This photo story is to guide you step-by-step as you explore Eiheiji Temple in Fukui, the Zen temple of 'Eternal Peace'. The fourth leg of the guide focuses on the 'Kichijōkaku Hall', the first building you'll enter when you visit Eiheiji. Here, you'll be ushered to a spacious tatami-mat room to be briefed by one of the trainee monks. According to him, they are not allowed to speak in some buildings, and have to live on ONE tatami mat (Japanese straw mat) per monk, which means a trainee monk has to sleep, sit, eat, read, etc, in a small space of 0.9m by 1.75m. A western friend of mine who visited here with me is as tall as 190 cm, he surely can't be a trainee monk here!
For other photos, please see these other photo stories, a detailed history, this article, and the other entries to this guide, the links below.
