Articles of Faith

I went back to Kinka quasi-mountain on Saturday and made it all the way up to the shrine. As rainy season has started, it was no surprise to find that it had rained the night before, and as such the precarious trail was rather slippery, since little light reaches the forest floor. I had worn practical shoes however, so it helped a bit.

At the shrine, I sat and enjoyed the view of surrounding mountains for a while and thought about the serious dedication required to build a shrine on the top of a mountain. Even if all the wood were cut from trees off the top, the builders would still have had to cut and plane the wood, as well as bringing up supplies not made of wood. Your devotion must be beyond testing if you are able to successfully complete such an undertaking.

While making my way down the trail, I began to wonder why it is I often, if not aways, visit churches, shrines, and places of worship in countries I visit. In Italy, Spain, France, Thailand and now Japan I often choose to go to the places of worship -- but never for the faith. Often because of the history and art, the detail given to the construction, the simple lines or the beautiful locations that they often possess. I am always amazed at the time, detail, devotion and money that often went into constructing these edifices. But I think I am more satisfied by the small mountaintop shrines than I am with the large, historical, tourist trap cathedrals that dot Europe. I am constantly fascinated with the ubiquitousness of shrines here, as you can turn down a crowded street in the middle of a helter skelter city and stumble across a miniature buddha, or climb a secluded mountain only to discover many people have done so before and with far better reasons, or they can do what I did yesterday afternoon -- take a walk around town and as you climb a narrow road, look to your right and see a dugout in the side of the hill where two concrete buddhas wait silently, hands raised in prayer.