Kitano Tenmangu - Wikipedia
I have been sorting out my old pictures to quench my travel drive during this Covid19 pandemic. As I am sorting out the pictures, my memories hit upon my head and it is nice to write down what I saw and what I felt when I was visiting there.
It was in 2018 when I visited Kitano Tenmangu, Kyoto, Japan. I went there with my friend, Meni-chan, who is a designer working and studying in Japan. He is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and working in Japan now. He is also my French tutor. Well, sorry, Meni! My French is still pretty bad...but, I will keep learning the language!
Please follow him on Pinterest. What a cool guy! 😄👍
So, we decided to visit Kitano Tenmangu, which is a Shito shrine build in 947 in Kyoto. Meni is a designer, so we decided to go there to get some inspiration from this ancient Shinto shrine.
If you do not know what Shinto is, there is an explanation on Wikipedia. Well, as you know Wikipedia sometimes does not provide correct information, but it is a good site to grasp the basic information about whatever you look for.
Shinto - Wikipedia
Komainu - Wikipedia
There are two guardian komainus guard the shrine in front of the gate. Look at the face! What the face! LOL!!
Baku - Wikipedia
When I was looking at this wooden scluptor, I thought it was an elephant. LOL. And, I was wondering how come they put an elephant on the game. Then, I figured out that it is Baku! Baku is a supernatural being that devours nightmares so that they put this sculpture to protect from bad dreams.
When we visited the shrine, it was in winter. And, I remember that it was either in January or February. For Shinto religion, the beginning of the year is one of the most important times in a year, so that it seems that many people offer sake and food to the shrine. This picture shows a pile of sake barrels that were offered by practitioners of Shinto.
Each gate was offered by practitioners of Shinto. It is very mesmerizing to go through these gates. 😃🙏
Ema - Wikipedia
These are Ema wooden plaques in which Shinto believers write down their wishes and dreams. And then, after they finish writing down their dreams on Ema, they place it on the wall like the picture.
When I go back to Japan after this Covid19 pandemic, I want to visit the shrine once again to wish my dream come true - I want to travel around the world! I want to visit Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Armenia, Mexico, South Korea, and Indonesia!! Please make my dream come true!! 😆🙏