Last Monday I rode the train up and walked around the Ikebukuro neighborhood which is north of Shibuya which is the neighborhood that we live in and where Matthews office is. I came to this neighborhood to go to the Gokoku-ji temple which is a Buddhist temple built by the 5th shogun, Tsunayoshi, as a gift for his mother in 1681. It is one of the few relics of the Edo era.
It was a beautiful sunny day, windy again of course though like usual :) , and I only saw a couple of people while I was there so it was extremely peaceful. I wandered around and admired all of the rich texture, pattern, and the abundant attention to detail. I am always so in awe of all of the patterns and detailing that goes into every aspect of these temples. As well as for everything in Japan for that matter. Every small area of surface be it a tiny wrapper, or even Matthews Visa has some pattern or cute little something on it. I don't have great examples of this in this post but when I post some of the other temples I have been to there are some very good examples.
So after I wandered around and admired the beautiful craftsmanship, I found a sunny bench next to the big Buddha to read my Lonely Planet book to get ideas for what our beach vacation should look like that we are planning for a couple of weeks from now to the most southern part of Japan. More on that later :)
Here are just a few pictures from the temple. Here is the link to my new picassa web album for the remainder. Hope everyone is well!!!! xoxo
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