The Wrong Temple

On our way to the fabulous Kanamari Matsurai, (festival of the steel phallus), we went to the wrong temple in Kawasaki.
This picture is courtesy of Kristina, who has such an amazing blog. She took this picture for me while we were in Kawasaki. I thought it was fascinating. You would never find a sign like this in Florida! Well, maybe an "in case of hurricane...." but definitely not Earthquake! By the way, I've been keeping track- I've experienced 5 or 6 earthquakes here since January! Although this picture is a little out of place, I wanted to post it anyway. It was taken at the castle in Hakone.
Here we are thinking we're about to see the main event, the Kanamara Matsurai, but in reality, through the gate a typical Sunday service awaits us. It was actually a real treat, though, because I saw my very first temple ceremony here in Japan!
But this ceremony was a little different.
I noticed that there were Japanese monks, as well as some Indian monks, maybe they were Muslim priests or something, I don't know, I couldn't really figure it out. The ceremony seemed like it was a combination of the Buddhist and Muslim faiths. The monks or priests, seemed like they were introducing two different religious cultures to the people in a manner of total acceptance.
My friend Jeremy introduced me to the calligraphy books that are available at each temple. I bought my first book for about $10, and now I can take it to all of the temples and get the temple calligraphy artist to sign my book.
This beautiful Pagoda and statue were found at this temple.
Upon leaving the temple, I noticed what looked like a muslim temple to the side.
As mentioned above, my friend Kristina has an incredible blog herself. In fact, she just posted the best entry yet: The TOP 10 CONVENIENCES OF TOKYO! Check it out!! http://kristinaintokyo.blogspot.com