lunch and make our way even farther north to Miyako City. Originally I had planned to go to Anatoshiiso only, but in all honesty I’m probably never going to be in this neighbourhood again. We would soldier on…