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Path less traveled

yomikibagamiPosted for Everyone to comment on, 5 years ago6 min read

In September before I came home from deployment I stayed in Sasebo Japan for about a week before flying home. I love exploring over there. I left the base and walked down towards the Ginza where most of my crew would go hang out. I walked past it and just kept going. Every crew I've been on, when we are in port go to pretty much the same restaurants and then just go drinking. My idea is that we are in a different country than our own and to go out and explore and trying new things.

This particular day, I just kept walking. I saw a TORII gate down a side street so I turned and decided to see where that led. Torii gates I've found always lead to something cool.

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I headed up the road and came to a little parking lot with some statues in it.

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I had found a little Buddhist Temple hidden up in the middle of the city. There were some SHISHI DOGS guarding the path up to the temple.

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I found this interesting on what SHISHI Dogs are.

Shishi (or Jishi) is translated as "lion” but it can also refer to a deer or dog with magical properties and the power to repel evil spirits. A pair of shishi traditionally stand guard outside the gates of Japanese Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, although temples are more often guarded by two Nio Protectors. The Shishi (like the Nio) are traditionally depicted in pairs, one with mouth open and one with mouth shut. The opened/closed mouth relates to Ah (open mouth) and Un (closed mouth). “Ah" is the first sound in the Japanese alphabet, while "N" (pronounced "un") is the last. These two sounds symbolize beginning and end, birth and death, and all possible outcomes (from alpha to omega) in the cosmic dance of existence. The first letter in Sanskrit is "Ah" as well, but the last is "Ha." Nonetheless, the first and last sounds produced by the mouth are "Ah" and "M." The Sanskrit "m" and the Japanese "n" sound exactly the same when hummed with mouth closed. The spiritual Sanskrit terms AHAM and AUM thus encapsulate the first letter-sound (mouth open) and the final sound (mouth closed). Others say the open mouth is to scare off demons, and the closed mouth to shelter and keep in the good spirits. The circular object often shown beneath their feet is the Tama 玉, or sacred Buddhist jewel, a symbol of Buddhist wisdom that brings light to darkness and holds the power to grant wishes. Source

On this day, it looked like I had the temple to myself. As I arrived there was a woman leaving, but I didn't see another person. I walked around exploring the grounds. There were statues everywhere. I would love to know more about each one and what/who they are.

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Leading up to the temple there was this huge circle stone. The woman that was on the way out looked like she stopped and prayed in front of it. Maybe something about being infinite or eternal?

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After stopping and looking at the circle, I headed up to the temple.

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While there was no one around, I saw a place for shoes. So I took off mine and went inside and sat for a while. Inside there were more statues. It was nice, quiet, and peaceful inside. A great place to meditate. One the way out, I saw a box with what looked liked some explanation on it. I didn't know what it was because I can't read Kanji and I don't really know Japanese. (I just know Skoshi Nihongo) But there was something that said 200 yen and a place to put money, and a box full of wrapped little things. It looked like it was on the honor system, so I put 200 yen in the box and took one of the little packages. I opened it and got a really cool Tigers Eye rock bead. I don't know if there were different kinds of stone beads you could get and if it was like a fortune type thing.

This is where this whole exploration started to become AMAZING

On my way out, I saw a little path heading up the hill next to some of the houses.

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Up on top of the hill looking down onto the temple grounds was beautiful.

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Walking up the hill there was a stone path that ended once I made it to the top and then it was a dirt path into the jungle/forest. I continued on because I figured I went up the hill, and now I'm committed to see where this leads. I had to dodge a few banana spiders on the way up. In the middle of the forest on the top there was a clearing and it looked like an area that could be used for meditation or a festival. I didn't go into it because a Banana spider had built it's web STRAIGHT across the little path into it.

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I took the left path from there and it went deeper into the forest. I kept watching for spiders as I went, but the trees became more dense. I started to see something farther down the path in the trees. There was this alcove in the middle of this forest.

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Dug out in this rock it looked kind of like a shallow cave. It was filled with hundreds of statues. It was AMAZING. Some of these statues looked hundreds of years old. I don't know what all this was in the middle of this forest, but it was really neat and unexpected.

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Ya, I'm not sure what this all was. Some of the statues were super old, and then some of them looked a lot newer. So I know it was a place that people came to. I liked these for statues a lot.

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After looking around here a bit, I continued through the forest back down the hill/mountain. Found another Torii gate on the entrance to the forest I just came out of.

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From there, it was search around for a road or something and then try and find my way back to where I could see something familiar to me. Was a great adventure to just go and explore.

Taking the path less traveled can lead to some amazing results

All photos taken by me @yomikibagami with my Samsung Galaxy7
(I also was playing around with the HDR feature in Photoshop with these photos. Let me know if it's too much. I like the colors and the way some of them turned out.)

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