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Did you know that "Obama (小浜市, Obama-shi) is a city located in Wakasa Area of Fukui Prefecture," on the main island of Honshu, Japan?

Our tour group at Atsuta shrine, outside Nagoya.

The meditation hall at Eiheiji. (Photo from Seido Japan Aichi website.)

Our Seido tour group at Eiheiji. (Photo from Seido Japan Aichi website.)

This is the Daibutsu at Kamakura, smaller than the one at Nara but I think I like it better, the outdoor setting suits it. (Apparently there was a building around it, washed away by tsunami in the 15th century.)

This one is Amida Buddha, the Buddha of the Western Pure Land. focus of the devotional Jodo sect. The Nara Daibutsu is Vairocana, Dainichi, the Great Sun Buddha of the esoteric Kegon and Shingon sects.

Irreverent thoughts:

Me and the buddha...walkin' side by side...

Garden at Tenryu-ji temple. outside Kyoto

a lovely scene along the trail

On the old Tokaido road hiking path, a few km from Tsumago

Rain? Cold? We're Seido, man. March on! 8km on the old Tokaido road, nobody on it but us. Beautiful.

At the celebration party Saturday night, with Jun Shihan Toshihide Sawahira, Seido Japan Aichi branch chief, a very talented karate-ka and a very nice fellow.