Shrine and Temple Images

 

Virtually every village, town, or city neighborhood that Steven visited in his wanderings through Japan had its Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple. Initially, Steven (as are most Westerners)was bewildered to find that many shrines and temples held extensive trappings from both faiths. However, in time he learned from his guides and translators the reason why: the Japanese liked to incorporate Shinto ceremonies in such important life-affirming passages as birthdays and weddings, while in matters of funerals and the hereafter the Buddhists were thought to be more, shall we say, "in tune" with the cosmos. What follows is an intimate look through Steven's eyes of just a portion of the innumerable delights he stumbled across in the ornate, tree-shaded grounds of some of Japan's hundreds of thousands of shrines and temples.