Somewhere...in Nakano Fujimicho...

There is a Temple almost on the doorstep of the Salvation Army Bazaar but I cannot find out what it is called. It says "Ryhhoji" on google maps but googling that isn't getting me anywhere. In any case, it is well worth a look if you are in the area. The day when I took these was crazily bright and sunny so they all ended up looking a bit washed out.

You can tell a Temple from a Shrine in various ways but one is that a Temple has two Nio (buddhist guardians), one on either side of the entrance. These ones were behind glass and it was so sunny I could only get an image of them from the side.

This pair were quite amazing and the carving was wonderful. They would certainly scare the bejeezus out of me on a dark night. Traditionally they traveled with The Buddha to protect him from harm.

I had paused outside the Temple to message The Pooch and while doing so was approached by a wizened japanese lady wearing a hand sewn bonnet. She was very insistent I go with her into the Temple and I failed to mime "I'm using facebook messenger but as soon as I find the right Pusheen icon I am going in" so along I went and she was insistent on pointing out to me that it wasn't just the Nio who were on protection detail, but also two stunningly coloured more contemporary looking warriors who literally had their backs.

There was too much reflection to take the other chap's photo but I liked this one best since he was standing on the backs of his...enemies? slaves? They reminded me a bit of Shrek. The armour the two of them were wearing though was not in the least bit comical.

Inside there was the ritual hand washing area.

Given the warmth of the day I was more than happy to do this. You pick up the scoop in your right hand and pour water over your left hand, then do the reverse, then finally draw a third scoop of water and run it back over the handle of the ladle itself, thus leaving it clean for the next person. Inside was the temple itself with some lovely carving and the donation box in front.

The roofs of the Temple and the other buildings around it were beautifully finished in traditional Japanese style and had these fearsome gargoyles on the ends of the ...straight-bit-along-the-top. Coping? Copping? Something like that.

But then I also spied these little guys - kind of a cross between a dragon and a tortoise.

Nakano Fujimicho itself is a quite part of town although I did like their street lights.

I am having some blogging mojo issues at the moment. I read a lot of blogs on Bloglovin and a number of them have only been blogging a year or two but have made them into thriving little businesses. I have always put myself off doing anything like that so it's made me wonder why I am blogging. If it's just a diary then I could do that offline. I think also I have been thinking of myself as a knitting blogger still even though I've been mainly sewing for about two years now. I only go on Ravelry once every 2 months or so whereas it used to be my Facebook equivalent. One sewing blogger asked for comments recently on what readers looked for in a blog and I put something about projects, discoveries and lessons but not too much personal stuff - specifically no dog photos. But then my blog has quite a lot of personal stuff on and multiple cat photos. So am I writing the kind of thing I wouldn't want to read?

Maybe I'm over thinking things.