Equilibrium Instabilis

Before arriving in Japan I look at the location of my Japanese apartment in Google Earth I found that it was next to this big “park”. Looking at the kanjis that appeared in Yahoo! Maps (総持寺) I realized that it was a temple, not a simple park (and the zone in the bottom-left part is a cemetery, but this is cool! I can walk through a Japanese cemetery every night when I return from Toshiba! Creepy! Et c’est beaucoup mieux que celui d’Orsay).

Well, the other day I went there and it was impressive because it was also the first Japanese temple that I visited. It is good to live near to such a beautiful place. You can just walk around these magnificent buildings and forget your troubles (or you can also use it as an excuse to make your friends come to your station to visit you ).

By exploring some paths I got to this zone. I guess I was not allowed to be here because I had to jump a small fence but I think the photo deserves the small risk (a couple of Buddhist monks do not impress very much, do they?).

I entered inside this big building (removing my shoes of course) and went to the souvenirs shop, where I bought some nice cookies. I ate them while drinking some tea (which is for free) and then I decided to explore the rest of the floors. I don’t know if I was allowed to do it, but I did it (nobody stopped me because I did not find anyone).

Let me show you this big bell located in a small hill next to the temple. When the new year comes they toll it 108 times, with the purpose of freeing us from 108 terrestrial desires.

You can see some more photos as always in my FlickR account.