NikonGear'23
Images => People, Portraits, Street, PJ & Cityscapes => Topic started by: Akira on January 01, 2016, 09:29:35
-
Happy New Year, all!
Today I went to Tokyo Ikegami Honmon-ji shrine for the annual New Year's visit. Here are some pictures taken there.
The front gate of Honmon-ji:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1488/23732209129_cc27bcfd25_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Ca8LXt)_1010212 (https://flic.kr/p/Ca8LXt) by Akira (https://www.flickr.com/photos/akiraphoto/), on Flickr
Going through the front gate, there are stone steps which lead to the main ground of the shrine.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5679/23804343190_c29c19aeac_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/CgvtUb)_1010217 (https://flic.kr/p/CgvtUb) by Akira (https://www.flickr.com/photos/akiraphoto/), on Flickr
Diva gate.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1596/23473238623_53bfe241b8_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/BLfu3K)_1010222 (https://flic.kr/p/BLfu3K) by Akira (https://www.flickr.com/photos/akiraphoto/), on Flickr
Washing the hands and mouth to cleanse our souls prior to the preyer.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5769/23804344440_e222e29a58_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/CgvugJ)_1010227 (https://flic.kr/p/CgvugJ) by Akira (https://www.flickr.com/photos/akiraphoto/), on Flickr
Putting the sacred smoke onto any part of your body which you want to improve or heal.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1512/23804344880_5967339fcb_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Cgvupj)_1010231 (https://flic.kr/p/Cgvupj) by Akira (https://www.flickr.com/photos/akiraphoto/), on Flickr
And this is the main hall.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5729/23471784654_f3f7d8f0b8_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/BL82Qj)_1010236 (https://flic.kr/p/BL82Qj) by Akira (https://www.flickr.com/photos/akiraphoto/), on Flickr
Inside the main hall.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5774/23473240483_af79bf1b97_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/BLfuAP)_1010245 (https://flic.kr/p/BLfuAP) by Akira (https://www.flickr.com/photos/akiraphoto/), on Flickr
More to come!
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1620/23473240533_da36b01fc9_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/BLfuBF)_1010250 (https://flic.kr/p/BLfuBF) by Akira (https://www.flickr.com/photos/akiraphoto/), on Flickr
-
As a big fan of fish-eye lenses I do like the results
-
Akira:
Can you please help me understand more about your coluture?
I heared that the Japanese visit their dead / think of their ancestors by visiting a Shin Tu Shrine on New Years Day. I guess this is lively depicted in your series.
What about the Shi Tu Cult? Is that religious? Or is it a cult that tries to integrate the dead into the live of the living / reminds the living that the come from a history?
What can you tell us about this? Thank you for you efforts!
Frank
-
Erkki, thanks! When I puchased this optical gem, I wasn't sure how long I would keep it. But I was pretty much hooked with the lens and have been enjoying way more than I had expected. :)
Frank, that is a BIG question! Indeed the original purpose of the New Year's vist to the shrines is to offer prayers to our ancestors. But we don't only visit Shinto shrines but also Buddhist ones. Honmon-ji shrine is the largest Boddhist one in Tokyo.
There have been several regimes and governments that politically tried to merge Buddhisms into Shintoism. People, on the other hand, don't necessarily consider these two as separated religion. Shintoism is more like Shamanism. (I found the concept of Shamanism is very common throughout the world, by the way.) And the influence of Shintoism have sneaked into the concept of the Buddhism throughout the history of Japan. As a result, "our" Buddhism is quite unique and different from, say, the Tibetan Buddhism which is much more closer to the original Buddhism. Actually the ancestor worship is an idea of Shintoism, not Buddhism. Originally Buddhism has nothing to do with the ancestor worship. The essential concept of Buddhism is "samsara" (a never-ending cycle of life and death). People die and reborn, which is repeated until they (we) reach the state of nirvana. So, the ancestor worship makes no sense: the ancestors are also in the never-ending cycle!
-
Thankl you!
I always felt that Shintoism and Shamanism are colsely linked in their world view, so Japanese shinto priests should have no trouble understanding Mexican or Kongolese Shamanism or Norvegian...
I also understand that Buddhism IS a religion and Shamanism is more of an awareness cult concerning nature and ancestors.
Many Europoeans consider Shintoism to be a religion.
I distinguish a religion like Christianity or Buddhism from other mystic cults by asking whether they offer a way to free the participants into some better future.
In Buddhism this is individually working to be unbound from the wheel of incarnation / wheel of time.
In Christianity it is done by loving your neighbour and following Jesus Christ.
In ISIS flavour of Islam it is done by exploding yourself in crowded places.
Also the promised bounty is diffenent:
In Buddhism it is to dissolve into the Nirwana, In Christianity is is Heaven in Heaven or Heaven on Earth, in ISIS-Islam it is about a lot of virgins...
-
Althogh the ultimate goal of Buddhism is nirvana, the sense of time is different from those of the religions based on the Old Testament. The former is circular and the latter, linear (starting from the birth and, via the death, ending with the Judgment Day). Nirvana is a sudden and eternal deviation from the circle.
Interestingly, Alawiya sect (to which Assad family of Syria belongs) believes in the never-ending cycle of life. There might have been influence of other religion...
-
Akira. Thank you. Always fascinating if photography makes you thinking about the meaning of the thing
pictured to to people pictured
-
Happy New Year to you Akira! I like the fisheye image and I seeing all the shrines makes me remember my time in your country.
@ Frank- I think the cultures of Mesoamerica, (Aztecs, et al), had an intense fixation with death and wove it into their world. Those culture even had "Flowers Wars" which were not fought for land or power, but just to capture POW's, which inturn were used as human sacrifices to their Gods. Google- Day of the Dead.
Thank you Akira for the info on Japan. Like Frank I love learning and engaging different cultures and people.
I am ushering in the New Year watching the Rose Parade, Honda had the first float ... And now comes the Marine Corp. Band ... I love this parade.
-
Gary, happy New Year! Thanks for stopping by this thread and commenting. Yes, learning different culture is one of my biggest interests in my life.
The human sacrifice is not unique to the cultures of the central America. Hainuwele mythos and the liturgy related to it is fairly widely spread all over the world.
But I would refrain from going into this any further for now.
Hope you enjoy the parade!
-
Lovely images Akira!
Happy New Year
-
Great series Akira
Happy new year to you too
-
Jakov and Armando, thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Happy New Year to both!
-
Interest in learning different culture - looks like a common denominator to many of us here. That's why I never find travel boring, no matter what destination.
These are beautiful photos Akira. Thanks for sharing. I really like the second one and "Putting the sacred smoke..." photo particularly.
Washing hands, sacred smoke are common in Hinduism and other religion too, but what I find very interesting is the approach/way/methods of it. They vary one to another.
A very Happy New Year to you too!
-
Interest in learning different culture - looks like a common denominator to many of us here. That's why I never find travel boring, no matter what destination.
These are beautiful photos Akira. Thanks for sharing. I really like the second one and "Putting the sacred smoke..." photo particularly.
Washing hands, sacred smoke are common in Hinduism and other religion too, but what I find very interesting is the approach/way/methods of it. They vary one to another.
A very Happy New Year to you too!
Happy New Year, Anirban! Thanks for stopping by and offering info on your own culture. No wonder that we have many things in common. Many of the Buddhist deities came from India.
-
Happy New Year Akira, and everyone else on NG.
-
Happy New Year, Anthony. Thanks for your visit.
-
The second image is killer, really makes it feel like a pilgramage!
Which fisheye are you using again?
-
The second image is killer, really makes it feel like a pilgramage!
Which fisheye are you using again?
Tanks, Tristin! All of my fisheye images posted ever are shot with Samyang 7.5mm/f3.5 for m4/3.
FWIW, three curvy building images posted here were also taken with the same lens:
http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,1610.75.html