A travel writer puts together a 48-hour itinerary in Kyoto on a $480 budget, which includes visiting a secret bamboo forest and eating vending machine ramen.
TsukuBlog
A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Kakuo-Ji Temple in Tsukuba is a SITE FOR SORE EYES each year on August 11th, with the Yakushi Mando Ceremony
12 August, 2010
At dusk, the stairway leading to the temple is lined on both sides with lit candles
During the summer, many of Japan`s ( and Tsukuba`s) Shinto Shrines hold ceremonies and festivals which were originally concieved of as rituals to help keep the local populace healthy over a time of year which has historically been a season of epidemics and floods. In and around Tsukuba City alone, there are still held dozens of festivals called Gion-Matsuri (among other things), which were originally designed to ritually rid neighborhoods of disease causing evil energies and spirits. These are usually sponsored by a type of shrine called Yasaka Jinja ( and there are thousands of these thoughout Japan), in which the God Susano0-no-Mikoto is enshrined. In the Shinto pantheon, it is this God ( also k