Arako Kannon-ji, the old temple where Enku-botoke statues stay

While I was traveling in the Nagoya with a friend, we visited Arako Kannon-ji temple.
Before the departure I had searched information about "Enku-botoke", the handmade wooden Buddha statues by monk Enku.
I had known many Enku-botoke exist in Chubu region which including Nagoya.
Then I learned the Arako Kannon-ji was famous for possession and exhibition of the statues.
So I made a plan to visit the temple in my travel.

Me and the friend came to Takabata station by subway.
Both of us had no sense of direction, so we strayed a bit, but finally arrived the temple.
Arako Kannon-ji temple was founded as a temple of Tendai sect in 729.
Also a warlord and later daimyo of Kaga province at the Sengoku period, Maeda Toshiie born near the temple.
In addition Arako Kannon-ji was the family temple for Maeda clan.

The temple had buildings, a big gate and a pagoda.
We entered a building.
We took off our shoes at the entrance and entered a hall.
There were some docents and other visitors like us.
At the front side of the hall there was an alcove and inside there the Enku-botoke were set on the altar.
After we took some instruction from an docent we went to near the altar.
There were various size and type of the statues.
According to the temple, totally 1240 of them were there.
Enku (1632-1695) left about 5300 of his handmade wooden statues in travel through Japan, so almost twenty five percent of them are in Arako Kannon-ji now.
Each statue had own gentleness and primitiveness.
That made me imagine the personality of Enku.
We appreciated the statues until we became tired.

You can enjoy the local food Kishimen at the platform in Nagoya station

I went to Nagoya, the capital of Aichi prefecture to meet a friend who lives in Nagoya.
We met at the Nagoya station.
It is a big station and also Shinkansen (the bullet train) stops there.
It was noon, and we were hungry.
The friend suggested me to eat Kishimen at the small restaurant which was located at the platform of the bullet train.

Kishimen is famous as an local food in Aichi.
It is a kind of noodles, and it is made in flat strips.
We see it as like an udon, but it's unique shape makes the taste quite different to ordinary udon.
The friend told me there are less Kishimen restaurants in Nagoya nowadays, besides Kishimen in those restaurants are a bit expensive as first food.

We bought an entrance ticket to the platform of the bullet train for 140 yen, and entered to the platform.
The friend explained Kishimen which served by the restaurant is very good in the history of Kishimen.
Also he said the Kishimen is cheaper than other foods in restaurants around Nagoya station even though we have to pay entrance ticket to eat the Kishimen.
The name of the restaurant is Sumiyoshi.
I guess the name come from the great Sumiyoshi shrine in Osaka.
Anyways, before entering the restaurant, we needed to buy food ticket from vending machine outside of the restaurant.
I bought a ticket for "Kakiage tamago-iri Kishimen (Kishimen with a raw egg and a mixed tempura of vegetables and sea food)" for 570 yen.
It was recommended by my friend.
My friend bought a ticket for "Nagoya Kochin Kishimen (Kishimen with the local chicken in Aichi)" for 870 yen.
We entered the restaurant.
There was a very limited space inside.
Also there were no stools.
Usually such type of small noodle restaurants at platform of train station serve noodles as a stand-up meal.
In the restaurant, customers faced to a counter and were slurping their Kishimen in hurry.
They were passengers of the bullet train or customers like us, who entered the platform for only the Kishimen.
We put our tickets on the counter and waited a bit.
Soon a worker inside the counter set our Kishimen front of us.

The Kishimen was beautiful.
In a bowl, there were that flat shaped noodles, a raw egg, a pile of minced green onions and a big Kakiage in soup.
Over them sliced dried bonitos were sprinkled.
Me and my friend ate our meal in hurry.
For there was only a limited space for customer, we had to finish our meal quick.
Even though that, the Kishimen was very nice as my friend told me, and I enjoyed a lot.

If you have a chance to get off the bullet train at Nagoya station, don't forget the nice small Kishimen restaurant at the platform.

Bou no Te, the traditional performance like a martial art

Bou no Te is a traditional performance art inherited in Aichi prefecture.

It is performed as a part of "Omanto (means "tower of horse")", the ceremony dedicating a sacred horse to shrines.
The performance have two performers in traditional costume.
One of them hold a "bou (long straight stick of wood)", and other hold a imitation sword.
They face each other, then start the performance.

The performance looks like an exhibition of fighting.
Two performers avoid opponent's weapon or strike each others weapons.
Sometimes they yell with a voice that sounds like monkey.
Their movement is smooth, rhythmical and quick, so audience unable to take their eyes off of that.

There are various theories about the origin of the performance.
However it likely came from a custom of training of martial arts among local farmers in medieval times.
In wartime, farmers were required to join an army of Sengoku daimyo or warlords, therefore they needed to train their weapon skill.
Probably the martial art in medieval times inherited to peaceful times as a performance.

Even nowadays we can see the performance at the Omanto ceremony or other events.
In addition, Bou no Te has various styles on many areas of Aichi prefecture (but mostly the western half of there).
The local people in the areas practice the performance to transmit a tradition to posterity.

Maybe you can see a remain of medieval times in performance of Bou no Te.