According to the Japanese calendar, January 1^st is Hitotsubumanbaibi(your good words and deeds will be returned to you ten thousand fold),Tencho-bi(the greatest auspicious day when all your troubles dissapear), and Tenonbi(the day you receive special blessings from heaven).

It is said to be the most magical and luckiest point in time when the three auspicious days all coincide with one another.

This day was chosen for the work 「Buddha’s Universe Pilgrimage」, to be unveiled in a wonderfully extravagant display in the main hall of Ikegami Hongyoji Temple in Tokyo.

The temple was also crowded with worshipers. Shiozawa visited Tanyu Kano’s grave at the same temple and gave his greetings and prayed that the exhibition could be held without incident.

However, our bullet train was stopped at approximately 16:04 on the way home due to a dangerously strong earthquake that struck near the Noto Peninsular to the Northwest in Ishikawa prefecture. After finding out about the heartbreaking extent of the damage, we entered the new year humbled by the might of heaven, and believing that the gods were appealing to us to do better as a species.