Japan 9 – Living in a 300 year old building.

Living in a 300 year old building in an 820 year old temple is like being in a time warp. Driving from Chiba New Town Chuo train station to the Matsuzaki village and Tamonin Temple is like traveling back 60 or more years in 15 minutes. The taxi ride cost about $20, pretty inexpensive for time travel. The grounds of the temple are pretty much the way they were several hundred years ago, though maybe not as perfectly groomed.

The living quarters were described in the previous blog. One of the first thing one might notice in the living quarters is that the surrounding area is quiet.

The Amidha-do, on the other hand, feels like a living, breathing, being. During the day as the building heats up the structure groans and crackles, like an old person’s bones stretching in the morning. This is much more so that the typical cracks and pops one hears in the 190 year old main house at the Tendai Buddhist Institute. The building seems to sigh. In the night there is more of a groaning. In wind and rain the sounds become loader of longer duration and take on a more menacing sound.

The installation of flush toilets are a definite improvement. When Tamami and I lived here 20 years ago, there was essential a porcelain lined hole in the floor that emptied into a hold tank that was pumped out periodically. When one went to the bathroom . . . never mind no reason to be scatological about it. Now we can just flush. Ah the modern conveniences. There is hot water in the ofuro (Japanese style bath) and the kitchen sink, which has a single on demand hot water faucet, a two burner stove top, a small refrigerator and a microwave. Most of the dishes and appliances are those that Tamami and I brought with us to Tamonin twenty years ago. I feels odd to be using those same items today.

The people that are prominent in the sangha today are all new to me. They are very nice and everyone in the village is sure to bow to me and share a greeting when we walk past each other on the road. There is a kind of gentle civility that I miss when I am not in Japan. The sodai leader Sakai-san has been very helpful and is always happy to answer questions and give a hand when I need something.

When walking outside toward the Bishamonten-do at night I still have that feeling of being at home when I am at Tamonin. I doubt that will ever go away. At the same time I know that I am just a temporary resident here, with so many monks who have lived and died here over the last eight centuries. I always go up to the monks cemetery to pay my respects when I am back at Tamonin.

I always feel safe here, I know that Bishamonten and Amidha are my guardians and will see me through both happy and sad times. To stay here is to understand the draw of small village temples for over a millennia in Japan.

Next time some thoughts as I am preparing to depart my second home.

Gassho . . . Monshin