Enmyozan Daikeiji Temple, Fujieda, Shizuoka

I can't pass by a temple or shrine without taking a look around. I am always amazed by the history.

Here is the history of Daikeiji Temple (googled translated from the website - I know there are some weird things):

About 760 years ago, in the spring of 1253, Nichiren Shonin visited this place of Kyoto Hieizan Yugaku, and the couple of Doen and Myoen, who ran a teahouse, were preached and planted one pine tree as a memorial. That is "Kuon no Matsu".
After that, the couple built a Hokke-do Hall behind their home and opened the foundation of Daikei-ji Temple.
It is said that Hyuga, a six-year-old monk, passed this place in 1313, and solded that he squeed a splendid pine, but later it became a place where a Zen master lived, and there was a time when it was called Keishoan. In Tenbun 5 (1536), Daienin Nichizun came here to avoid the law, and finally built a large temple by building a large temple by propagate at the Hokke-do Hall, and became the founder of restoration.

Many temples and shrines have very big, very old trees.  This pine tree is one of the oldest and biggest in Shizuoka. This is what the website says about the tree (also google translated):

Nichiren Shonin's hand-planted pine is a black pine tree that is more than 750 years old, and the tree is strong and the branches are stretched out in all directions, which is truly and wonderful.
It is the best age as a pine and a large tree rarely seen in the country. It is designated as a natural monument in Shizuoka Prefecture. It is 26m high, 30m high, 7m around the root.
It was selected as one of the "100 Best Pines in Japan" in 1983. There are three types in Shizuoka Prefecture: "Miho no Matsubara", "Numazu Senbonmatsu" and "Kuon no Matsu". Only "Kuon no Matsu" is selected as a single pine in the prefecture.

In June 2020, it was certified as a constituent cultural property of Japan Heritage.

Monday Morning Star Count - 20 Rows and Backing

I think twenty rows of twelve flowers will be enough.

Remember the little basket of fabrics from last week's post? I pieced some of them together for the backing.

After I press the seams, I will pin baste these two layers together.  As this is a summer bed cover, I am not adding a middle layer of batting.

Golden Week Ahead

Golden week is made up of four national holidays within seven days and is one of the three busy vacation and travel times of the Japanese year. (The other two are New Year's and Obon.) I read that the name "Golden" is related to the old Japanese radio slang "golden time", referring to the period with the highest listener ratings. I don't know if that is true, but Golden Week is the time of the busiest and most crowded travel times.

April 29th is Showa Day, the day that honors the birthday of the late Emperor Hirohito, who was the Japanese emperor during the Showa era. 

Constitution Memorial Day is May 3rd and celebrates the day the Constitution of Japan was enacted on May 3, 1947. 

May 4th is Greenery Day, which is a day to appreciate nature. 

Finally, May 5th is Children's Day, the day to celebrate and honor children's health and happiness. This year, the holiday will be observed May 6th, because the 5th falls on a Sunday.

I don't have any big travel plans for the week ahead, but I would like to attend some local festivals, depending on the weather. It probably doesn't need to be said that I will be spending time stitching.  

If you had a week to do anything you wanted, what would you do or where would you go?

Sugar Baby "Riri" Gets Sentenced to Nine Years

 

Mai Watanabe, 25 years old from Nagoya, was arrested last August for selling dating scam manuals to her social media followers, in order to find and scam "sugar daddies" through paid dating. Watanabe, who goes by the name Itadakijoshi Riri-chan (Riri the Sugar Baby) sold her manuals for 10,000 to 20,000 yen each (see photo below). Private lessons were available for an additional fee. She was able to sell about 2,000 manuals before being arrested.

The manuals went into detail about the way to approach vulnerable middle-aged men and how to get the most money out of them. The guidebooks taught the purchasers to tell the sugar daddies that they had an unhappy childhood, to gain sympathy and open their wallets. Other tactics included lying about ill health and being unable to work and that they desperately needed help to pay rent and other necessities. 

Riri was caught after a 20-year old who swindled almost 11,000,000 yen from two men in Aichi Prefecture using techniques from Riri's scam books, was arrested. The 20 year old ratted Riri out.

Are you wondering how good the manual's writer was at swindling sugar daddies herself? The Mainichi newspaper reported that she swindled 27 million yen from a 50 year old man after telling him she was going to have to sell her body at a brothel. Another 54 year old man claimed to have transferred a total of 117 million yen to her. Sounds like she is the papa katsu (paid dating) master. 

But, was it worth it for her? I think not. She was sentenced to nine years in prison over her scams, after all. 

Friday Finish - International Pandas

Cute, aren't they?

Fujieda Wisteria Festival

Last weekend, I took the train to Fujieda to attend the Wisteria Festival. The festival is held at Rengejiike Park, which is a long walk from the train station. The sky was overcast, but I think that kept the temperature cooler. The park has a lake surrounded by a walkway and a lot of flowers.  For the festival, there were vendors and entertainment. Giant fish flags were flying in honor of Boys Day Festival which is May 5th.

People of all ages were out enjoying the flowers and the weather.

The park is quite large.

Wisteria was everywhere. It is the Wisteria Festival after all.

There were plenty of places to stop and take a break or eat lunch.

I see these rough stone walks sometimes in Japan. You take off your shoes and endure the pain of the stones sticking up. I have done it before and already know it hurts, so I didn't do it at the festival.

The festival continues through May 5th.

There was a pedal boat rental place that was doing big business. I like the panda boat best.

There was also musical entertainment.

Even sports teams have Daruma!

I enjoyed my time at the festival.  If I lived in Fujieda, I would spend time at this park often.

Work In Progress Wednesday

New Start - Japanese cross stitch design #2. There are 72 designs in the book and I am stitching them in order.  These are 1 and 2 (in progress).

Candlewicking progress

International Pandas progress

Spring Bride progress