Ink and Traces (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

Despite being not all that religious, I've been to and in more than my fair share of religious establishments.  Especially during my childhood, I would be brought there by relatives.  Other times, it's been on the invitation of friends -- who do so not to try to convert me but, rather, to share something they hold dear with me. More often than not in my adulthood, it's been because I realize that many of these places are steeped in culture, and contain -- as well as in themselves are -- veritable works of art. 

Over the course of my visits to Japan (which already have supplied photos more than one entry for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts ;b), I've been to parts of the country whose primary attractions are temples and shrines.  These include Dazaifu, Nikko, Kamakura and the granddaddy of them all, Kyoto -- home to literally thousands of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, including Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji, Ryoanji and -- my personal favorite -- Fushimi Inari.

I have to confess that early on I had difficulties distinguishing between Japan's Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines (this not least because a number of Buddhist temples house Shinto shrines within their grounds or nearby -- as is the case with Kyoto's (Buddhist) Kiyomizudera and (Shinto) Jishu Shrine). But I've come to realize that, among other things, it's the Shinto shrines that have the photogenic torii gates and ema (wooden plates on which people ink down their wishes, in the hope that the kami (Shinto gods) will make them come true, and leave out in the open -- thereby leaving traces of themselves within the shrine grounds long after they've taken their leave from them).

Still, while ema aren't offered up in Buddhist temples, there nonetheless appear to exist outlets for making wishes and offering up in similar ways.  For example, at the Ryozen Kannon Temple in Kyoto, I came across rows of colorful objects that resemble toy windmills with little tags with inked writing on them.  I hope I'm not being blasphemous in suggesting this -- but I see traces of Shintoism in this practice!  At the very least, it shows that making wishes in this way is something that has seeped deep into Japanese culture and consequently crosses religious lines!!