About once a month I get a particularly fascinating wake-up call.

This never happened when I lived in Saitama, but it did in Oubaku (黄檗), a little bit to the south of Kyoto.  As such I’m tempted to say it’s a Kyoto thing, but such an assumption would probably be misleading.

In any case, the monks from a local temple (I wish I knew which one) travel the neighborhood streets in the early morning, chanting.  I’ve asked around about it and the general consensus is that they’re begging for alms.

I apologize for the quick clips; those monks really hustle.

Three of them:

The last in the line: