So we started our first full day in Osaka with a walk to the Minoh falls…the walk was full of new experiences.
Along the way, many vendors were selling fried maple leaves, a new treat for me. I actually had never heard of deep fried maple leaves. I was reminded by my guide not to buy from a vendor where the oil smelled, as it was not fresh oil.
The leaves that are being fried are from the previous year. They are collected and preserved in salt until the following year. I couldn’t taste the salt, so they must have a way of cleaning them very thoroughly.
On the way to the falls we came upon this statue…which was lovely…until I found out it was a reminder for children to take care of their elderly mothers…then I thought the statue was FANTASTIC!
Pictures of the walk to the falls… the area has suffered a typhoon last year. Japan has more than 25 typhoons a year and they are named not numbered..on the way we encountered a Buddhist ceremony – a fire ceremony…
We didn’t know the ceremony was taking place but as we hiked to the waterfall we kept hearing drums, the Shankha (conch shell) other instruments, so we veered off the path to investigate. This particular fire ceremony occurs twice a year…these are monks in training.
In preparing for the burning, different monks approach the fire pit to drive away evil spirits. First was the archer that released a bow in every direction.
A woman near where I was shooting, above the ceremony, retrieved one of the arrows. I was shooting through an evergreen hedge, so in some photos pieces of the shrub made its way into the photos.
After the archer came two other monks dispelling evil spirits with other weapons, a knife and a long handle “hatchet”, it looked too long to be an ax but I cannot think of what else it might be called. Each of the monks walked first to the red umbrella and bowed to a monk under the umbrella ,then walked around the mound of greenery and used the tools in each direction.
After all of the evil spirits were chased away came some Buddhism readings.
Then the lighting of the fire… and the throwing of the prayers into the flames…
From the festival…came the waterfall…
Loved learning about the ceremony..helped to understand what the pix were portraying!
Nice job on the fire ceremony and Mino Waterfalls.