Reiganji Temple and the Monk who Brought Tea to Kyushu (Kurogi, Fukuoka Prefecture)

Long time ago, a wandering Chinese monk traveled to Japan, bringing with him tea seeds. Before then, there were no tea plantations in the country. He loved the remoteness of the mountain that he eventually stayed to start a tea farm in Kurogi's fertile soil. Soon thereafter, tea plantations spread across the land. So goes the story behind Japan's favorite tea. It was indeed adjudged as the country's best tea for 9 consecutive years by the Department of Agriculture.

Reiganji Temple was built by the Chinese monk. It rises on a hillock teeming with lush vegetation. There are stone lanterns at the front. If you wander to the back, a flight of stairs lead to a trail  to the top of the mountain where odd-rock formations take different shapes. 

The drive to Reiganji Temple was a bit tense due to heavy rains. It didn't help that the roads, though beautifully paved, were sinuous. It took about 30 minutes to get from the border of Kurogi to the mountain site where the temple is. On a good day, you can enjoy the green scenery all over, with tea plantations in most parcel of land - this is the iconic symbol of Yame!

Buddhist pilgrimages include the Reiganji Temple as a final terminus in a pilgrim's itinerary. Wherever it rains, locals call the roads authority to check whether there are road blocks and land slides, so it is advisable to do the same if foreign visitors are planning a visit.  

Reiganji is one of the most beautiful temples I have seen in all of Japan, owing to its location amidst lush vegetation, making it seem like a set of a fairy tale. Every element of natural beauty came together here.

The Chinese monk who started to plant tea in Fukuoka.

You can hike up the mountain to see the rock formations.

#reiganjitemple   #tea   #kyushu   #fukuokaprefecture   #yamecity   #japan

Marishiten Tokudaiji Temple - An Oasis of Serenity in the Hustle of Ameyoko (Tokyo)

Almost no one came to visit except one person who left just as I reached the top of the stairs. It's peaceful there. You'd hardly know that a noisy mercantile industry exists down below. Marishiten Tokudaiji Temple rises from a hillock providing an oasis in the hustle of Ameyoko, Tokyo's shopping street.

Marishiten. This photo courtesy of Paghat the Ratgirl.

The temple is a medium sized Buddhist temple that houses Marishiten (Marici), an ancient Indian goddess who gives vitality, strength, and wealth, and gets rid of evil. 

In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Marci is associated with light and sun. She is one of the 24 celestials. She is a beautiful woman on an open lotus; the lotus sits on the back of seven boars. 

In Japanese culture, devotions to Marici predate Zen and is geared towards a similar meditative mode to enable the warrior to achieve a more heightened spiritual level. But with pacifism spreading across Japan, the Marishiten of warriors has somehow lessened its essence. The goddess is believed to have brought good luck to the temple when it survived destruction during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the bombing of Tokyo during World War II.

The front of the temple is beautifully designed with red pillars. Inside, a golden lantern hangs in the middle of the hall. A pair of Komainu, lion-like statues, guard from the stairs. A courtyard is adorned with some plants with the statues of Nichiren and Jizo. 

Jizo is a bodhisattva (a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion in order to save suffering beings) in Japanese Mahayana Buddhism who protects children, especially those who die before their parents.

Nichiren, on the other hand, was a 13th century Japanese monk who tried to reform Japanese society and Buddhism. In many ways, he was a Buddhist Martin Luther King centuries before the great Protestant reformer lived.      

I wanted to sit down and take it all in before going back to the shopping street, but there weren't any benches. It is a nice place for reflection and prayers. 

The courtyard

Jizo

Nichiren

Komainu

The mercantile epicenter of Ameyoko

Ameyoko - Street Shopping in Tokyo Town (Tokyo, Japan)

Shopping is one aspect of travel that I find tricky. Not for stuff I'd use but as gifts for the people back home. I'm not very good with it because I am impatient, and haggling isn't one of my better talent. On long haul trips, I'd usually do it the last few days before flying home. So I like places where you can get a variety of stuff all in one go. That's why day and night markets are convenient. 

Ameyoko is such place; a market street along the Yamanote line tracks set between Okachimachi and Ueno. I didn't think Tokyo had one amidst the metropolitan's glitzy malls. This is the city's version of Manila's Divisoria or Baclaran, London's Camden and Portobello; Taipei's Shillin, or Bangkok's Chatuchak. It has several adjoining streets filled with garments, shoes, bags, souvenir items you can only find in Japan, medicine, cosmetics, fruits, vegetables, chocolates and candies.

Yes, candies! In its early days, Ameyoko was traditionally a candy store alley ("Ameya Yokocho"), thus its name, which got shorter - Ameyoko. These days, the mercantile spirit has thrived into a mecca for the inveterate shopper. 

From Shinjuku, I took my subway ride and decided to get off at Okachimachi instead of Ueno which is always a busy station. Once outside, I asked an old man who readily pointed me across the street. There was a huge sign in Japanese characters, but that should be it. In no time, I was able to get what I wanted but was amazed with the volume of products being sold here, particularly shoes like Adidas and Nike. Surely, in AC shops, they're a lot more expensive. This is the cheaper incarnation of the Tokyo I know. 

I liked the fruit and vegetable section. In the land of cherry blossoms, there ought to be cherries, and there were, sold rather cheaply. Plump, sweet cherries. I bought a couple of plates for consumption in my hotel room later. The variety of fruits wasn't particularly impressive but July was probably a lean month for them. In Davao, the month is fruit season, leading towards Kadayawan festival in August.

Surprisingly, I stumbled across a Buddhist temple flanked between shops, accessible through a flight of stairs - the Marishiten Tokudaiji Temple. It's a medium sized temple providing a serene atmosphere in the middle of the hustle of Ameyoko. Enshrined is the ancient Indian guardian goddess of good luck that protected the temple against the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the bombing of Tokyo in 1945 during World War II. Almost no one visits in daytime. Our separate post about the temple is up next.

There's a spot in Ameyoko where a cute statue of a black cat-like Buddha sits on lotus. People usually stop and have their selfies taken with it so I figure it must be the street's mascot, right where the street forks into two more streets of commerce. Don't miss it!

Ameyoko's landmark is this official mascot?

Marishiten Tokudaiji Temple

Grimm's Affordable Steaks in Busy Harajuku (Tokyo, Japan)

Central Tokyo isn't a place for those on shoe-string budget. When you're in wards like Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roponggi, Ginza or Harajuku, it isn't easy finding restaurants with inexpensive food... particularly when you're craving for the occasional steak. The area teems with high end shops and trendy boutiques.

I was in Harajuku, visiting the H.I.S. Tourist Information Center when I noticed the pictures of food offered in an oddly named restaurant called Grimm, accessible through a narrow stairway leading to a basement. 

Grimm is what they call a Yoshoku, a Japanese-style western-influenced eatery. It is small, with only 7 tables. Each can sit 4 people. Due to the size of the restaurant, the place fills up easily. I had a 15-minute wait standing by the stairs before I was accommodated. The waiting staff was fast, but due to the volume of customers didn't have time for pleasantries. Food takes time so while you're waiting for your food, there's nothing much to do but fiddle with your phone. If you're dining solo, you'd have to share your table with others. Young locals mostly populate Grimm. 

I ordered pork steak which came 15 minutes later. Like most Yoshoku set meals, this had rice, soup and salad. The plating looked messy with pork cutlets, butter, lemon, beans and corn. Despite the presentation, my meal was tasty. And since it just costs 850 yen (tax included) right in the heart of busy Harajuku, this was a steal. If you're in a budget, look no further. 

Grimm's limited space provides a no-frills atmosphere of local color, like you're in the thick of Tokyo's underbelly. Consider that Harajuku is flanked by Shinjuku and Shibuya. If you're traveling solo, you feel this sumptuous disconnect inherent in Tokyo. Does that make sense?

Grimm is open daily from 5 PM onward.

There's a stairway leading to the basement where Grimm is.

The street scene outside Grimm in Harajuku.

Odawara Castle and I (Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture)

The 400-year Old Pine Tree

Odawara is one of my favorite finds in my travels all over Japan. It wasn't in my Lonely Planet. I got the idea from some sponsored blog that came out in Facebook a few days before one of my trips. It takes 35 minutes by Tokaido shinkansen from Tokyo, and a short walk from the JR station. 

Odawara (population roughly 195,000) is situated along Sagami Bay. Its highway was the busy main artery linking medieval Edo (now Tokyo) and Kyoto, covering a distance of 79.5 kilometers. For this visit, I had 3 items on my list: an apricot sweets, Miyukinohama Beach and Odawara Castle.

Hojo Ujimasa, daimyo of Odawara Castle

At the time of the warring states (Sengoku Period) in the 15th century, the Hojo clan ruling the Kanto region built a castle as their residence. 

The daimyo of Odawara, Hojo Ujimasa, while not a particularly great warrior, was a much better administrator. 

In 1588, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan's second greatest unifier (and the one who ordered the invasion of Korea) was to attack the Hojos. There were a lot of negotiations that eventually fell through. Hideyoshi demanded surrender. In the end, Ujimasa and brother Ujiteru were made to commit suicide (seppuku).

Through the years, the castle burned down due to an earthquake in 1633, was dismantled, and then reconstructed again in the 1960's. Nevertheless, the sleepy town flourished around this castle. 


From JR Odawara, I walked through a seemingly deserted city until I reached a lush garden filled with blossoming Wisteria. I crossed a red bridge that led to a square, the Honmaru Hiroba. which provided the good vantage spot for that picture-perfect photo. There's a shop that sells souvenir items. They also rent out samurai costumes and kimonos if you want to level up your Instagram-worthy photos. 

I was pleased that there were very few tourists, thus few distractions. The castle was left for me to discover. If Himeji Castle is my absolute favorite castle in all of Japan, Odawara Castle is second in the line. I have seen about a dozen. Japan has more than a hundred existing castles. In the glory days of Imperial Japan, there were 5,000.

FEATURES

The castle's park grounds has several other sites you can visit including a local museum (Rekishi Kenbun Musuem), a children's amusement park, a Wisteria trellis, Iris and Hydrangea gardens, stone walls, 2 beautiful gates (Tokiwagi-mon and Kurogane-mon Gates), and a moat, among others.  

And if you haven't noticed that photo-bomber tree, showing off beside me on the first photo, it is a 400 year old fixture of the castle ground. You don't wonder about its graceful bow towards the castle tower. It was witness to the colorful history that eventually rebuilt the castle.

I was just there to pay my respects.

Entrance to the castle tower is 500 yen for adults and 200 yen for students.

This short bridge and stairs lead to the Honmaru Square.

This was my walk through the Hydrangea garden. I felt like red carpet was rolled for me.

The garden is a blanket of pink and purple Hydrangeas.

This is one of the bridges near the eastern gate, the Akagane-mon Gate. Miyukinohama Beach is 470 meters from here.

It is 79.5 kilometers from Tokyo to Odawara. By shinkansen, this only takes 35 minutes.

#odawaracastle