Cherry Blossoms

The other week the cherry trees here in Konoura were in full bloom so of course I went to take pictures of them.

Konoura Port

The same day I went to see the 33 Buddhas, Sumiko showed me some things I hadn't seen at Konoura port. We went to a tiny shrine that has monkey statues guarding the entrance rather than dogs which guard almost all non-Inari shrines (Inari shrines are guarded by foxes). One of the monkeys is eating an onigiri (rice ball). No one seems to know why. Then we went to see a new bridge that was built recently between the mainland and a tiny island. On the island is a tiny old shrine to one of the Seven Lucky Gods, but I can't remember which one.

Butterbur sprouts

33 Buddhas

While I have been taking so long to finish posting about Kyoto all sorts of things have been happening here. The reason I don't have much blogging time anymore is that I can no longer blog from work, and of course it is hard to find the motivation to sit down and blog when I get home from work.

About three or four weeks ago I went with Sumiko to tag along with a group of middle aged fishermens wives who sang hymns at each of 33 statues of the Buddha Kannon that are scattered about a temple, park and hill in Konoura and which were built to protect the fishermen of Konoura. Sumiko's mother was one of the ladies, which was why she knew about this little-known event. Here (like always) are a few pictures:

Sumiko and Machiko-san