Tezen Art Museum & Garden

 

The Tezen Museum of Art near Izumo Taisha Shrine is a hidden gem for those interested in traditional Japanese arts & crafts, mingei, with the added bonus of having a delightful Izumo-style garden.

Located between the entrance to Izumo Taisha and Inasa Beach, the museum is housed in a series of large Edo-Period rice and sake warehouses.

The Tezen family moved to the area of Taisha around the end of the 17th century.

They became wealthy through trade in rice, sake, lumber etc and became official merchants for the domain.

As such their residence was sometimes used as a honjin, guesthouse, by the daimyo when he visited the area.

Over the centuries the Tezen family amassed a huge collection of art that is now the basis of the museum.

The collection consists of swords, screens, paintings, calligraphy, ceramics, lacquerware, etc.

The collection includes a lot of pieces connected to Matsudaira Fumai, the daimyo famous as a te master.

There is a permanent display of the collection , which also rotates so that more of the collection can be viewed. There are also temporary thematic exhibitions.

Most, but not all, the collection is of arts and crafts produced in the Izumo area.

The garden, called Mukaizawaen, is small, but delightful.

Not too far away in Izumo City is another hidden gem, the Izumo Folkcrafts Museum, also housed in the storehouses of a wealthy family.

The previous post in this series exploring the Izumo and Matsue area was on Kokokuji Temple including paintings and sculptures.

Seiganji Temple 83 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 

Seiganji is now a small, non-descript temple at the base of a mountain on Imazu Bay, but it was easy to find because of the many cherry trees in full bloom.

Founded in 1175, it is now a Shingon temple and the honzon is an Amida.

Imazu became an important port, for a while supplanting Hakata, and the temple grew quite powerful.

At its peak there were 42 sub temples and the temple controlled more than 1,800 cho of land.

Though not actually founded by him, the famous monk Eisai was involved with the temple.

He stayed here before his second journey to China from where he brought back the basis of Zen and founded the first Zen temple, Shofukuji, in Hakata.

The document he wrote about Seiganji's founding is the only extant document in his hand, and a National Treasure.

Above the temple is a small shrine to Hakusandaigongen, the Buddhist manifestation of the kami of Hakusan Shrines.

There is a rather nice Fudo Myoo statue and altar by the side of the steps leading up to the Hakusandaigingendo.

On top of the mountain is the okunoin, inner sanctuary, of the temple.

It is a Bishamonten Hall, which I will cover in the next post.

The previous post was on the Oimatsu Shrine in nearby Koraiji.

Mitsugonji Temple 5 Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 

Mitsugonji Temple is situated on the steep mountainside, surrounded by rice terraces, overlooking the town of Ikeda where the Yoshino River makes a 90 degree turn to the south.

Though said to be founded by Kobo daishi himself, it it not one of the 88 temples on the famous pilgrimage dedicated to him, nor is it one of the numerous "extra" temples connected to him like the nearby 

The Fudo Hall is a fairly modern, octagonal structure.

The honzon of the temple is a Kannon, but there is a small Fudo statues supposedly carved by Kobo Diashi himself with his fingernails.

It can't be seen but in front of it stands quite a large carving said to be 400 years old.

The Fire Festival held every May on the third Sunday draws visitors from far and wide.

The temple was burned down during the campaign of Chosokabe. It burned down again in the early 19th century.

There is no public transport near the temple. The temple is home to a Youth Hostel.

The previous post in this series was on temple 4, Hashikuraji.

Koraiji Oimatsu Shrine

 

Koraiji is a village on the edge of the Itoshima Plain at the base of Mount Takaso.

Oimatsu Shrine was ranked as a village shrine in Meiji, but other than that I can find no history of it.

Like several other Oimatsu shrines I've come across in this part of Kyushu it enshrines Sugawara Michizane, and I have been intrigued by why they are not called Tenjin shrines or Tenmangu. One source I recently read suggested that many of the Oimatsu shrines are located on what were land under the control of Daizaifu Tenmangu. Shrines and temples were awarded lands as income and larger shrines and temples had huge estates in Japan.

The hall of the shrine had lots of ema paintings....

The area around the shrine is dotted with historical markers as the mountain was home to an 8th century "castle". Whereas ancient castles in Japan, which in English would be classed as forts, were said to be korean-style, this one was Chinese-style.

The previous post in those series on day 75 of my walk around Kyushu was on the nearby Itokoku History Museum which showcases the rich, ancient history of this region...

Ittekikai Garden at Komyozenji Temple

 

The rear garden at Komyozenji Temple, known as the Ittekikai Garden, was the garden that really first piqued my interest in Japanese gardens, although at the the time I did not realize it was a fairly modern one.

Komyozenji Temple is a Rinzai Zen Temple located close to what is now Dazaifu Tenmangu.

The temple was founded in 1273 and belongs to the Tofukuji Schoolof the Rinzai Zen Sect.

During the Edo Period it was the family temple of those who served at what is now Dazaifu Tenmangu but which at the time was a temple and not the shrine it became in the Meiji Period.

In 1856 it became an affiliate of Dazaifu Tenmangu.

The rear garden of Komyozenji, like the smaller front garden, was designed by Mirei Shigemori.

I can find no exact date for their creation,but he passed away in 1976 so probably in 1960's or 70's.

Like the front garden it is a "dry" karesansui garden, though unlike the front garden it also incorporates a lot bof moss.

In fact one of the temples nicknames is Moss Temple.

What is noticeably different from this karesansui garden to most others is that here it is planted with many trees.

The trees are mostly maple, and so create a stunning display in the Autumn when the leaves turn red and fall.

These first 16 shots wre all taken during a visit in the Spring when the the garden is mostly shaded by the new foliage, but mottled sunlight breaks through.

The last 8 photos were taken during a Winter visit when the bare trees allow much more light onto the garden but the sun is much lower for much of the times.

In 2016 photography of the gardens was banned, and two years later the temple closed to the public for renovations, and it seems to stiill be closed.

Mirei Shigemori was a self taught garden designer and scholar of gardens who was incredibly influential in the twentieth century.

He was very prolific designing and restoring many gardens throughout Japan, but as far as I can tell there is only one other, very small garden by him in Kyushu.

Earlier I posted shots of the other garden here, the Bukkosekitei Garden.