[Leica] [IMG] Aoshima and The Devil's Washboard

[rbaron at concentric.net (Robert D. Baron)]

Another nice set from you.  Keep them coming.

--Bob

==On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 8:43 AM, Peter Cheyne
<geordiepete211 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> As today was Marine Day in Japan, we took a stroll around Aoshima, a local
> island. ?'Ao' means 'blue' or 'green', and 'shima' -sometimes 'jima'- means
> 'island'. ?So it is a green island. ?Surrounding the little dome-shaped
> island is a geological formation the locals call The Devil's Washboard,
> named after the long striations the molten basalt formed into as it was
> ?cooled by the sea. ?A walkway connects the island to the shore, and along
> it are lanterns, and then a large red 'tori' or gate, which in the native
> Shinto religion marks an entrance to a sacred area.
>
> Within Aoshima's sub-tropical forest is a shrine dedicated to local gods,
> with smaller shrines dedicated to local kami, the animistic spirits of
> entities such as the sea and individual trees like the banana tree we
> spotted, but especially venerated in Japan are sprawling, ancient Japanese
> cedars. ?Before entering the shrine proper, people rinse their hands with a
> ladle of purifying water, in this instance poured from a dragon's mouth.
> ?Stone shishi, or lion-dogs, protecting symbols in Japanese shintoism and
> buddhism, and are usually seen at the entrance of temples and shrines.
> ?Looking in, the one on the right, a male, has an open mouth ('Ah~') and 
> the
> one on the left, female, has mouth closed ('Nn' or 'Mm'). ?This originates
> from the buddhist meditation word 'Aum', which moves from open to closed,
> and the people enter the shrine or temple in the middle of the sacred space
> between 'Ah' and 'Nn' that the protecting lion-dogs pronounce.
>
> The photos were taken with an M8 and 35mm 'cron asph.
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/geordiepete/sets/72157624535330322/show/
>
> Peter Cheyne
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