Sweeping Up
By george ross. Filed in japan |Tags: buddhist temple, japan, kyoto, old people
Classes start today! Busy, busy and I still haven’t finished posting japan pics…
I’ve been meaning to share this quiet moment from our trip to Nishi Hongan-Ji temple. Apparently it was some kind of clean-up day? Huge numbers of old people had been bussed in and handed twig brooms in order to sweep up the leaves that were littering the courtyard.
This was late afternoon, after most of the leaves had been swept into plastic bags, and people were lining up to go as a man with a megaphone thanked them over and over. In the background is the so-called “Sunset Gate”, supposedly so beautiful it will distract you from the sunset. Since we were there at sunset, we were able to test this out — I’m afraid we weren’t entirely convinced.
