What is it like to visit Zenkoji Temple and Zenkoji Nakamise Dori in Nagano Japan? | Our experience скачать в хорошем качестве

What is it like to visit Zenkoji Temple and Zenkoji Nakamise Dori in Nagano Japan? | Our experience

0:00 Nagano Japan Introduction 0:29 The city’s main attraction Zenkoji Temple Nagano Japan 0:56 Nioman Gate Zenkoji Temple Nagano Japan 1:11 Zenkoji Nakamise Dori Nagano Japan 1:45 Jizo statues Zenkoji Temple Nagano Japan 2:32 Sanmon Gate Zenkoji Temple Nagano Japan 4:08 Zenkoji’s main hall Zenkoji Temple Nagano Japan __________________________________________________________ Nagano was familiar to us as the host of the 1998 Winter Olympics, and for its famous snow monkey park, but beyond that we didn’t know what there was to see and do. What we discovered during our two days in Nagano was a welcoming city surrounded by beautiful snowcapped mountains, centered on a magnificent 1400-year-old temple, the city’s main attraction, Zenkoji Temple. For 1400 years Zenkoji Temple has been a center of Buddhism in Japan, attracting millions of pilgrims and visitors annually. Nioman is the first gate you pass under to enter Zenkoji Temple. There are two guardian statues, Agyo and Ungyo, standing 4.8 metres tall framing the pathway. Zenkoji Nakamise Dori is a stone-paved street leading from Nioman Gate towards Zenkoji’s main hall. It’s said that 7,777 paving stones were used to make the walkway leading up to the temple’s main gate. The street is lined with shops and restaurants where you can try local specialties like oyaki dumplings, warm baked Japanese sweet potatoes, and soba crepes. Across from the pond is a platform of six Jizo statues. Jizo is a guardian deity believed to rescue souls in the six realms: hell, the purgatory of hunger, the purgatory of animal passion, the Asura realm, the human realm, and the heavenly realm. Sanmon Gate is Zenkoji’s main gate. Standing 20 metres tall, Sanmon Gate has a double layered roof, with a second level that’s accessible for special worship, or just to get a good view of the temple grounds. This is the first temple gate we have seen that allows visitors to climb to its upper chambers. Zenkoji’s main hall was designated a National Treasure of Japan in 1908. It was rebuilt in 1707 in a Buddhist style typical of the middle Edo Period. Inside Zenkoji are various Buddhist statues and an ornamented inner temple. The highlight of visiting Zenkoji was the opportunity to enter the bowels of the temple through a pitch-black passageway in search of the lock and key that’s believed to secure entry into paradise for anyone who touches it. After wandering through the dark, with hands on the northern wall, for about 10 minutes, we were finally able to find the door to paradise. No visit to Nagano Japan is complete without a visit to Zenkoji Temple and Zenkoji Nakamise Dori.