This is Yamanote Park near my house. There are a few tennis courts at the base, but you gotta climb a hill to see the cool stuff. You enter at this gate and climb a small path up to the top of the hill where you see a playground, and a war memorial. There are also a few gazebos around and some small monuments. It’s a neat little park.
Down the road a ways, close to the city hall, there’s another little park and on one side there is a pyramid of baby-grave monuments. I didn’t know what it was at first, but a friend of mine who is Japanese told me that it was definitely a monument for the dead, and that the small size of the monuments indicated baby memorial. I was shocked that this would be right next to a children’s park, but that’s Japan for ya.
This is a little shrine near my house. It’s located on the sidewalk. Theres nothing much more to it, but I think it’s cool that they are so common that you can find them literally in the most unassuming places.
This is a local cemetery. It has many beautiful monuments.
This is a statue of Kannon-Sama. She is a Buddhist Bodhisattva/God(dess)of mercy and compassion. You often see her/him in cemeteries.
And here is a statue of a samurai on a horse. This statue is next to the library and the train station in Haramachi in Minamisoma.
I went to the beach one day and I had the intention to go play in the water on the beach. I brought my swimsuit and everything! But when I got to the beach the police were there and were not allowing anyone to enter the water because there was a missing surfer and they were conduction a search-and-rescue over the area (and it had been long enough that they were probably looking for a body at that point.)
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Part 2!!
I recently went on a drive around my town, because I was feeling adventurous on the way home from work. I just happened upon this large Shinto Shrine complex with multiple buildings near two of my schools.
I was surprised to find it, because I drive past this shrine nearly every day, but I had never seen it before. That is because the shrine itself is on a hill in the middle of rice fields. The hill is covered in trees, and the hill is surrounded by houses and a few businesses. Because of this, I had never known there was a shrine here before.
It is a pretty shrine, and it had a large wooden horse in a stable next to the main shrine. It’s called Somatoa Shrine. It also had a lot of horse carvings on the shrines and around the grounds.
Minamisoma was well known in old day for being the place where you bought and trained horses for combat. Samurai often got their horses from Soma and Minamisoma areas. There is a special style of pottery from the area that often has horses painted on it. It is called Oborisoma ware (大堀相馬焼) and it is characterized by its crackly appearance and it often has two layer of clay to protect your hands from burning when you have a cup of hot tea. Here are some photos from google images.
The complex had some really old komainu statues
And a shrine that had been built into a rock wall at the top of the hill.
There was this big building, but I couldn’t see inside it and I don’t know what it’s purpose is.
This is the purification fountain at the entrance to the shrine.
There was a little slide behind the fountain.
Across the street there were a few more monuments and a small shrine, although I’m not sure what purpose they have.
There is a building next to the shrine with a big open lot. The building was closed but I saw a large cliff face going up the side of the hill that the shrine is on. What drew my attention was I saw another hole in the base of the hill. I looked inside and tried to peek to the back of the man-made cave, but I chickened out and didn’t want to go wandering further. This is the third hole I’ve seen in the base of a hill. One was underneath a cemetery, one (this one was under a shrine) and another one was near a shrine. If anyone has any more info for me as to why there are these super-creepy caves carved under hills, I would sure appreciate it.
I kept driving down the road because I found a sign that was pointing towards another Buddhist temple that I had been unaware of. I hadn’t driven but a couple of minutes when I came upon this temple. It had a few buildings that had been built, but it was still under construction. There were men using heavy machinery when I was there.
I took a picture of the gate,
the statue of Kannon-Sama,
And some Jizo-Sama,
As well as the big bell on site,
And this entryway and statue,
before I got in my car and went home for the night.
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