The Tanabata Festival & The Tokyo Tower

Our hotel in Tokyo wasn't too far from the Zojo-ji, the family temple of the Tokogawa samurai clan dating back to the early 16th century.  When we had some free time, my friend Susan and I went to see the temple.  First we turned the corner and entered the temple complex through the San-gadatsu-mon, the 21-metre-high wooden gate, the oldest wooden structure in Tokyo, dating from 1612.  (Depsite its history and size, it's easy to "miss" this wonder because it lies in the middle of a major Tokyo intersection and is lost all the business of a major metropolitan city).  We made our way to the temple's main hall. 

We happened to come to the temple as they were getting ready for one of Japan's major traditional festivals-the Tanabata Mitsuri.  The festival is also known as the star festival and it takes place on the 7th day of the 7th month of the year.  The festival is based on a Chinese legend about the love story of the two stars Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair).  As the story goes, a weaver girl falls in love a farmer boy, but their love is disapproved of by the Goddess of Heaven.  As a punishment they are separated by the Milky Way and can only meet once a year on this night.  The Japanese celebrate this day by wearing yukata (casual kimono) and decorating bamboo trees.  Susan and I wrote our wishes on a piece of colored paper and hung them, along with the wishes of hundreds of others on a specially erected bamboo tree in hopes that the wishes become true.  The bamboo trees were later burned to allow our wishes to reach the heavens. 

After hanging our wishes, we then walked off to the side of the main hall to the cemetary where we walked pass hundreds of jizo statues, gurdians of children, travelers, and women.  Each jizo is covered with a red bonnets and decorated with small momentos in remembrance of a deceased infant or unborn child. 

That night Susan and I climbed the Tokyo Tower.  The tower was opened in 1958 and was built to resemble the Eiffel Tower.  Up on the observation deck we got a spectacular view of city at night.  We also saw many families and couples dressed in their yukatas, enjoying an evening together, while enjoying the view. 

Kamakura-A Temple, A Shrine & A Buddha

The Lecture Hall, Kencho-ji Temple (Photo by S. Kopecki)

Kamakura is an hour's train ride south of Tokyo, settled between the sea to the east and the hills to the west.  Kamakura was the political and military center of Japan from the late 11th century until the mid-14th century.  This was also a period of religious flowering in Japan, marked by the arrival of Zen Buddhism from China as well as many new native sects.  As Buddhism swept into Japan, many temples began to be built and here in Kamakura they have been preserved ever since.

Temple Bell from the 13th century

Temple Monks

The NCTA group got to spend a lovely day in Kamakura touring many sights of this historical spot with the help of some wonderful women, all members of the local Soroptomist Club.  First we toured the Zen Kencho-ji temple, home of Japan's oldest Zen training momastery.  The temple complex is formed in a linear arrangement and joined by stone stairways and paths that blend harmoniously with their natural surroundings.  Within them monks continue to live and worship according to the rules first laid out over 500 years ago.  While taking a tour we observed a zazen, or sitting meditation class and looked out upon the zen garden.

The Mai-den, or open-sided stage

View From Atop The Shrine

A Shrine Priest collecting offerings of the faithful

After lunch we our group headed to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, the Minamoto clan's guardian shrine.  Shintoism is the native religion of Japan.  The word Shinto means "the way of the Kami."  Shintoism involves a collection of rituals and methods meant to mediate the relations of living humans to the Kami, or nature spirits and focuses on people's harmony with nature.  Coming in from the side we first blessed ourselves at the shrine's fountain and then were told the history behind the was told the sad story behind the maiden, or open-sided stage which stands at the bottom of the shrine.  Shizuka, the brave heroine of the story was the mistress of Minamoto's brother, Yoshitsune.  Jealous of his brother's popularity and possible bid for the throne, Minamoto took Shizuka hostage in order to force his brother to appear and then to be killed by the samurai leader. When Shizuka  was asked to dance for the Samurai leader, she refused, declaring her undying love for his brother instead. Though Shizuka's life was spared, her newborn child, son of Yoshitsune, was killed.  Her bravery is commemorated to this day in classical dances and plays during the shrine's festival every September 14th-16th.

The Minamoto Clan's Guardian Shrine

We next made our way up to the top of the Main Shrine and from there caught a great view of the entire shrine complex including the torii gates that mark the entrance straight from the sea to the shrine itself.

Shinto Priest

Our day in Kamakura ended with a visit to the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha.  I loved hearing the story of this 750 year old  bronze Buddha, the second largest Buddha in Japan.  The Buddha sits on the grounds of the Kotoku-in temple.  He sits atop a stone pedestal, lost in deep meditation with his head slightly bowed.  The 13 meter tall Buddha was once covered in gold leaf and enclosed by a large wooden temple.  Twice the temple complex was hit by tsunami waves and twice destroyed and rebuilt while the Buddha continued to sit there, a quiet, peaceful witness to the forces of nature and the passage of time.

The Great Buddha of Kamakura

Hiroshima: The City of Peace

Hiroshima today with reminders
of the past (the A-Bomb Dome)

After four days in the Tokyo area our group boarded a train for the city of Hiroshima in western Honshu.  As the train made its four hour journey west, I had time to reflect on what had happened in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  Being a garrison town during World War II, the city was selected by President Truman as the site for the use of the world's first Atomic Bomb.  After the war Hiroshima became and still is a powerful messenger of the effects of the atomic bomb and a promoter of a world without nuclear weapons.  The city of Hiroshima has been completed rebuilt and today is a modern city, but it still preserves in its peace park and museum (ground zero of the Atomic Bomb) the effects of that day and the memorials to its victims.  I was coming to this city with gifts of peace from my students in the shape of paper cranes-1,000 to be exact that I was prepared to leave at the Children's Memorial in the Peace Park.

My Tour Guides and I in Front of
Sadako Statue

When our NCTA group arrived we were taken to our Hotel where we were greeted by nearly a hundred ninth-grade students from a nearby Middle School holding placards with our names on them.  They were to serve as our tour guides for the afternoon.  I was introduced to my five guides and together we made our way to a nearby restaurant for lunch.  On the menu today was a Japanese favorite that originated in Hiroshima, okonomiyaki, which is a Japanese pancake cooked on a griddle.  Bean sprouts, sliced cabbage, meat, eggs, and noodles are added to  the thin pancake and then plenty of sweet okonomi sauce is added atop.  We all loved it!  There was too much for me to eat all of it but my growing table mates helped me out in that area!  After lunch we began our tour of the peace park.  The students took turns describing various memorials in the park.  Words cannot describe the emotions felt as I was guided through this site by these young people.  Together we made vows of peace for a future without nuclear weapons.  As the teachers and students gathered back together they sang for us a song of peace and we thanked them for their hard work preparing for this day and the great job they did speaking English and giving us an afternoon that would stay with us for many years to come. 

Mr. Matsushima being presented a gift
by NCTA tour leader Mimi Stephens

After a very moving afternoon, we moved into the Peace Museum for a presentation by a retired teacher and Hibakusha, Atomic-Bomb survivor, Mr. Keijiro Matsushima.  He has spent most of his lifetime sharing his story of that terrible day in the hopes that there will never be another use of a nuclear weapon on the earth again.  It was a true honor to hear his story.  One that I will share with my students in the upcoming school year.  

Ms. Avery hanging The 1,000 paper cranes

                                                            Our group spent two days and nights in Hiroshima.  The second day my friend Susan and I toured the Peace Park and placed our students 1,000 Origami Paper Cranes at the Sadako Statue, Children's Memorial.  Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who was two years old when the bomb was dropped.  She and her family survived that day, but when Sadako was 12 years old she developed leukemia and the doctors told her she had at most a year to live.  Her best friend, Chizuko Hamamoto, told her about the act of making 1,000 paper cranes as a wish for health and long life.  Sadako set about making the 1,000 paper cranes in the hoped that she would be cured of the disease.  Sadly, she died having only made 644 cranes.  A popular story, that comes from the book, Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes, recounts that her friends finished making the 1,000 cranes and buried them all with her.  Ever since then, people from all over the world come to Hiroshima as well as Nagasaki (site of the 2nd Atomic Bomb) and lay paper cranes at the Children's Memorial and other memorials in the Peace Park as a wish for peace for all mankind.  Susan and I were deeply honored to be able to bring our cranes so far and place them at this memorial.    Our students message of peace was made known.  

Saying a prayer at
The Atomic Bomb Memorial,
Hiroshima Peace Park.

As we made our way north again towards Kyoto, I took with me powerful images and messages to share with my students on the devastating effects of war and the powerful message of peace.