When wandering the backroads of Tsukuba you might encounter a set of what appear to be SIGNS OF WARNING or NO ENTRY. Three primitive stick figures drawn on wooden boards and mounted on sticks, usually posted on each side of the opening to a small road or path. I have never seen these goose-bump-eliciting road-markers anywhere else in Japan, [...]
Continue reading about Mysterious (and Creepy) Roadside Markers Explained
More than 400 years ago, during Japan’s so-called Warring States Period (Sengoku Jidai), a wooden fortress known as Hanamuro-Jo, stood a few hundred meters northeast of what is now the Hanamuro Intersection (kosaten), not far from Tsukuba Center. No one is certain exactly how many years this fortification stood, as there are no extant records bearing this information, however, there is documentation of Hanamuro-Jo still having [...]
Continue reading about “Miracle Working” Stone Still Has Devotees in Tsukuba and Beyond
It is ironic that with Japan’s often gloomy summer rainy season, there is usually plenty more sunshine in mid-winter than there is in mid-summer. And so, though today, the To-Ji (冬至), or winter solstice was certainly the shortest day of the year, it was also one of the sweetest — with clear blue skies, no [...]
Continue reading about A Fine day For Fire-Walking at Mt Kabasan (加波山) !
Putting oneself through physical and/or mental hardship as a way of achieving spiritual growth has long been connected with Buddhism in Japan. That was why, when I arrived at the National Museum in Ueno on a sweltering spring morning, I did not find it inappropriate to have to wait outside in the sun for 90 minutes to [...]
Continue reading about A Look from Behind: The Yakushi-Ji Treasures In Ueno
I recently had the pleasure of taking a trip to Amabiki Kannon, a temple complex about 45 minutes north of Tsukuba. Click on the image below to see some of the photos that I took.
See: Article on Amabiki Kannon in Alien Times
tsukubans speak