If not for the heavy snow warning, we wouldn't be able to tour around Aomori City. The original plan was to go see the snow monsters in the mountains an hour away from the city. The snow warning ruined this for us but making last-minute plans is one of my great assets so here we were.
Our first stop was the Seiryu-ji Temple where we would also be seeing the Great Buddha of Aomori.
Going to the temple by commute might be a little difficult because of the snow and the traffic. We're not from this city and not so familiar with it so we booked an uber taxi to go there. The 3 of us (my 2 friends and I) were making ourselves fit in the back seat. We didn’t know an adventure would await us that would become a memorably funny memory. Is it the temple? The Buddha? Or something else?
After almost 20 minutes, I read the signs saying parking to the temple was up ahead. Oh great, we're almost there.
BUT WAIT! Our lady uber taxi driver made a U-turn and went up the hills. Okay, maybe that was the wrong way, not for taxis.
We passed by houses on a narrow road and saw cars in a somewhat parking area. We passed by a ticket office-like stand and then.. we passed by an orange bridge you'd often see in temples.. and then...... drg drg drg the car passed by a bumpy road going downhill which seems like stairs... (this time we stopped talking because we felt something was wrong).. and then the car stopped just in front of the gate you'd see in a temple.
"大丈夫ですか？" (read as daijoubu desuka? or in EN: Are you okay?) A shout from the ticket office was heard.
"大丈夫じゃないですね" (read as daijoubu janai desune or in EN: I'm not in any way fine) The reply from our driver.
Then a guy (I think he's a monk in the temple) dressed in casual Japanese clothes came and was so confused and dumbfounded seeing the car in that state. He told us we should get off the car first and he'd talk to the driver so the driver turned on the car again and moved a little to the front so we could go out. We couldn't because the snow was blocking the door.
Then we're out! Whew! That was definitely an adventure but we were worried about the car and the driver because how could she get out of that mess?! And yes, just as we thought, that was the stairs! LOL
Because we were so worried about the GTA stunt of our driver who's now getting lectured by the guy, we were just outside standing. We just didn't know what to do, I mean we're still in shock, we couldn't switch back to tourist mode after experiencing that.
The guy saw us just standing there and became worried so he told us we could go in, and they'll just sort things out with the driver.
So off we go inside. I mean the car was already inside, we just had to pass by it again. 😂
We paid the entrance fee from the ticket office, yes, that was indeed the ticket office and beside it was the souvenir shop. Then after, we freshened up at the toilet because that experience would really make you pee. 🤣 TMI LOL
Okay, back to being tourists. We had to erase the driver and what happened a while ago while touring around the temple.
We're the only ones in the temple! How cool is that! It's like we owned the place. We see no one walking, no one taking photos, no photobombers, and no one to guide us (we're making the tourists our guide when we travel because for sure, where the crowd goes, that's definitely some travel spot). OOOPS wait! We didn't need guides because we could just manage by ourselves. We got a pamphlet after all.
The 金堂 (read as Kondou or main hall) is the first thing you'd see before going deep into the temple grounds. There was a monument which I couldn't figure out what just beside it with a statue of someone.
Pagoda
The 5-storey pagoda can be seen from the distance. It is said to be the 4th tallest pagoda in Japan.
We couldn't go near because we didn't know the way and we thought it would be off-limits so we're just mesmerizing it from a distance. We also couldn't really see the path going there clearly because it was covered in snow. It was beautiful still.
Around The Falls
Going further was like going deep into a quiet white forest. No wildlife, no birds, and the only thing we hear were our footsteps and the snow falling from the trees.
I guess this should contain a flowing water but it's full of snow.
If you've watched some animes or Japanese TV shows, you'd probably be familiar with a big bell that one could ring. We saw that but we didn't bother making it sound.
There's a Jizo statue few meters across it. You pray about the aborted or miscarried children to one statue and to the other, the happiness in the next world for your ancestors. When we were there, there was a candle being lit up.
The windmills at the back are said to be offerings to the children who died young.
We couldn't figure out this statue but it's a Jizo statue for sure. Honestly being this so close to these statues kinda scared me a bit.
So.. this was the falls. No running water as you can see because it's frozen and everything was covered by snow. Okay, not really everything.
At the foot of the falls, there were 3 Jizo statues. They're like children statues but because of the snow, it's not clearly seen. We could only see 2 of them.
There was one more statue near the falls.
I've read that Jizo statues are often seen in paths like this so no wonder we're seeing them here while walking deeper into the temple grounds.
The Great Buddha
The Great Buddha in Aomori is often called as Showa Daibutsu in Japanese. It was built during the Showa period hence its name.
Aomori's Showa Daibutsu is the tallest seated bronze statue of Buddha in Japan. I've been to the one in Kamakura and this one in Aomori indeed was larger. So far, I've only been to 2 in Japan (not counting those I've seen from a distance) but I know there are 18. Will I ever collect them all? 😅
Seeing it up close was intense. I was a bit scared (again) because it's something sacred and I felt like I had to be in my most behaved manner.
Apparently under the statue, there's a museum inside that you can enter for free. I was the last one to enter because my friends went inside already and I went to a dark area, then got surprised by the lights turning on automatically. It frigthened me to be on my own in that room full of big statues so I left the room and be with my friends. (Note to self, there's a limit to solo explorations)
My friends were busy looking at the paintings hung on the wall with its meaning. There were English translations of the Japanese scripts so it got us interested in learning about them. They were how a person dies and what will happen after. If you read each one (please click on the photo to make it bigger), you'd also be interested I think (sorry, not really the best angle for these photos).
If you read the text from the last photo, you'd be surprised to read about #5 and #6. Oftentimes I think loudly and mumble in a low voice but I guess I'd have to change this habit from now on.
Some words to live by.
The other half was about memorabilia of events that had taken place in the temple premises.
More statues can be seen inside. This was the dark room where I first went alone and got frightened. There were charms you could purchase too and lots of omikuji or sacred lots where you could know your fortune.
Ending The Tour
The Great Buddha was the deadend so we had to go back from where we came.
On the way back, we stopped by the souvenir shop (pa budol muna before leaving). Honestly there were lots of good stuff. There was even a collection of the Chinese zodiac in cute figurines. If I'm a collector, I'd buy it. My friend couldn't resist and bought something for himself.
There's a building that we haven't explored but we're not sure too what's in there. It's just right across the souvenir shop.
Seeing the orange bridge, we remembered the uber driver. We wondered what had happened to her. We saw her go to the main hall or admin office then after, she’s gone. The taxi wasn't in the gate anymore. Whew, issue solved!
We had to book an uber ride again going back. We wondered if that driver would accept our booking and have more to this epic day. But she didn't. 😁
While waiting for our uber taxi, we saw the same guy riding a small bulldozer going up. Apparently that was used to clear the snow beside the stairs so the taxi could go up again and be free. 😅
The guy saw us and asked us if we had already called a taxi and we said yes. Before he left, he told us..
"今日は記念だ" (read as kyou wa kinen da) which means today's a memorable day
And we all shared a laugh after. 😂
Even after a month that this happened, we still remembered it vividly like it was just yesterday and my friends and I still talk about this incident. It was indeed a memorably funny day.
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！
sources:
Wikipedia Seiryu-ji
Showa Daibutsu
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.