The invitation flyer
On Saturday, March 30, together with Ms. Naoko Nagata and Ms. Princess Grace Kamila Noer of the Center for International Relations and Professor Emeritus Shosuke Ito of the Institute for Melanin Chemistry, we organized the “Fujita Sakura-Temple Tour” for international students. There were 15 participants, and although the sakura was not in full bloom yet, the weather was beautiful and we had a lot of fun. Professor Ito and I were the tourguides, who explained about things around Fujita before we had a well-deserved picnic on top of Futamurayama.
Picnic on top of Futamurayama, behind the Kirare-Jizou, which was cut in half in 1679, either by lightning or by a robber chieftain when the Jizou offered his life to take the place of a traveler.
We met at Fujita Hall 2000, where we explained to the students about the nindou-fuji (忍冬藤, the Japanese honeysuckle), which is a plant that protects its leaves in winter by folding them, and of which Fujita-sensei, the founder of our University, used the form as ornaments all around Fujita to protect us and give us a feeling of “after winter comes spring.” Then we went to the Shinto shrine Magome-Hachimansha (間米八幡社) at the South-West of Fujita Health University. From there we went to Futamurayama, where Ito-sensei told the students about the old road, Kamakura-kaido, which was between two previous capitals, Kamakura and Kyoto, and of which Futamurayama was, locally, the highest point. It was so famous that many travelers when reaching this point made a haiku, a poem. I want to find out more about that so that I can add some of those poems to this blog. Then we went to a Shinto shrine at the bottom of Futamurayama, where there were some memorials for the people who died in the wars. After this, we visited a small Buddhist shrine on the road towards Futamurayama, which is dedicated to “Kobodaishi,” which some of his followers believe is still alive. Then we went to the top of Futamurayama, where we first visited the temple with the three Jizo’s (stone deities), and then the watch-tower from where Professor Ito explained to us about the surrounding landscape. Finally, we had a nice picnic.
In the back, you can see the watchtower. We are eating strawberries from Shizuku farm, close to Fujita.
Unfortunately, there was not much Sakura yet, but please see here how it looked two years ago with everything in full bloom.
