This will be my last blog before I leave for Singapore in an hour for 4 days and then to Holland for 3 weeks to visit family and celebrate some special birthdays.

The Hokoku-ji Temple was founded by the Priest Butsujo Zenshi who studied under the renowned Buddhist Priest Musako Sosen (1226-1258) when he was 13 years old.

Although all that was best and most valuable has passed away, this lovely spot has a very romantic setting: the ancient trees; the carpet of ferns and wild flowers; the densely wooded valleys; above all for the indescribable atmosphere of peace and solitude, and mystic remoteness from the things of earth that seems to envelop like a dream so many of these old-world shrines and temples.

A flight of well-worn stone steps, thickly coated with moss.

Two niches hewn out of the solid rock:
here repose the ashes of the early priests
of the temple.

The bamboo forest.

Water flowing in a small pond.