kimura-san took tony, seth, and i to the negoroji temple up to the mountains in wakayama. it was such a magical place. and we were so lucky to have been guided by buddha artist uke maki-san that lives there. as we were walking around, uke-san told me that this day was the best of the year. the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and the weather couldn’t have been any better. lucky…..
this temple’s been sitting here for hundreds and hundreds of years and has seen it’s fair share of samurai battles, and ninja attacks. it was built in 1496. yeah, 1496. this is the largest and oldest temple tower in japan. there are even bullet holes that are still engraved in the wood. gosh, so much history. seth is so lucky because the things he learned and saw that day can’t be taught in any book or school back home. that was the real deal….
uke-san took us in a back secret room where he’s been working on a masterpiece for months and months. there are only a few people in this world to have been behind the scenes of such a historic temple. we are lucky tourists….
i’ll never forget what i saw and tony said the same thing. i studied about japanese temples in college but it was nothing like this. i was in awe the whole time. and still am…
**by the way, this temple is 513 years old and took 67 years to build. 67 years of blood, sweat, and tears…
