Gravey

A few days ago I went for a pretty long run. I was feeling great, so I just kept running, further than I usually go. I ended up at the base of the small mountains on the edge of town, and continued up the small road that wound it's way up into the hills. I didn't spend much time there, but I was quite taken by the place. So today we took a drive back up to check it out more.
The base of the road is flanked by little farm plots. Not sure if they are communal or private, but there were quite a few people working in and around them (though you wouldn't know it by this picture).



Just a bit further up the road is this great little grove of trees. I don't know why but I love this patch of trees. The ground is slightly terraced, and the trees are somewhat symmetrically spaced; it would make a short but sweet patch of glades with a few feet of snow on the ground. Anyway, for some reason this group of trees is very pleasing to my eye.



And then you round the corner of this little road, and this giant, sprawling cemetery unfolds above you. It's quite dramatic at first because it's all above you, until you follow the road up through all the tombstones and eventually reach the top.



Each stone represents a family rather than an individual person. It is mandatory in Japan that people are cremated when they die, I would assume because land is a bit of an issue here and there isn't room to be burying people. According to Chieko, the ashes of family members are stored inside these tombstones.



When friends and relatives visit the tomb of someone, they leave flowers much like in America, but also light candles and incense. One of the interesting things I found when I came here is the smell of burning incense that is always in the air when you walk past a cemetery.





Japan being a primarily Buddhist country, you can imagine that these were few and far between.



So you can see by these pics that it was a pretty gorgeous day here in Kanazawa; spring weather at it's finest. I spent the morning listening to the Red Sox steal another nail biter. Daisuke Matsuzaka is officially not living up to his billing. I have a feeling he'll come around, and it's easy to be patient when a team is consistently winning games and playing well. I have to say though that as good as the Sox are playing, my jaded inner Red Sox fan is waiting for this team to implode.
Anyway, we've got the weekend and then it's back to work on Monday. Hoping for some nice weather to enjoy before it's back to the grind for us.