Saturday, February 02, 2008

Meiji Jingu

Almost all Japanese make the first visit of the year to a Japanese temple for praying. It doesn't matter though when exactly one should visit it, but lots of people prefer to go on the the New Year day or first few days after it.

Today we made the first visit of the to a Japanese temple. Hiro avoided the crowds during New Year period so we thought today was perfect. We chose Meiji Jingu nearby Harajuku station because it's the closest big Japanese temple for us. We were welcomed by huge gate, literary written as the biggest temple gate all over Japan, and must walk for about 1 km to be able to reach the main temple. There were a lot of big trees along the rocky path, gave me a thick "nature" feeling in the middle of busy-and-full-of-skyscrapers-Tokyo.



This is the gate to the main temple:



Before entering the temple we must "clean" ourselves from dirt. Symbolically by washing our hands and rinsing our mouth, but this time we just washed our hands a little.



Little Iki also got his hands cleaned with that very cold water



And then we entered the main temple. At first we threw some coins into the wooden boxes in front of us, clapped our hands twice, and prayed our wish of this year. After I did my part then Hiro gave me a late warn: "YOU MUST TAKE OFF YOUR GLOVES!!". A very nice late information (@_@)!


Iki throwing away coin into the wooden box

After that we bought omikuji or poem drawing for 100 yen. Omikuji in English were available too, considering the large amount of foreigner visiting the temple.

The omikuji we got at Meiji Jingu was composed, in the traditional 31 syllables form, by either the Emperor Meiji or the Empress Shoken. Those imperial poems express ethical admonitions in the Shinto tradition.

This is Iki's picture when taking omikuji for Hiro:



And this is what is written in my omikuji:
Toki osoki tagaiwa aredo tsuranukanu
Koto naki monowa makoto narikeri

means:
Some are fast, some slow,
But one thing never fails
To pierce through the final goal:
It is sincerity

It does have a deep meaning for me :)



It was an unbelievably 6 hours trip! And it was a big mistake to wear high heels :p

8 comments:

The Diva said...

hahahaha salahe dewe naik gunung pake high heels.

Mut kamu mayan tambah imut deh, tapi sekarang kalo foto sama Iki gitu, kalah imut sama Iki, huahahahahahahahaha.

More pics of you in the future yaaaa.

Btw Jepang nggak dingin ya, bajumu kok "biasa2" gitu?
Rasane baju2ku sekarang makin menggila dan bertumpuk seperti onions!!!

imoet said...

diva,
sakjane kamu niat muji gak seh?! :))

hmm dingin kok. tanya aja nova yang kabur ke indonesia :))
a woman who has a toddler like me has 2 kinds of fashion, la. mama fashion, sama wife fashion.

tiap hari main sama iki n shopping ya pake mama fashion. lapis2 pake yang tebel2 kayak bawang bombay (minjem istilahmu)
tapi kalo lagi jalan sama hiro, ya haram buat dia kalo aku pake mama fashion (>.<). u know Japanese woman gak suka terlihat gendut ato tebel, apalagi di tokyo sini. jadi ada wool sweater yang tuipis tapi uanget banget (1/5 tebel wool sweaternya yg biasa aku pake bareng iki tapi angetnya sama), tights yang tuipis tp anget, kaos kaki juga, gloves juga, sampe coatnya ya gak tebel tapi anget biar keliatan anggun :p. jadinya ya as u said meskipun winter bajuku "biasa", padahal didalam coat aku pake 4-5 lapis :D

Mbak'e said...

Meiji jingu, wah aku malah belom pernah ke sana.

Imoet masih suka pakai high heels ya, osharee... aku terakhir kapan ya pakai high-heels..., lha wong sepatuku kets kabeh, biar gampang larinya kalo pas ngejar Rui. Hehe.

Benny Suryanto said...

Bagus ya Meiji Jingu, kita udah pernah kesana, jalannya kerikil gt, mayan jauh ke main templenya, ya itu yg aku liat pas ada mantenan hihihi.
Tp aku gak sampe liat ke dalem2nya sih.
Udah ke Asakusa lum?..Lbh besar temple e, and bny bgt toko2 buat jual souvenir, mknan. BUat yg hobby shopping nih ehehhe.

Iya nih aku melarikan diri hahaha, tp sayang..Gak bisa liat salju oi!!! Tp klo aku disana bisa kedinginen bgt ndak kuat dah, wes pake dobel2 tp tetep ae gak ngaruh hix.
Disini skg malah kepanasan hahaha, Kiyo malah seneng bisa main air trs.
Iya nih liat mommy2 disini jg keren2 hihi..cmn aku ajah rasanya yg cuek berpenampilan ehehe, pernah sih aku ngomong ke Benny eh tak pake cln ketat ya ama rok pendek biar look "gaya"..lgs aja ngomongnya..waduh ntar smua pada lari.hehehe.

The Diva said...

Ehhh baju dingin yg tuippissss tapi anget??? mau donnnnnnnnnnkkkkk...di Jerman gak ada... susah minta ampun cari stoking wol yg bener2 wol tapi tipisss... yg ada kakiku keliatan tambah gede, kentol pemain sepak bola kalo pake stoking2 jerman...

mereka disini kan badak semua mut, baju dingin yo gitu2 ae, mau anget = tebel. Beteeee jadinya. Aku nek winter gini jadi snowman (sering diketawain karena bajuku persis onions, kalo nggak pake 4-5 lapis nggak kuattttttttttttttt... kulitku kan kulit tropical exotic -- pembelaan standard - hehehe)

Di Tokyo stoking dan baju2 gitu mahal ngagk ya??? duhhh pingiiinnn.... (>__<)

Benny Suryanto said...

Aku heran, koq bisa sih cewek2 jepang gt bisa pake stocking aja ama rok/cln pendek.
Katanya dalamnya diksh koyok hahaha.
Tp emang ada kok stocking yg anget, cmn aku gak tau blh dicuci atow gak.hehehe.Harga kalo aku lihat min 1000yen (ada deh)=Rp 89000-an.
Ada baju daleman anget jg buat cowok cewek ada..rasanya sih kalow sale bisa 700yen (ada kok)=Rp63000an.
Gak tau dah itu harga2 di mall deket rumah ku hahaha.
Diva...I remember "Diva" itu namanya anjingnya Billy Bootcamp Instruktur senam itu loh yg item gueede hahaha....(jgn marah lo hihhi).Peace..!!!

imoet said...

Diva,
Iya, ada :p
WInter sale baru berlalu, walah telat kamu. Sekarang mulai jual spring fashion. Tapi coba aku cari2, pasti masih ada lah. Tunggu sampe aku balik dari hokkaido yaaa :D :D

Nova,
Ya stockingnya udah anget itu. Kalo kurang anget ya ada warmer yang ditempelin dibaju daleman. Emang bener2 anget itu. Biar tangan gak dingin juga ada warmer yang dimasukin kantong jaket. Jadi cewek2 yang kukunya dihias gila2an n gak bisa pake gloves kayaknya berusaha ngangetin jari2nya kalo lagi masukin tangan ke kantong jaket :p
Namanya anjing? hahahahaha

imoet said...

mamanya rui,
kalo jalan berdua sama iki ya pake kets, mbak. sendirian bisa keram tumitku kalo pake high heels. kalo keluar ama Hiro baru pake high heels, dia yang kena tugas nangkep iki hihihi