Sunday, October 21, 2007

The beautiful scenery of Japan - 美しき日本景色

Salam everybody,

Ramadan has departed, the Eid is over, the Ma'mul is all gone and it's been one month since I returned from Japan. In other words, everything is back to normal.

But not quite yet; I still feel that my mind is travelling in Japan. I'm still thinking over the things I saw and did, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a frown. After a wholesome meal, your body takes time to digest the food, much longer than the time it took to eat the meal. Likewise, I'm still digesting my experiences in Japan, one month later.

Anyways, enough sentimental talk and on to the post. I have a lot of ideas for interesting posts and don't know where to start, should I post about the Hiroshima peace memorial park? One free day in Tokyo? Food? Friends? Being a Muslim in Japan? Lots of things to talk about! So in the end, I figured, let me start by what the people want to see: pictures and more pictures.

This time it will be about the beautiful scenery of Japan. Lots of beauty, lots of pictures...

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion Temple), Kyoto

Yes, I was there. Yes, I took this picture.
Yes, you can use it as a wallpaper.


The golden pavillion temple..


Koi (Japanese Carp).

Koi are pretty popular in Japan. One reason is that they have nice colours and patterns on them (ahem, like the one in the picture above) and another reason is that Koi also means 'love'. There are also those long, snake-like fish in the lake surrounding Kinkakuji. They are of a dark colour, so I couldn't take a good picture of them. Maybe you can see them in this picture (I can't).

This is a stone lantern. You will find a lot of them in Japan as they're a basic ingredient of Japanese gardens.

you will also find a lot of them in this blog.

Kiyomizudera, Kyoto

This is the main gate to Kiyomizu-dera. It looks out of proportion with it's huge top, but this only adds to its majesty.

They speak the truth.
Kyoto must be busy with visitors now as it is the 'kouyou' (autumn leaves) season.

This is just under the roof of one of the buildings. Notice that there is nothing holding the wooden beams together; no nails or adhesives. This is traditional Japanese architecture; beams are held together by snapping or locking them together.

Look at the fixtures under the roof. Very strange, almost evil colours.

All this time, I thought dragons breathed fire...
This must be the coolest water fountain ever concieved.

hmmm, cave = curiousity.

This explains the 'mizu' part of the name..


Apparently this is one tree...

In temples and shrines, you will find a lot of standalone gates called Toriis. This is one small and slim torii. Don't worry, in a moment you'll see a huge one.

Miyajima

On the way to Miyajima..

Now that's one huge Torii

This is the laziest pose I have ever seen.
Someone should find work for those deers.

It's nice to have animals around you for a change. In Jordan, birds and cats always run away (or fly away) from you (unless you have food with you). The stone lantern included in this picture was unintentional, I swear.

Back in Osaka..

This is taken from Osaka castle.
Notice how the reflections on the building are continuous with the scenery behind it, making it appear transparent.

Soredewa, See you next post!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

どうも どうも ^^ノ
お疲れ様
新しいポストは、まだよく見てないけど、ざっと見た
"first post" を書きたかっただけ :P
きれいな写真がたくさん並んでるみたい
しっかり読んでから コメントしてもいいよ ;) 

Saemon 左衛門 said...

ファーストコメントに賞がないよ
でも、いい気持ちでしょう?;)

Amani AbuQdais أماني أبوقديس said...

すご~い!新しい写真いっぱいポストありがとう!
the same here, it has been like 3 months since i was in Japan..but im still seeing "flashes" in my mind of situations and things happened there.
sometimes very specific and not-so-important situations (like remembering something i saw from the bus in our way to someplace)..lol

i would rather say my mind is still "floating" there.

The kinkakuji is great..no matter how u take the picture it is always artistic!!
Did u see any of our footsteps in kinkakuji or kiyomizudera?? :D
sank yu..hontou ni nice post^^

Anonymous said...

きれいな目で日本を見てくれてありがとう。
嬉しい気持ちになりました。

K-s

Saemon 左衛門 said...

お優しい言葉ありがとうございました、k先生。このブロッグを楽しんでください

Amani-san,
They clean the places frequently, so I'm afraid your footsteps were gone! but I always remembered Habjouqa; everytime I see the Saudi participant, I'd tell him 'douzah yarrabe3' hehehe.. this was endlessly amusing!

One thing though.. I didn't see the small shishi odoshi you took a picture of in kiyomizudera..

Amani AbuQdais أماني أبوقديس said...

That wasn't in kiyomizudera.
It was in a jinja that i went to with my homestay family.
Don't get us started again on "douzoh douzoh yal rabe3!ko-hi- wo nondeh!" (笑)

Amani AbuQdais أماني أبوقديس said...

mm tokoro de sa, why is he not amused?? :D

Saemon 左衛門 said...

Because nothing is amusing him. poor little guy.

What can I say? I'm trying, I'm trying.

Amani AbuQdais أماني أبوقديس said...

ja..ganbatte kudasai! ^^;

Saemon 左衛門 said...

ganbarimaaaaasu!

Anonymous said...

Soooo pretty..im totally stalking ur blog in 2013 am so late haha..but thanks for keeping this website its super helpful :)