New Address and a Previous Journey

I am officially settled in to my new place in Kitakyushu City. Where I live is strikingly noisier than where I lived in Iizuka, and after a few difficult nights of sleep I am just now getting use to the busy road and parallel train line that surround my apartment.

Before I forget, the address to my new place is:

Paul Meuse
Apt. 204
3-11-15
Maeda Yahata-Higashi Ku
Kitakyushu City
Fukuoka 805-0069
Japan

Any and all mail is surely welcome.

Now, I want to talk about a place I visited a few weeks ago before I moved into the city. On the first day of spring, a national holiday in Japan, I visited a famous worship spot a few train stops from Iizuka station. A friend of mine told me that this spot was more than worth checking out.

The place was real busy when I went, at about 11:00 AM. Lots of old ladies (Oba-chans) and old men (Ogi-sans) came to this spot to pay reverence to deities. From the station, I could tell by walking through the tiny town that it was a kind of touristy spot, with the pathway to the shrines lined with souvenir shops and small ramen and food stalls. Once I made it to the entrance of the shrine(s), there were several different pathways I could take. Taking one pathway, immediately the scent of burning incense was strong and I noticed several smaller shrines where people were doing their prayer rituals. I really wanted to capture on film one old lady paying her respects, but decided against taking her picture out of courtesy (I really needed a spy camera).

Among the several smaller pathways I could take, there were many small stone statues, looking like demons and other characters, and one large, dominating demon figure with a fiery red background. There was also a waterfall flowing down the mountain into smaller ponds, making smaller waterfalls along a worship path. The mountain that lined the background had a grove of interesting looking trees. One path I took led me into a sort of cave. I had to duck my head to enter it and saw an alter at the cave's end filled with eye-burning, strong, smoky incense and old Japanese people praying. At this rural spot in Kyushu, at this particular time, I am sure I was the only non-native Japanese person present, and one of the few individuals checking out the scene.

I was amazed when I reached the giant Buddha, the main attraction. I think aside from the size and grandeur of the statue, I was truly awed to realize how spectacularly interesting this place was, and how it was only a 15 minute train ride from my apartment! It is a nook of Buddhist culture that has, in my opinion, a statue as breathtaking as the big Buddha (Daibutsu) in Kamakura; yet here there aren't millions of tourists coming to see it, only native Japanese people that have an understanding of its meaning beyond just 'a neat sight.' I was in the middle of all this, fortunate to walk around and simply observe.