Special Edition: Reiki Photography greeting cards

Big News for Reiki Photography!
Open Center Bookstore is now carrying Reiki Photography greeting cards! They are trying them out for couple weeks and see how they sell. If you live in NY, please stop by and check it out in next couple weeks. It’s a blank card, so it can be used for birthday, holiday, or any other occasions you can think of. You could just keep one for yourself to decorate your altar as well. Please spread the word to people whom you know would be interested.

Open Center Bookstore
83 Spring Street, NY NY 10012



Reiki Photography on line store is coming soon!

Guarding Tigers

The main temple is guarded by two Tiger statues. Generally most of the temples are guarded by dog statues, but Kurama Temple has Tigers because of the temple’s special association to the Tiger. The history of Mt. Kurama begins with Bishamonten saving one of the monk from the devil on a Tiger month, Tiger Day, and Tiger hour. Tiger is considered a messenger for the Bishamonten at the Mt. Kurama. Back in 770AD when that happened, Japan was using animals to address month, days, and hour just like Chinese zordiac sign.



The right tiger’s mouth is open in a shape to pronounce “A” and that signifies the beginning of everything. The left tiger’s mouth is closed in a shape to pronounce “UN” and that signifies the end of everything. So, these are called A-UN tigers and represent everything in the universe from the beginning to the end.


Personally, I am born on a year of the Tiger, so I have an affinity with them. So, I loved reading this little Tiger themed Kurama temple history.

In case you are wondering what time Tiger hour is, it’s about 3-5am. Tiger Month is January and Tiger day comes up every 12 days. Coincidentally, today Oct 11 2007 is the Tiger day.

Main Temple

I finally reached to the main temple compelx! I didn’t do that much research about Mt. Kurama before I got there, so I did not expect to see so much leading up to the main temple. I was so happy that reached what I thought was my goal, the main Kurama Temple, but little did I know this was just a beginning of the tour. (Yes, this blog is just beginning as well.) I am very thankful for the healing salon “Earth” for guiding this tour and sharing their knowledge with myself and the rest of the group. Most of the people who come to Mt. Kurama pay their respects here at this temple and head down the mountain.


This place has a few buildings including rest areas, the main temple, a couple of side temples, the main office, the flying stone, a mandala, and great view Mt. Kurama and Mt. Hiei.


The first thing you see on your right after climbing up the stairs is the rest area building. (picture above) People are allowed to sit and rest while they eat, drink, or smoke. At this point, we really needed to rest and eat our lunch! We were so exhausted and hungry from climbing up so many stairs. Just as a side note, there is no restaurant or snack store over here. You need to bring your own lunch. Inside and outside of this rest area are the drawings, posters, and information about Kurama mountain and the village. There were some drawings done by elementary school kids from Kurama village that were very cute. The only thing that bothered me was that people were allowed to smoke inside of this little building and I would have to breathe in the smoke. Coming from NY, I got so used to not having people smoke in a public space. If you have a same problem as I do, there is another rest area right across from this one or there are benches outside.

Tenporin temple

This is Tenporin temple. Inside of this temple is a huge Amida Budda about 16ft tall. You can only see the upper body of the statue and it is guarded by the fence, so that you cannot touch it. There is a rope hanging from the hand of the statue and by holding that rope is equivalent of touching the Amida’s hand. There also is a device called Tenporin it is said that spinning it once will have same effect as chanting 10,000 times. This is a very nice place to meditate. I also enjoyed watching other people meditating.

Café and Dragon

Senshintei (Washing your mind) Café is the only café in Mt.Kurama after the main gate. It is nice to stop by after climbing up so many stairs and refresh my body as well as my mind. They have a very traditional Japanese café menu, like Amazake (sweet sake) and Ameyu (hot sweet ginger water). What is also unique about this café is that it is located below the Tenporin temple. So, you could be sitting right below the Amida statue while you are enjoying some tea and not know about it. There also is a vending machine for tea right next the café, but I highly recommend experiencing this very traditional Japanese café.



Located in front of Tenporin Temple, this dragon looks as if he is guarding the water and the temple. This is another place you would want to cleanse your mouth and your hands. For detailed instruction, please check my previous blog. This dragon, and many other water spots throughout Kurama mountain, has a sign that says “Thank you, water” For me this trip brought up more appreciation for the nature.

Middle gate & Temple of Art Godess

Chuumon (middle gate) is one of the energy spots where many people feel an energy shift when they cross the gate. I felt like there was a cool breeze coming toward me every time I stepped inside of the gate. I would hear the sound of the wind when there was no physical wind blowing in the air. I went in and out of the gate to experiment little. Also another important thing to remember is not to step on the big wooden piece that is on a ground at the gate. The piece of wood that runs across the gate at ground level is placed here intentionally, so one must take care not to step on it, but step over it as you enter the gate.


Here is a Temple of Benzaiten. Benzaiten is another one of the Seven Deities of Good Fortune. She is the Goddess of music, poetry, learning, art, the sea, and the protector of children. Her temples and shrines are generally in the neighborhood of water - the sea, a river, or a pond. I stopped over there and paid my respects to the temple, wishing for good photographs from this trip from the art goddess. I felt like I had a tap on my shoulder from her.

Speical Edition: Reiki Prayer at Mt. Kurama

Thank you so much for those of you who requested the Reiki Prayer and ordered a pdf photo at Mt. Kurama.

I was able to send prayers on 3/29, 30 and 4/11 at various locations at Mt. Kurama. I was happy to hear when some of you reported that you did feel a shift in your life after the prayers. I hope you all enjoyed the energy from the Mt. Kurama.

Here are the choices of the photo designs for those of you who ordered a pdf photo.
Please follow the directions below.

1. Please select a design from above that you like and email me the title.
2. Please send your payment to photo@purplefishhealing.com through Paypal, $10 for English or Japanese only, $17 for one in English and one in Japanese.
3. You will receive an email with the pdf attached of a photo with your personalized prayer requested by you.
4. Print it out, frame it or do whatever you desire!


For those of you who did not have chance to order a pdf photo before, stay tuned for the Reiki Photography Store! More photographs in print, posters, postcard, Christmas cards and calendars to come!