Thangka in "Family Thangka Workshop" Patan

Thangka

the Traditional painting

When I walked around in Patan, something caught my eyes.

They did.

The paintings are called Thangka(tangka).  A Tibetan Buddhist painting that depict usually Buddhist deity, mandala and Buddhist scene.

As you can see, they possess a unique style of their own. Most of them look painted with stable and strong lines like oil or acrylic paintings. The shop owner told me that they are painted in watercolor.
I was so amazed with the strong and bright color of them.

My eyes were caught

I stopped by the shop where the paintings drawing my attention were displayed. The shop's name is Family Thangka Workshop. Wow there were many Thangkas in the shop. I said "Namaste" to the shop clerk who was at the same time a Thangka artist.
There are many colorful Thangka paintings inside of the shop.

When he learned that I was Japanese, he sent his small boy to his brother in backyard because his wife was also Japanese.
They kindly offered some tea to us and we chatted for a while. This IS the Nepali style what made me a big fan of Nepal. People are very friendly and kind.

Looking for a nice frame for mine

Eventually I managed to choose one small painting depicting the process we transit to a god when human being are dying.

The left one is now mine !

How hard to choose one was from many pretty paintings...Now I am looking for a frame for it.
I embed a map for this on the bottom of this post.  In case that you are interested in them, I let you know their email lama_rakam82@yahoo.com.

amazing

a three-month-work

伝統的な絵

パタンをウロウロしていたとき、とあるものに目が止まりました。

これです。
Thangkaと呼ばれます。チベット仏教の絵画で、仏教の神様や曼荼羅、仏教的な描写が多いです。
ご覧になるとわかるように、独特なタッチなんです。太い力強い描画で、まるで油性やアクリルみたいです。が、水彩っていってました。
強い、明るい色を非常に気に入っちゃいました。

魅力的な

さっきの絵の飾ってあったお店に入ってみました。お店の人にナマステと挨拶しましたが、その人がアーティストでした。
わたしが日本人とわかると、お子さんの坊やを裏庭にいた弟さんを呼びいかせました。奥さんが日本人だそうで。

額縁探してます

皆さん、お茶を出してくれて、しばらくおしゃべりしました。これがわたしがネパールファンになった、 ネパールスタイルです！みんなフレンドリーで親切。
やっとのことで小さい絵を選びました・・絵は人間が死ぬときに神様に変わっていく過程を表したもの。ひとつ選ぶの難しかったー。今は額縁探し中・・！

お店情報は
これはNewachenゲストハウスの地図ですが、その前です！ lama_rakam82@yahoo.com.

Kumbeshwar Temple, Patan

パタンのクンベシュワール寺院

Isn't it peaceful?

While we walked through the gate, San(the Nepali friend of mine) told me; "this temple has five tiers and the site is very calm and peaceful..." and the next instance we saw a lot of people in front of us.

they have a watering-place on the right side

Shiva Load and girls

There were quite a lot of girls in lines to the temple. This day was Monday that is dedicated to Lord Shiva. In Hinduism, each day of a week is dedicated to a particular god in the Hindu pantheon.
This temple is dedicated to Load Shiva. That is why a lot of people were visiting there. But why most of them(more than 99 percentage of them) were girls?

Since Shiva is a deity of a very good husband, girls pray for happy marriage there. Even so.... we saw a huge number of girls waiting for getting in the temple.
It is same as here in Japan. There is a famous shrine called Tokyo Daijingu where girls rush into to pray for their happy dating and marriage. I have seen a long long line in front of the entrance so often.

Offering things are sold this way

静かな場所のはずが・・

門をくぐりながら、サン（ネパール人の友人）がいいました。
「このお寺は5重の塔で、すごく落ち着く場所なんだよ。」
でも次の瞬間、すっごいいっぱいの人が目に入りました。

沢山の女性がお寺に向かって長い列を作っていました。この日は月曜日で、シヴァ神の日でした。ヒンズー教では、各曜日ごとに特定の神さまがいます。

シヴァ神と女性たち

このお寺はシヴァ神のお寺です。なので、混んでたんですね。でも、ほとんど（9９％以上）が女の子なのはなんで？
シヴァ神は良夫の神様なので、女性が幸せな結婚をお祈りするんです。
日本と同じです。東京大神宮という有名なお寺がありますが、良縁を願って女の子が殺到。入り口前に長い列を見たことが何度もあります。
こんな感じでお供えものを売ってました。

Where to get Omiyage in Patan ~NEPAL GANESHA

パタンでお土産探ししよう　～　ネパールガネーシャ

What to pick as omiyage puzzles Japanese workers

When we take day off to make a trip somewhere, what to buy as omiyage(souvenirs) to your colleagues is a big issue puzzling Japanese workers.
In deed it is common to hand over omiyage at workplace when we return from vacation. We need pick appropriate things as souvenirs.

Since we need to get more than five souvenirs, if we take something wrong, we would get in trouble with paying much or carrying heavy things. We generally have more than five colleagues, right? And souvenirs should be same. And if we pick each different things to each colleagues, we need them almost at same price. If we give something gorgeous to one colleague and tiny things to other colleagues, someone would complain about it behind you.

What to pick up for souvenirs in Nepal?

When I visit Nepal, of course I try to find such thing for souvenirs to colleagues. However I could not find any snacks or cookies are not individually packed.
 I would suggest one of the best shop where you get souvenirs. It is NEPAL GANESHA which is located near Patan Durbar square.  They have staff who is able to speak English.

Juli-san who runs NEPAL GANESHA in Patan

well-skilled to carry heavy luggage without any tools.

荷物運び術

As I wrote about hard workers and how to carry luggage in Nepal, I really frequently see many people carrying heavy luggage very hard. They are well-skilled to carry heavy and huge luggage. It is kind of overwhelming.

on head

They were able to keep their balance very well while they were walking without holding by hands. I am worried about their neck-pain....

ladies also do

Even ladies are struggling with carrying a heavy luggage.

luggage seems to be heavy

I guess they are carrying something for selling.

kindness

Even a little boy is helping his mum with carrying a big luggage for him.

以前、働き者のネパールの方とか、荷物の運び方について書きましたが、本当によく重い荷物を一生懸命運んでいる人を見かけます。皆さん本当に高いスキルを持っております。圧倒されるくらい。

頭で

このおじさんたちは、手も使わず、すごい良いバランスを保ったまま、歩いていました。首痛くならないか心配だ。。

女性も運びます

女性も頑張って重い荷物を運びます。

重そうだ

何か売り物なんでしょうね。

優しさです

小さな男の子も、お母さんの荷物を持ってあげています。

dog and cow say "i don't care...."

わたしは気にしない

When I walk around in Kathmandu, I see many saying "ah... I don't care."

They are quite generous and brave with the high self-esteem. Even someone are upsetting besides them, they don't care....

They are totally relaxed among guys. This is on a footbridge.　Another one is showing dogs laying down in the middle of road. Even if a motorbike passes by them, they  don't care it.

Next... this is sleeping under a statue in front of a shrine. Heeey this place is a holly place....! But he may sleep anywhere and anytime when he wants to sleep.

I saw another one dog sleeping under a bicycle. It seems that it is not good place to sleep...

　

 Cows are also like them. They don't mind where they are sleeping and walking. Or... they perhaps think themselves as a person?

Patan one year and three months after the quake

パタンダルバール広場　地震から1年3ヶ月

Complex of temples

Patan Durbar Square is a 17th century royal palace complex filled with temples and monuments. Since this World Heritage site was badly damaged by the quake on April 25th, 2015, one year and three months has past. I went back there to learn the post-quake reconstruction work under way. It has a lot of fences surrounding temples I wanted to see them closer actually.

Vishwanath Mandir

Hence a lot of travelers were walking there and you can enjoy seeing them.

Preservation

I am concerned about way to preserve. If I have world heritage sites are situated in my neighborhood, I will ride a bike there to see it sometimes. But will I park my bike in 　the site ? No...!
But here you will see many mortar bikes parked in front of monuments and temple.

 Nepali people don't mind such things seemingly. They are kind of generous??

Krishna Mandir

This Mogul-influenced Krishna Mandir survived the quake are standing still there. Even... people are relaxed and sitting on there....

Krishna Mandir

寺院が並ぶ

パタンのダルバール広場は寺院やモニュメントであふれた17世紀の王宮コンプレックスです。この世界遺産が2015年４月25日の地震で激しく傷ついてから、１年と3ヶ月経ちました。 そこを再び訪れると、まだ再建の最中でした。寺院はフェンスに囲まれてます。 もう少し近づいて見たかったな。
とはいえ、沢山の旅行者がいっぱい。観光を楽しめます。

保存

ただ保存方法が心配だ・・もし近所に世界遺産があったら、そう、自転車で見に行ったりするかもしれない。でも自転車をその中に止めるかなあ？ いやー止めないなあ。
でもここでは止められたるのです。ネパールの人、気にしてなさそう。寛容っていうのかな？

クリシュナ寺院

地震の影響を受けなかったモンゴルの影響を受けたクリシュナ寺院も、そこに静かに立っています。みんな座っちゃってたりするけど。

Prayer Flags

祈りの旗

Colorful

You may have seen those colorful prayer flags in some pictures of Nepal and Tibet. They are found in many places in Nepal.


They say that flags seen in Tibetan Buddhism and have a long long history and root in ancient India.

As I learned that Tibet Buddhism affects Nepali traditions this much, those flags are also from Tibet.

Tarchor

They are called "Tarchor" which are in five different colors.
Each of them represents;

Blue symbolizing sky or space.
White symbolizing air or wind.
Red symbolizing fire.
Green symbolizing water.
Yellow symbolizing the earth.

In vertical displays, the yellow goes at the bottom and the blue at the top.

カラフル

色とりどりの旗、ネパールやチベットの写真で見たことがあるのではと思います。ネパールではよく見かけます。
旗は長い歴史があると言われていて、チベット仏教のものですが、ルーツはインドだそうです。
そう、チベット仏教はネパール文化にいろいろ影響してるように、旗たちもチベットから来たのね。

タルチョー

タルチョーと呼ばれるこの旗。5色あります。それぞれが意味をもっているそうで、

青は「空・天」
白は「風」
赤は「火」
緑は「水」
黄色は「地」

縦に並べるときは、黄色が一番下に来て、一番上が青です。

Prayer Wheel （Mani Wheel ）

マニ車

Prayer wheel is from Tibetan Buddhist. You would see them in Ruddiest temples in Nepal. There are some kinds of prayer wheels, hand-held small one , large one as like in the pics.

According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers.

They do spin large ones. I did. I joined an uncle spinning a large one. I didn't need to push it strong because he did. If I tried to begin spinning only by myself, it would have needed me more power....

When I saw a large one for the first time, something came in my mind. Yes this.

This is bell in Japanese Buddhist temples. We don't spin it but ring it. Doesn't it similar Mani wheel?

マニ車は、チベット仏教のものです。ネパールのお寺にいくとあります。手で持つタイプもあれば、写真のような大きなものなど、いくつかの種類があります。

チベット仏教によれば、車を回転させると、回転させた数だけ経を唱えるのと同じ功徳があるとされています。
もちろん大きなマニ車も回します。回しました。先におじさんが回していたので、その勢いを借りて回しましたけど、自力だったら重たかったんじゃないだろうか・・。

初めて大きいマニ車を見たとき、或るものを思い出しました。そう、これ。
日本のお寺にある鐘です。まわすんではなく、つくんですけどね。似てますよね・・？

Swayambhunath ~ A lot of ..... in Monkey Temple

沢山の .....

small temples and statues

Swayambhunath is a religious complex consisting of stupas, small temples and monuments and images of deities. You will see many statues surrounding the most famous huge stupa after you climb up the stairs.

Swayambhunath complex

monkeys

And you will see a lot of monkeys... of course.

stealing foods offered....

houses

You will see the overwhelming scenery of residential areas from the top.

 a lot of houses are spreading out

小さい仏堂と像

スワヤンプナートは、ストゥーパや小さい仏堂やモニュメント、像の宗教的な複合施設です。階段を上りきると、有名な大きなストゥーパを取り囲む沢山の像が目に入ります。

おサルさん

もちろんさるたちも沢山・・・

住宅

頂上からは圧倒される住宅地の風景が目に入ります。

Swayambhunath ~Vajra or Dorje in the Monkey Temple

モンキーテンプルのドルジェ（金剛杵）

on the top

You will see the big Vajra or Dorje (in Tibetan) at the top after you manage to climb up so many steps reaching the main entrance.

Varja or Dorje is a ritual Tibetan esoteric Buddhist object that represents a thunderbolt and spiritual power.

Vajra or Dorje 

When I visited this Monkey Temple, the weather was so nice and actually so hot that I managed to climb up steps. When I reached the top, I was already exhausted and overlooked this giant thing. I realized it was there and took pics of it. It is more likely "Golden"!!.

Vajra or Dorje 

頂上に

沢山の階段をなんとか登り切ると、頂上には、大きなヴァジュラまたはドルジェ（チベットではこう呼ばれる）が見えます。

ヴァジュラまたはドルジェは、チベット密教の法具で、雷と霊力の象徴らしいです。


わたしがモンキーテンプルにいったときは、すごい良いお天気で、暑すぎて、なんとかやっと階段を上がりきりました。頂上についたときには、疲れきっていて、ヴァジュラまたはドルジェを見逃しちゃったんですが、後で気づいて写真を撮り。ゴールド！って感じですね。

Swayambhunath ~ Monkey Temple

スワヤンプナート

eyes

Swayambhunath is definitely one of the must-see when you visit Kathmandu. You may have seen this. There are two eyes painted on the stupa.

Swayambhunath　stupa

Monkey Temple

First you need to climb up 365 stone steps reaching the temple complex.

stone steps 

While you walking up there, someone would be welcome to you. Yes, they are monkeys. This temple is called Monkey Temple.

a relaxed monkey

You must be careful to them. In my case, I happened to see a monkey's eye to eye. The monkey was sitting on the handrail and staring at me. Once I had eye contact with it, I could not take my eyes off it that looked as if it was going to attack me.

Scary!

I took off my eyes so carefully and slowly passing by it.

モンキーテンプル

スワヤンプナートはカトマンズにいったら、訪れるべき場所の一つ。これみtことあるのではないでしょうか。ストゥーパに描かれた目。

まずは、365の石段を登らなくてはなりません。上がっている間、お迎えしてくれる人がいます。ハイ、猿たち。このお寺、俗にモンキーテンプルと呼ばれています。

猿には気を付けないといけないです。私の場合、ふと目が合ってしまいました。猿は階段の手すりにすわって、わたしを凝視してたんです。ひとたび目があったら、襲ってきそうな猿から、視線を外すことができなくなりました。
こわかった！
そっとゆっくり視線を外して、通り過ぎましたが。

Shopping in Nepal and a cool shop "GANESHA" in Patan

ネパールでの買い物

Simple Nepali handmade items

I picked Nepali fabric before.
What I always buy in Nepal are like them. Mainly handwoven and felt items. And small cute metal works and traditional handmade paper production called Lokta paper.

Nepali Lokta paper produt and a metal work

They are nice really but actually very simple. Perhaps they are not commercialized much. I personally love such things but most regular Japanese girls want more commercialized things.

Yes, Japanese girls like "brands". Then I always struggle to find "good" souvenirs to female colleagues(My friends are like me so I can pick my favorite Nepali staff). Indeed last time I got something for them at the airport of Thai where I change the airplane....

shopping in NEPAL GANESHA

But finally I found a nice shop in Patan. Actually a Japanese lady runs the shop. You will find every items more sophisticated than others. My friend San let me know it.
Why not visiting there when you stroll in Patan? The address is Swotha No-11 Patan Nepal.

The front of the shop. Cool

Very organized

素朴なお手製ネパール製品たち

以前、ネパールの布製品を紹介しました。わたしがネパールで買うのはだいたいあんな感じです。だいたいハンドメイドの織モノやフェルト製品。または小さな金属のフィギアとか、ロクタと呼ばれる伝統的なハンドメイド紙製品。

全部ステキなんだけど、素朴。多分、あまり商業化されていないのか。わたし個人はそういうの大好きですが、普通の日本人の女性はもっと商業的なモノが好きです。”ブランド”好きですから。そのため、女性の同僚への「良いと思われる」お土産探しはちょっと大変（友達は私と同じなので、わたしのお気に入りを選べば大丈夫）。前回実は、乗り換えのあるタイの空港で買いました・・。

ネパールガネーシャで買い物を

でも、ついにパタンでいいお店を見つけました。日本人の女性が経営しています。どの品も洗練されたもの。オススメです。友達のサンに教わりました。これで日本へのお土産は一安心・・・！

お店はパタンにあります。

Rato Machhindranath Jatra in Patan ~ No2

赤いマチャンドラナート

Bee??

People say that it is one of the oldest festival in Kathmandu Valley. Lord Machhendranath who is a rain-maker god, came to Kathmandu Valley to rescue people suffering from a severe drought and let people have a plenty of rain.

I found a mysterious thing about this story. The load transformed to a bee when he came over there, in a vase. Why bee??? The name “Rato Machhindranath” literally translates into “Red Fish God”....

the chariot is huge

the top of the chariot

Red

Anyway "Rato" means red then the status of Machhendranath is in red like this. They have another Machhendranath festival in Kathmandu, called Set Machhendranath. The status is in white.
They light up butter-lamps in front of the chariot making the site even more beautiful surrounded by those lights.

the statue in red

蜂??

このお祭りはカトマンズ地方で太古から行われているお祭りの一つです。マチャンドラナート神は、雨の神様ですが、申告干ばつに苦しむ人々のためにカトマンズ地方にやってきてたくさん雨を降らせたそうです。
でもこのお話には不思議な点が・・、、神様は蜂に姿を変えてやってきたそうです。ツボにはいって。何で蜂？？
「ラト・マチャンドラ　ナート」は、「赤い魚の神様」ですが。。

the wheels of the chariot are also huge

赤いお祭り

ともかく「ラト」は赤という意味で、マチャンドラナート像は赤いです。カトマンズ市でも同じマチャンドラナートのお祭り「セトマチャドラナート祭」があるのですが、そちらは白だそうです。