This is a view of the Great Pagoda in the background as one approaches along the path from Kongobuji.
At the end of a long flight of stairs, the two structures to the left flank the entrance to the Kongobuji complex. The main temple is to the right just out of the photo.
Viewed from the south, this is the Great Stupa or Daito, with the Lecture Hall to the left.
Diners in the courtyard of the famous Raffles Hotel.
As one walks down the mountainside from the Hall of Eternal Light, the Hall for Memorial Tablets,when one reaches the point where stairs end on relatively level ground, one sees the five-story pagoda ahead, slightly to the left of the path, beyond a group of crytomeria trees. In the foreground on the left, next to the path are, again, a group of memorial stones marking the graves of monks from the temple community from centuries past.
The so-called Phoenix Hall at the temple, Byodoin, in Uji. Built in 1053 by Fujiwara Yorimichi, the Phoenix Hall contains the Amida sculpture carved by Jocho, and the compound attempts to represent on earth the western paradise of Pure Land Buddhism. This image shows the Amida Hall as seen from directly across the pond directly in front of the hall. Because of the placement of the pond, the hall cannot be approached directly from the front, perhaps a physical assertion of the Heian aesthetic preference for indirection.
A detail photograph of the roof of the Phoenix Hall, the Hoodo, at Byodoin, Uji. It shows one of the phoenix figures, but is, mainly, a dramatic photograph...
This image and all others identified as ecasia000072 through ecasia000278, are scans of images from the James Thorp Collection, Earlham College. An explanation and description of the collection and its origin are included in the description of image I.D. ecasia000072, the first Thorp image presented in this project collection.
The Yumedono, Hall of Dreams, part of the eastern temple compound at Horyuji (perhaps 100 or so yards east of the main compound of Horyuji). It is a beautifully designed and proportioned octagonal building, constructed on a stone platform with four stairways corresponding with the four directions. On the peak of the tile roof is a metal jewel representing the jewel of Buddhist wisdom. The hall was built on the site of a private chapel that had been built for Shotoku. The important sculpture known as the Guze Kannon is housed in the Yumedono (it is placed on display one day each year).
This image and all others identified as ecasia000072 through ecasia000278, are scans of images from the James Thorp Collection, Earlham College. An explanation and description of the collection and its origin are included in the description of image I.D. ecasia000072, "Altar of Heaven at night, Beijing," the first Thorp image presented in this project collection.
This image and all others identified as ecasia000072 through ecasia000278, are scans of images from the James Thorp Collection, Earlham College. An explanation and description of the collection and its origin are included in the description of image I.D. ecasia000072, "Altar of Heaven at night, Beijing," the first Thorp image presented in this project collection.
This image and all others identified as ecasia000072 through ecasia000278, are scans of images from the James Thorp Collection, Earlham College. An explanation and description of the collection and its origin are included in the description of image I.D. ecasia000072, "Altar of Heaven at night, Beijing," the first Thorp image presented in this project collection.
This image and all others identified as ecasia000072 through ecasia000278, are scans of images from the James Thorp Collection, Earlham College. An explanation and description of the collection and its origin are included in the description of image I.D. ecasia000072, "Altar of Heaven at night, Beijing," the first Thorp image presented in this project collection.
This image and all others identified as ecasia000072 through ecasia000278, are scans of images from the James Thorp Collection, Earlham College. An explanation and description of the collection and its origin are included in the description of image I.D. ecasia000072, "Altar of Heaven at night, Beijing," the first Thorp image presented in this project collection.
This image and all others identified as ecasia000072 through ecasia000278, are scans of images from the James Thorp Collection, Earlham College. An explanation and description of the collection and its origin are included in the description of image I.D. ecasia000072, "Altar of Heaven at night, Beijing," the first Thorp image presented in this project collection.
This image and all others identified as ecasia000072 through ecasia000278, are scans of images from the James Thorp Collection, Earlham College. An explanation and description of the collection and its origin are included in the description of image I.D. ecasia000072, "Altar of Heaven at night, Beijing," the first Thorp image presented in this project collection.
Bayhead bar beach and coastal village of Hiraiga. -- Along this mountainous coastline, flat land is scarce. The homes and buildings of the small village of Hiraiga are crammed into nearly every piece of reasonably flat land above the high tide line. In much of Japan, rugged mountains separate the small areas of flat land upon which villages could be built causing the villages to be isolated from one another. The scarcity of flat land also leads to concentration of the Japanese population into those areas flat enough to build upon.
Flat land used for cities, Tokyo viewed from the top of Tokyo Tower. -- Flat land is scarce and very valuable in Japan. It is the most productive agricultural land, and also the easiest land upon which to build. Consequently. there is great competition and tension between development and agricultural interests. As the population increases and more people move from rural to urban areas, Japanese cities continue to expand and an increasing proportion of flat land is lost to agricultural and other uses.
Digging for new foundations to replace buildings destroyed during the war. The picks are brought down with powerful strokes. --This was the description to accompany this image as written by Arthur O. Rinden, the photographer. His description, which he referred to as a "script", was to accompany a slide show of the images for family and others.
View across garden pond to Golden Pavilion, built for Yoshimitsu, 3rd Ashikaga shogun. Island in the pond in front of pavilion.
Shiva takes Parvati's hand to lead her around the sacred fire to solemnize their wedding. Attending the ceremony are dozens of celestial apsaras and gandharvas to dance and sing, as well as Brahma and Vishnu at Shiva's left. The couple standing next to Parvati may be her parents, Himalaya and Meena.
In the 8th and 9th centuries CE, the Kailash Cave Temple was carved out of the volcanic rock that formed countless plateaus in the western ghats (small mountain range), part of the geological formation known as the Deccan Plateau. Part of a group of 34 caves carved into the side of this plateau, Kailash, cave number 16, is monumental by any standards. The Kailash rock-cut temple stands 30 meters (99 feet) high, 52 meters (170 feet) in length, and 33 meters (108 feet) wide. The other 33 caves, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain, were created by digging into the side of the plateau much like other cave dwellings, but Kailash appears to have been literally excavated from the top in order to create a free-standing temple encircled by smaller cave shrines.
An ascetic figure sits atop the roof of the temple, clothed in the saffron robes that indicate his commitment to live as a brahmacarin and carrying the walking stick necessary for his life as wanderer. The sunglasses indicate that this figure was probably meant to represent a contemporary guru respected by the lineage of ascetics associated with this temple.
