Yeah! Our last temple! I shouldn’t say that but this hedgehog is tired of temples. I have to ride in the backpack and I can’t see things! I like seeing things! The Zenko-Ji temple was first built in the 700′s! Wow! That is 1300 years ago. It is the ONLY form of Buddhism that allows both men and women to be the high priest. I don’t know what that means but it made my human happy. We were walking up to the main gate and the police came and told us to kneel. At first we were a bit scared because we didn’t know what was going on but the high priestess came! She gave everybody in line a blessing. This is very, very unusual! The woman next to us said it was like the Pope giving a personal blessing! WOW! We don’t know what she said but it was so cool. Then, we were lucky enough to be there for the drumming. It got really loud in the old temple but it was so neat. You couldn’t take pictures but we have some of a monk ringing the bell outside. This is the bell they used to start the 1998 Winter Olympics! My human LOVES the Olympics. She met somebody who won a gold medal at the 1998 games for the US in women’s hockey when she was in Africa. But that was before I travelled with her.
Posted by: zebrastravels | September 16, 2009
