Food and Temples

Our day ended with a wonderful meal of Okonomiyaki. It was a great treat- and coincidence as Michele and I had both decided that we'd probably enjoy okonomiyaki for dinner- given that there were a huge variety of choices we actually hit on the same idea on the same day. We had seen an okonomiyaki place the night before and then on our way to the station after visiting the temple we saw another one so headed for that at around 6:30pm. The first one appeared shut so we headed for the original one we had seen in a side street near Meguro station.
The first time we had okonomiyaki was with Sakurako in Kyoto about 10years ago. We had not only enjoyed the food but also the experience then and on this occasion we thoroughly enjoyed both the food and the experience again. The restaurant was small and made only okonomiyaki so did it well. The cook was behind the bar and we could watch as he made ours and others' meals. We had a seafood one to share which was a good idea as it is very filling. A thin pancake like mixture was heated on the grill and then cabbage and seafood and cheese and other secret ingredients were added. The "crepe" was flipped and then onion and more ingredients and the pancake like dish was placed on a hot gridle and served at our table. There was additional mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce on the table. It was by far the lightest and most delicious meal of okonomiyaki we have had. (Okonomiyaki is a mixture between pancake and pizza. "Okonomi" means "as you like". This refers to the ingredients.)
I had asked Michele if we could include a temple visit in our tours around the city and she knew just the one. It is a short walk from Meguro station in the midst of suburban sprawl- houses, narrow streets ans shops and there in the midst of it all Daien-ji (Daien Temple). It is beautiful. Its history is long-ish for Japan but in terms of Australian European settlement it was built just before the First Fleet!
Daien-ji was the flash point of a conflagration that burned one-third of Edo and killed nearly 18,000 people in 1772. Five hundred bas relief rakan, stone images representing the disciples of Buddha, were carved by temple monks as a form of penance. Each sculpture appears to genuinely mourn the fire victims with an individualized, grimly ascetic expression. Odd then that a wee flame is kept continuously burning at the temple. Perhaps this hints that some things -- despite modern ambitions -- never change.
The temple was built and these figures to represent the people who died in the fire- the enormity of it is apparent with the en mass sculptures, each of which is different. I tried to show the extent and number of sculptures by photographing in close and moving out.
The other lovely part of the grounds are the Jizo statues- indicated by the little hats. They are usually a little red bib or bonnet. These were crotcheted bonnets which have discolored to orange and from a distance look like bright nasturtiums in a small garden plot.