Myooin Temple

The path we took beside the Ashida River

It has been almost an entire month since we have arrived in Japan, and I have been trying to keep Karlee, the kids and I fairly busy every day and weekend. I don't want Karlee to get back to Canada and feel like she spent a month and a half sitting around our apartment putting up with our kids. I have been trying to find all of the must see touristy spots that are in and around our city and plan little day trips to check them out. Because of this, I really feel like I have been on vacation for a month.

One of our little treks last week was to the Myooin Temple which is just across the Ashida River at the south end of town. There is actually a whole Shinto shrine/Buddhist temple complex in the area, so we just wandered from one to the other and enjoyed all of the beautiful buildings, cool architecture, and great statues. Here are some of the sights we saw:

The red, double peaked bridge that we crossed to the temple grounds

Once inside, we discovered the extremely friendly temple kitty. Theo showered her with all the attention she could have ever asked for.

We also found a fantastic and huge praying mantis. It was about 20 cm. long.

The small Temizu basin at the first temple

William enjoying everything from the confines of his stroller

The five storey pagoda is the fifth oldest in Japan.

The Temizu basin at the next shrine was an awesome metal dragon with water coming from its mouth.

A wider view of the last Shinto shrine that we visited. 

It was a swelteringly hot and humid day and we were all very sticky and thirsty by the time we walked back to the apartment. All in all a great day!