Buddhist Deities & Warrior Faith

On my desk sits a small figure holding a sword. It is a statue of Fudō Myōō — one of Buddhism’s most fierce-looking deities, typically depicted surrounded by flames, wielding a blade, his expression a deliberate and concentrated fury. The figure on my desk is about ten centimetres tall. It is also a rabbit. The…

Many travelers wonder how to properly visit a japanese temple, but even as a Japanese person, the boundaries can feel a little blurry. When I was a child, my family used to visit a place in Akasaka, Tokyo for hatsumode — the first shrine visit of the New Year. It was always crowded and a little…