Chiba Prefecture Charms - Ichikawa's Hokekyoji

Between my home in Noda City and the prefectural capital, I went on an excursion to Ichikawa City. I stopped at Shimosa-Nakayama Station on the JR Sobu line. The retro atmosphere starts here, with a little shotengai, or shopping street, along the approach to the temple. The street has many old-fashioned vendors, casual cafes, tony dining establishments, and take-out shops. Ascending the gentle slope, I stopped at Seikaen, a tiny preserved garden belonging to a local family with Edo era history. It's a nice spot with traditional garden architecture and manicured plantings.

Further up the hill, you pass under the Kuromon, a black gate that intimates the importance of Hokekyoji. The temple is one of the Five Head Temples of Nichiren Buddhism. The iconoclastic Saint Nichiren started his preaching career here in the 13th century. The temple preserves Rissho Ankoku Ron, one of Nichiren's most important texts. Every year on November 3rd, the temple displays it to the public.

The temple precinct surprised me with its vitality. Priests blessed a car with drums and chants, and visitors paid their respects at various halls. On the rise behind the main hall, I was drawn to Setsudo, a tiny Kamakura-era temple dedicated to the formidable female demons, the Rakshasas. I chatted there with a resident who noticed me picking up fallen juniper berries. She comes there each day to pay respects. I placed the berries on the edge of the chozuya, the hand-washing basin.

I visited on a balmy late summer day. I intend to go again in either November for the autumn foliage or spring when the neighborhood displays dolls for Hina Matsuri. 

The images are my first experiments at digital scrapbooking with Canva.