Judged To Be “Most Happy”

Day 15 ~ 12,625 Miles.

This morning we visited Senkoji Temple to learn about and practice Zen meditation with a monk. After a 2 mile walk our choice to reaching the temple was walking up a steep uneven rocky path or riding up. Fortunately many in our group are “competitive” and would never dream of riding up. This traveling trio rode up. So we packed into a little van driven by an 81 year old monk along with a couple others from our group and sped up the narrow winding path being navigated carefully on foot by our fellow travelers. We almost knocked a few off the mountain as we passed but all arrived safely.

We spent an hour with another monk and did a short meditation before having a sado tea ceremony. I took advantage of bamboo walking sticks and walked down the mountainside. We then were treated to a bamboo pole steered Yakatobune boat ride on the Oigawa River back to our starting point.

After traveling back to Kyoto and getting another sushi lesson/lunch we stopped at a floral arrangement school for a lesson on modern Japanese floral arranging, Ikebana. I need to brag a bit because our arrangement was judged by the Ikebana master to the most happy and bestRead more