The sacred sprit

I was in Nagano for 2days. I had 2 hours off in the afternoon. There is a very famous temple called Zenkouji. I heard it is only about 1 mile away so I jumped on a cab and went there. I did not know anything about Zenkoji but I have heard its name. Now I know why it is so famous. Zenkoji obtains the Japan's oldest buddha statue which came from China. The major religion in Japan is Buddhism and they have so many different denominations. However, since this temple obtains the statue from very beginning of Buddhism history in Japan Zenkoji accept all Buddhism sect and many people visit to this place.

Even though, the statue is hidden and only you can see is the big hanging screen from ceiling in front of the place where the statue is stored. Still, this statue is very sacred and spiritual so people want to visit Zenkoji. The temple itself is really gorgeous and historical, there are other Buddhism statues worth to see once. As my cab driver recommended me I bought a ticket for going under the temple in pitch dark....to touch a sacred key. I had to take off my shoes and walked towards huge open tatami room, and waited for a while in line but it allowed me to see all beautiful architect feature and calming statues. There are so many people there waiting for it. I passed the hanging screen of sacred sprit. I put some incense and prayed.

The sacred key is leading to the sprit, so people who goes in the dark and find the sacred key will get great fortune. And it was....totally dark!!! Even it says "pitch dark" I thought there might be a dim light or something. But once I went down the stairs I did not see anything except a few people in front of me. It IS really a pitch dark. There is a sign saying "touch the right wall at the hip hight and walk forward". Several steps later the passage curved to right and then just black all over. I was gliding my feet, touching the wall, went too far and had to say "excuse me" several time to the person in front. It was really interesting. It does not matter if you open or close your eyes, complete dark. I tried to concentrate and feel the sprit but there was a loud family with kids scared. I was kind of annoyed but tried not to be since I should get the peaceful mind from the sacred spirit. It was slow walking with winding passage. Then I started hearing clinging sound. The key was close. A few seconds later I saw a light figure in my dark sight, on my left hand back side. It was the light like you have a vision for a while after a camera flash blinds you. It appeared all the sudden. There was nothing to blind me, just darkness. Maybe it is only in my head but I felt like something was there. Then it disappeared. I walked forward and touched the key wondering what it was, and praying peace for the world.

After that, I walked around the area. There was a merry-go-around kind of thing which was filled with thousands of holy chanting scrolls. Chinese invented this. It is believed if you rotate this thing once, it is worth to read whole chanting scrolls. The ticket I bought was good for this house too. I pushed one of the bars which is sticking out from the center and walked around. Then at the shop I bought lots of lucky charms from the temple as a gift for my family. I hope it will bring them good luck and health.


I had a little spare time so I walked back to the hotel. It took half an hour. It was interesting to see a different town. I felt blessed after visiting the holy temple. Work is hard, but I still think I am really lucky to have a chance to visit different places.