One of the customs is to write a prayer on a piece of paper and tie it to a tree. The little pieces of paper are pretty much all over the temple now. There's also a bunch of stickers -- I don't understand what they are.
This is a monk making his way up Chuodori (the main street
in Nagano). They take a step, stop, and ring a bell. At
this point he's still about a mile from the Temple but he
happened to be doing it during one of the Olympic celebrations
so the street was closed and there were lots of people around.
The last quarter of a mile to the temple is lined with little
trinket shops. Theresa ducked into this shop to see if they
had any interesting souvenirs.
At the entrance to the temple is two huge wooden statues.
They're protected by a small building of wood and fence
so it's difficult to get a good picture.
The entrance statues are about 20 feet high. This means
that even the big toe is several inches.
Inside the temple are a variety of statues. This is a
line of statues. I don't understand the significance of
them but each one is in a slightly different pose.
In the main temple building there are no lights. It's quite
dark but quite elaborate inside. There are places to toss
your coin and say a prayer everywhere. There is a really
old statue that you're supposed to rub whatever part of you
hurts. This is the central feature of the building. We
couldn't really see it very well so I set my camera down
and took a time exposure. It wasn't till I was leaving that
I noticed the sign that said "No pictures please".
There are a variety of gardens surrounding the temple buildings.
This one was the nicest looking. The building in the background
has the Zenkoji Temple Bell which is rung each morning.