Buddha Dedication in Tokyo Part 2.

This is the second part of my Buddha dedication post. Hopefully it will contain a lot of photos although count on me messing it up again.

Buddha statues this size are pretty rare in Tokyo. I don't know of any others on the streets so it was quite a special, once in a lifetime thing. I doubt I would have known about it unless I lived next door to the statue (yes, really) as it is in a really obscure part of the city, Takinogawa. Only one stop from one of the main hubs in Tokyo but no one knows of it.

I thought I would start with a pic that shows someone working on telephone cables that were alongside the Buddha making an odd contrast. I walked out my front door and thought "oh my f&*£ing good grief what the hell are you doing?" "Do you have a death wish?" Well it seems some people do and so i rushed indoors to get my camera and document it. Cheap and cold I know but someone has to do it.

Ok, enough of the distraction and back to the Buddha bits. This is my once in a lifetime pic. A group of Buddhist priests and nuns all looking very majestic during the ceremony. This would be the main pic if I were doing a post for a magazine or something trad like that. It's late so there are some serious shadows.

However this would be a contender as it is the cutesy kid running across the road. Just a shame that the composition isn't quite right. The shadows suit this one though. The people at the back with the diamonds on their back are the temple heavies and the person shielding their eyes was probably thinking "who is that dodgy gaijin taking photos of my grandkid".

Mothers getting their kids ready.

The little street my apartment and the Buddha was/is on. Lot's of locals were turning up to see the shenanigans. The Buddha is to the right behind the red and white stripy hoardings. Look on the left and you can see a cactus held up by scaffolding. If it wasn't there it would have most certainly clunked someone. A shamisen teacher lived in that building so you could often hear someone playing when you walked past. It wasn't quite a sax carried by the night air making you feel like you were in a movie but it was really otherworldly.

Priest setting up

Guy in suit not wanting to be left out

This pic is just so wrong it is right. That head on the bottom left staring cracks me up.

About to start. Guy in suit heads to a stepladder for a better view.

The guy in the suit swaps his stepladder for a bigger one. It sucks being small.

Temple heavy takes over the small stepladder.

Member of the public gets in on this stepladder thing. "No one is going to stop me getting my pics taken. Just a bit worried about getting down".

Playing peek-a-boo with priests. Gosh it is framed nice that one "pats self on back". Feels like he is coming out to play for Italy for some reason. I know it is not quite the Italian colours.

Just had to put this one in as no part of Tokyo is complete without a tiny dog. They really are everywhere. Owners don't usually take them for a walk but a carry. When I first arrived in Japan I was walking down the street with my girlfriend at the time and decided I would play the dumb gaijin (non-Japanese can really get away with the most ridiculous comments) and said "oki nezumi deshoo" when I saw someone walking/carrying their chihuahua. That roughly translates as "Oh wow, look, that's a big rat!". My girlfriend was quite a smart cookie and immediately played along "Is it? Are you sure?" The person carrying the dog only broke step for a second before thinking better of it. We both burst out laughing further up the street. My girlfriend was cat person.

Novice priest. Nice guy - knew him a little. About to give me the finger I think.

I like the guy standing to attention on the left. Very Japan. It's a duty thing.

Just about to start. The family of the temple owners all sit down (yes temples are owned by families) That non-Japanese guy has obviously married the daughter of the Temple owner. I'm willing to bet a $/€/£100 that he was her English teacher. They just have a certain look in Japan :D

Finishing up. What a great face!

Just a few more minutes and the party will begin! No not really.

Free Buddha cookies. Too big to fit in a mug for dunking.

Well I think that is just about it. I have thousands more photos if you are interested. Just DM me on Discord (arf as if). It was quite a day. Tokyo is an interesting place with its odd mixture of the future and the past. If you live there 10 years you will only scratch the surface of what the place is actually like. It's a bit like an onion with many layers. Bit like the people really. However you have to bear in mind like everywhere there are good points and bad points. One of the good points is if you know what you are doing it is actually quite cheap. More so than Europe, US or China so I recommend a visit.

Part one can be found here