I sat up on my futon. “It’s okay. We have way bigger problems than Setsuko. How are we going to sneak out of the ryokan tonight? The students won’t be at dinner yet when we have to leave to meet up with Amaterasu.”
“You let me worry about that. Just get dressed and try to have a good time today.” She walked back toward the door. “And please get Setsuko under control. We don’t need her stirring up trouble tonight.”
Easier said than done, I thought to myself as I threw on my skinny jeans and denim shirt, grabbing my small backpack before heading out the door. Instead of being excited about visiting more historic sights, the constant on the go schedule made it feel more like temple torture.
Setsuko met me at the end of the hallway. “The old lady asked what kind of breakfast we wanted, Western or Japanese. I told her Western.”
Ugh. I actually would have preferred the Japanese version as I really needed some protein in the morning, but the fact that Setsuko was even talking to me made me keep my mouth shut. Instead, I nodded my head and followed her into the dining room. A cereal of unknown origin, a piece of thick toast, and a glass of some kind of orange colored drink greeted me as I sat down on the floor cushion. Thanks a lot, Setsuko. We both inhaled our meals in ten minutes flat. After the less than thrilling breakfast, we headed out front to catch the bus.
Mr. Shinji greeted us at the curb. “Let’s get on the bus, gang. We have the great Phoenix Temple and the largest Buddha in the biggest building in Japan to see. You should be very excited.”
We faked our enthusiasm and boarded the bus. Before we were even seated, the driver jerked the wheel and hit the accelerator hard. He must have known by the tone in Mr. Shinji’s voice that time was of the essence.
Cruising the handout, I saw our first stop was Byodoin, better known as the Phoenix Temple. As we drove further out of town it seemed my silent treatment from Setsuko had come to an end. She pointed out the window with her bright pink fingernails. “Finally, we are free of the congestion of the city.” She made Kyoto sound like Tokyo.
I gave her a forced smile. “I’m looking forward to seeing Nara. I heard the deer are really cute.”
“Ha.” She said so loud some of the students turned and stared. “Wait until you are up close to one of those filthy creatures. Then tell me how cute they are.”
Guess Setsuko was still ticked at me. She turned back toward the window and I tried to signal Kenzo. Sensing my eyes on him, he turned and smiled. I shrugged my shoulders to let him know Setsuko remained an issue.
The expansive lush greenery out the bus window eased my mood. The landscape changed from a modern city to large swatches of green trees that soon turned into forest. I moved slightly in front of Setsuko and pointed out the window. “You were right. The temple is surrounded by forest.”
Setsuko gave me a half smile. “You should know I wouldn’t steer you wrong.”
My trick worked. Nothing lightened Setsuko’s mood more than giving her a compliment.
The bus swerved onto a side road and into the grounds of the famous Phoenix Temple. As soon as the driver turned off the engine Kenzo shot up out of his seat. “You are now going to see a national treasure of Japan. Byodoin was built in one thousand fifty-two. It is the living embodiment of the Buddhist philosophy of destruction and rebirth. The Phoenix Temple symbolizes the bird that rose from the ashes to become the most beautiful object in the sky.”
I loved it when Kenzo waxed poetic, but everyone else just seemed to be itching to get off the bus. From the moment Setsuko and I stood in front of the stunning red and white clad temple, it was obvious how it got its name. Two long halls stretched out like wings on either side of a main temple that resembled the body of a bird. The black tile roofs on the hall sported unturned tips that resembled stylized feathers. Perched on the gables of the main section were two large golden brass phoenixes with outstretched wings. The entire structure stood mirrored in a shallow pond that ran the entire length of the temple. The double image reflected in the long narrow pond and gave the illusion that the halls were floating on the surface of the water. Absolutely exquisite. My hand itched for a paintbrush, but I settled for a series of photos instead. I doubted they would capture the true beauty of Byodoin. That would have to be forever held in my mind.
Setsuko nudged my shoulder. “Hey, snap out of your trance. I think your squirrel friend is back.”
I bit my lip. “Where?”
She pointed to a group of trees on the far side of the reflection pond near the eastern hall. “Over there.”
As the students headed into the main part of the temple to view the gold Buddha inside, I raced over to the grouping of trees wondering why Yuki would risk being so visible again. As I approached the maple trees, I sucked in a breath. A small grey furry body lay draped over one of the lower branches. A tear formed in my eye as I came closer and the animal didn’t move. I shook the branch and the animal fell to the ground. My heart pounded in my chest as I raced to the animal’s side. Yuki can’t be dead. I blinked hard as I looked down at the dirty mass of fur. Setsuko hovered next to me as I grabbed the lifeless body. “Is it your squirrel friend? It looks dead.”
I stood up and shoved the stuffed toy animal in her face. “Very funny.”
The glowing smile of revenge covered her face. “Got you back!”
Nara or Bust
Noon
The road to Nara meandered through lush green countryside that would have made a wonderful painting. But my anger kept me from enjoying the pleasant ride. For one brief moment I believed Yuki was really dead and my heart truly ached for her. I glared at Setsuko who still had way too satisfied a grin on her face. If she wanted to enjoy the ride to Nara by herself, she got her wish. I sat across from her still fuming. Gina warned me about crossing Setsuko, but I’d never been on her bad side before. I knew I shouldn’t let her stunt throw me off my game. Tonight deserved my complete and focused attention. I could hear Kenzo in my head telling me as much.
Wait a sec… I looked over at Kenzo who sported a satisfied grin. Did he just somehow enter my mind? Before I could figure it out, the driver turned a corner and parked the bus in front of the entrance to the famous deer park. We lumbered off the bus and Mr. Shinji greeted us with his ever-present smile. “Nara was the ancient capital of Japan from seven hundred and ten to seven hundred and eighty-four. There are two reasons tourists want to visit Nara. One is to see the one of the largest Buddha in Japan, the other is to visit the deer park.”
With that pronouncement our motley group of students walked across an expansive paved courtyard and soon caught a glimpse of the enormous scale of Todai-ji Temple. The building looked about the same size as the biggest shopping mall I’d ever been to. The Buddha housed inside must be giant. I was so impressed by the size of the Buddha in Kamakura I couldn’t imagine how much bigger this one must be.
Setsuko slipped into tour guide mode as if we never had a fight. “Can you believe that the temple is only two thirds of its original size? It had burned several times throughout its history. When they rebuilt it the last time, in sixteen ninety-two, I guess they decided they didn’t need to cut down another forest.”
I knew Setsuko was trying to be funny like Kenzo. After all the largest wooden structure in the world had to take one heck of a lot of wood to build.
We walked closer to the temple and I had to admit the scale of the building made me feel like I’d shrunk to the size of a five-year-old. A sea of green lawn surrounded the building making the temple loom even larger.
I was surprised such a large structure would be one of the plainest temples I’d seen in Japan. It sported a simple white wood clad body with black trim topped off by a black tile roof. The only ornamentation was two huge, gold horn-like finials on each crest of the roof. They reminded me of the large gold horns Shogun’s put on their helmets to stand out in battle.
Setsuko and I walked down the expansive grey tiled pathway and entered the temple. The Buddha’s sheer size to
ok my breath away. The epitome of tranquility sat between two massive solid wood pillars. The Buddha had his right hand thrust out, displaying his palm. The middle finger angled just slightly forward as if to summon the viewer closer. The haunting whites of his eyes and the large white dot on his forehead floated in a sea of aged black bronze. He was a force to be reckoned with.
A gilded backdrop surrounded the Buddha, as regal as any fancy British throne. At least twenty smaller seated Buddha circled around him like little clouds in the sky. In front of him stood a gigantic altar with the tallest candlesticks I had ever seen. Being in the Buddha’s presence, I felt an energy course through my veins like a case of Red Bull. Wait a sec…were his eyes glowing? I blinked hard flashing back to the Buddha with the glowing red eyes in the cave at Kamakura. That Buddha scared me to the bone. This one made me feel like I could do anything. Had that been Kenzo’s plan all along?
As I watched as a priest place fruit and flower offerings on top of the altar, time stood still. The priest resembled a human toy standing in front of the enormous statue.
To guard and protect the Buddha, two very large carved wooden warriors stood on either side of the altar. They had fierce, scowling expressions on their faces and held spiked daggers that were at least ten feet long. Could I be as fierce when I faced Death?
Setsuko nudged me out of my trance. “You have to admit this Buddha is some powerful stuff. You feel so insignificant standing in front of him—yet so protected.”
Funny, that was exactly how I felt. I hoped his energy would protect me when I faced Death.
Setsuko turned on her Mary Jane heels. “Hey, let’s go see the deer.”
I guess she needed a break from the somber contemplative mood the Buddha created.
We strolled through the entrance of the deer park just in time to catch Kenzo in full tour guide mode. “Welcome to the deer park. First off, if you haven’t read the warning signs, the deer can be quite aggressive in their pursuit of food. Keep a good hold of your purses and backpacks. Let me give you a little history of the park’s origin. There are over a thousand spotted deer in the park, and it is believed they are protected by the god of Kasuga Grand Shrine. The legend says he rode to the site on the back of a deer.” Kenzo eyed some of the guys kicking at the gravel path. “Now go out and enjoy the park—but beware of hungry deer!”
Deer roaming around everywhere seemed to be a theme in sacred places in Japan. In Idaho the deer stayed pretty much up in the mountains and we never saw them in Magic Valley. Keeping my hands firmly on my backpack not wanting the deer to snag my last protein bar, Setsuko and I entered the deer park as if we were about to face a mob of burglars.
Setsuko raced toward a bank of machines. “We will need to arm ourselves with some sembe crackers or the deer are going to become very obnoxious.”
It seemed hard to believe the cute little brown deer dotted with white spots, wagging their cute little white tails, had such a bad reputation. We went over to the deer food machines and bought two small bags of crackers. Setsuko, feeling we were sufficiently armed, headed deeper into the park. We noticed some of the other students had entered the park unarmed.
At first the deer seemed friendly enough. They came right up to us and begged for food. Setsuko had a method of rationing the food enough to keep the deer happy. I followed her lead tossing crackers on the ground to keep the deer busy. We were actually having a great time with the deer when disaster struck. One of the male students must have had something extra yummy inside his backpack because about ten deer swarmed him. Next thing we knew two of the deer jumped on the guys back and started to tear his backpack apart.
His friend yelled, “Paul, take that thing off before they eat you alive.”
Then Paul threw his backpack to the ground and the deer had a feeding frenzy. Setsuko and I went over to check out the remains of the backpack.
Setsuko asked Paul, “What did you have stashed in your backpack? A giant cabbage or something?”
I was impressed that Setsuko remembered that deer are herbivores.
Paul straightened his damaged striped shirt. “I just had a bag of peanuts and some chips.” Paul looked pretty shook up as he examined his backpack and realized it was a complete goner.
Deciding we better get to safer ground, Setsuko and I worked our way through a small forest and headed back to the bus. The trees were covered in thick layers of moss and seemed as if they had been around since the time when dinosaurs roamed the island. For all I knew, they had been here almost as long. I had one last shot in my camera. I took one of the biggest moss-covered trees I could find. I thought it was appropriate to have my last shot be of something as majestic as a temple—yet completely untouched by man.
We boarded the bus and enjoyed a pleasant winding ride to our new ryokan. The driver pulled up in front of a traditional white and black painted inn. Weary from our long day of temple viewing, we stood in line to get off the bus. Kenzo stayed behind and I gave him a quizzical look. He leaned toward me and stuffed a note in my hand. Something was up. Once I snagged my roller bag from the driver, I followed behind Setsuko as she scoped out a room for us. A middle-aged woman in a red and white kimono pointed out where the main restroom was and I nodded and smiled wondering if the lady could be Ren.
Setsuko grabbed a room near the far side of the main building. She thrust open the door and tossed her purse on the tatami mat covered floor. “I’m starving. Think I spied some snacks in the lobby. I could use a bag of squid chips about now.”
Grateful that she fled the room, I opened Kenzo’s note. “Meet me in room two hundred seven in ten minutes.” My stomach growled and I pulled the protein bar out of my backpack. With only an hour to spare before we were to meet Amaterasu, I knew there would be no time for dinner. Thinking I better go to the meeting prepared, I pulled my big backpack out of my roller bag. The amulets felt even heavier than I remembered. But not nearly as heavy as the weight of the responsibility I had to Kenzo, Amaterasu, and Japan itself.
Grateful the room had its own restroom, I darted inside and changed into my black skinny jeans and a black long sleeve top. I hoped they would help me blend into the dark thick forest of Ise Shrine. Carrying my Sketcher boots, I hiked up the backpack over my shoulder and opened the door to face Setsuko. “I thought you were grabbing some squid chips?”
She waltzed through the door eyeing my outfit. “You planning on going on a nighttime adventure?”
She didn’t know the half of it. “Kind of. I was going to go for a quick hike before dinner.”
Setsuko shrugged her shoulders. “Suit yourself. I came back to change. There are some really cute guys hanging out in the lounge.”
I laughed. “Good hunting.”
Shutting the door behind me, I donned my boots, breaking a cardinal Japanese rule, and raced up the stairs. Making sure I tucked the room key into my pocket, I practically body slammed Ren as she stood blocking the door of room 207. “Hey, I know you are excited about tonight, but save your energy.”
Kenzo, hearing the racket, opened his door. He laughed when he saw us. “I guess we all got the ‘be sure to wear black’ memo.” He motioned for us to come inside. “Sit down Erin, we need to get you up to speed.”
The words made my heartbeat faster despite the fact that the reality of what I had gotten myself into still hadn’t sunk in. Ren sat across from me on one of the blue floor cushions. Kenzo and I sat across from her like disciplined students.
“Put the amulets inside this.” She tossed me a money belt. “We are going into battle you can’t lug that heavy backpack around.”
Despite the fact that I’d never gone into battle before, I knew she was right. I dug to the bottom of the backpack and pulled out the amulets. Pulling up my shirt, I buckled the money belt around my waist, and tucked the amulets safely inside. Zipping up the belt I tried to ignore the fact that the weight of the amulets made me lurch forward.
Ren nodded and pulled a piece of paper out of her bomber
jacket pocket. “I’ve worked out all the details with Amaterasu.” Ren glanced at her watch. “We don’t have much time. Erin, I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to practice with the candle amulet. You are just going to have to do your best when we are out in the field.”
My mouth went dry as I clutched my backpack with the amulets inside. “But I only was able to touch them once? What if Death’s candle doesn’t work?”
Kenzo gave me a weak smile. “I have faith in your powers even though you haven’t been able to master them. Amaterasu does too.”
What about me?
Ren chimed in. “Don’t worry, Erin. I went through the same thing. I was thrown into the fire before I even understood what shifting was.”
I could see they weren’t going to let me doubt myself. The sun began to fade outside the window. “Aren’t we going to be late? I looked the shrine up on the map and it takes at least an hour and a half to drive to Ise.”
Kenzo and Ren laughed in a perfect sing-song harmony. Kenzo patted me on the shoulder. “Good one, Erin.”
My brow furrowed. “How are we going to get there?”
A powerful light beam bled through the window and grew brighter and brighter until it took up most of the center of the room. My heart pounded like a drum in my chest. “Amaterasu?”
Kenzo and Ren looped their arms through mine and edged me toward the light. Fear took over and I dug my heels into the tatami mats. “What is going on?”
Kenzo patted my hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Erin. It’s just our ride to Ise.”
I stared at the intense beam of light that made my eyes hurt. “Why do I have images of Star Trek racing through my head?”
Kenzo laughed. “Beam us to Ise, Amaterasu!”
Final Showdown Page 13
