Our last day in Nagano we spent the morning at Zenko-ji Temple. It is very important both to the culture and history of Japan, and is a very impressive site. Because of the large number of buildings in a fairly small area, it was difficult to take any pictures that show the scale of the grounds. The first picture, taken from one of the main temples with other buildings in the background, is as close as I could get to showing the size of the site. If you want more information, Wikipedia has a good entry on Zenko-ji.
Besides all the umbrellas (the rain wasn't really that bad-by Oregon standards it was just sprinkling), in the second picture you can see the incense burner where people sometimes stand in the smoke and rub it on themselves in hope of a blessing.
In the final picture, you can see priests performing a ceremony. It was very fascinating to watch, but it reminded me of the difference between religion -- rituals that try to reach god(s) -- and faith -- relationship with the God who reaches to us.
That's my (relatively) short summary of our travels; Randy, Diane, and Paige, thanks again for a fantastic experience together!
