毘沙門堂のサルスベリ/Crape Myrtle in Bishamondo Temple
A big #Crape_myrtle in #Bishamondo Temple garden was at its full bloom.
サルスベリは「百日紅」と字が当てられており、長い期間、紅色の花を咲かせます。盛夏の緑に赤を加えてくれ、一面が華やかになります。
Crape myrtle is written "百日紅"--hundred days showy pink in Chinese characters in Japan. As it name shows, it lasts very long from the beginning to the end of summer. It's the only girl in surrounding green.
最寄りの山科駅から毘沙門堂は徒歩20分ほど、ゆるやかな上り坂になっています。最後、本堂へ向かうまでの道のりが少し大変かもしれません。急勾配の長い階段が続きます。
Walk uphill from the nearest Yamashina Station for about 20 minutes to this Buddhist temple. At the very last moment, there are steep upstairs which may take your time and energy.
登り切ってまず目に飛び込むのは鮮やかな朱色。神仏習合の名残が見て取れます。
But it's worth going up to see a beautiful vermilion gate. Shinto shrines (Japanese indigenous animistic religion) are decorated with vermilion like this, but Buddhist temples usually aren't. (Well, Kyoto has too many exceptions, though.) This place is Buddhist but covered with vermilion, which shows this Buddhist temple is a complex with Shinto idea.
