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We've paid for the airline tickets, and soon I'll be paying for the ryokan. Step by step. These necessary tasks are actually part of the trip, part of the enjoyable anticipation.
As I was creating a computer file of documents related to the trip, I came across a poem from a place we'll be visiting, Hase-dera Temple in Kamakura. It's not far from the Dai-butsu Great Buddha, and it also includes a giant statue. Hase-dera's sacred figure is a golden figure of Kannon, more than 30 feet tall. In order to see it, you must climb many staircases, passing moss, trees, and tiny Jizo-samas commemorating babies and children who have died. Unlike the Dai-butsu, it is inside a building. Here's the poem:
Buddhist Pilgrim's Song
From pamphlet issued by Hase-dera Temple in Kamakura
Hasedera e mairite oki (w)o nagamureba
Yui no migi wa nitatsu wa shironami
On pilgrimage to Hase-dera
Gazing at the sea?
Whitecaps stand off shore at Yui
(Apparently STA blogs can't take Asian fonts; so I've only included the romanized version of the Japanese.)
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