[ Dec.2014 ] Just next to our hotel in Awa Kominato in Chiba prefecture in Japan, there was a temple called Tanjo-ji, meaning a birth temple.
It is the temple to commemorate the birth of Nichiren, who is one of the great Buddhist monks in Japan who lived in the 13th century.
He was born not far from here and later a temple was built at the site of his birth house, but because of the earthquakes and tsunamis, they had to move it here.
Nichiren started his own sect called Nichiren-shu, which is one of the top 5 sects in Japanese Buddhism.
And this temple is the main temple of the sect.
But it was not too showy or too big.
It was a refined temple with the impressive rows of garden lamps and lanterns.
There was a statue of Nichiren as a child.
By the way, there are stories regarding his birth, like Christ or Buddha.
When he was born, they say that suddenly a fountain started gushing and unseasonal flowers bloomed, and also a lot of sea bream came to the shore.
