Daurama Dolls

Mike and I were able to go away for a few days the first week of September. We originally planned to go on a cruise but decided that going away for a week during the first week of school was probably not going to be wise. We ended up choosing a place a few hours north of Tokyo in Gunma. Instead of being gone for a full week we were only gone for about three and a half and only missed two days of their first week of school. Will did a good job of getting the girls up each morning and helping them get lunches. Isaac and Eli got the girls to the bus and everything went fairly well. Eli and Felicity ended up getting sick on the weekend and they stayed home from church but the other kids ended up going. They also had a fireside to attend on Friday night with Elder Anderson and their seminary teacher offered to make them dinner and watch the girls that night so that the boys could go (she lives next door to the temple annex).

I really appreciated being able to get away.  It's been over two years since we were able to spend time like that alone and I think it was needed.  It was nice to choose whatever we wanted to do and not have to worry about any kids being bored or hot or tired.  We were able to do and see things that we otherwise would not have been able to do if they were on the trip with us.  

The house we stayed in was not very nice and we wished we had booked a different place but it was okay.  Our last night there was a giant banging on the bedroom door that woke us up.  Mike went to the door and there was no one there so he went and searched the house and went to look out the front door but no one was there either.  We wondered if there had been an earthquake that shook the house, making the doors rattle but neither of us noticed any earthquake.  It was kind of creepy and took us a bit to fall back asleep.  Also, Mike kept banging his head on the door frames and the house was so hot it took hours and hours to cool down.  It just added to the memory of the trip I think.

One of our outings was to Shorinzan Dauramaji Temple.  Daurama dolls are dolls that are thought to bring good luck.  Traditionally, one eye is colored or painted in when you make a wish or a goal and then when the wish comes true or you complete your goal, you paint or color in the other eye.  At the end of the year, you bring the doll back to the temple and burn it.  I haven't ever been to the buring festival but I've seen pictures and it's pretty cool--imagine a mountain of colorful dolls on fire.  

The temple was really cool and there was only a few other people visiting the temple so we had the grounds mostly to ourselves.  We also hiked a little ways to a lookout point over the city.  After the temple we went to a factory where they make the dolls and were able to paint our own.  Neither of us did very well and I completely messed up the mustache.  It will forever bother me when I look at it!  

I also added some pictures of this very large daurama doll I found randomly on a walk here in Tokyo.  I've never seen one that big and it seemed to be abandoned in the back of this neighborhood shrine.  I went back to see it again a few days later with Mike and Will on a walk and it had been removed so I was just lucky enough to see it before it disappeared.