Deeper into Remote Iwami

 

I started day 10 of my walk along the Iwami Mandala Kannon Pilgrimage in the mountains of SW Shimane at Akayamatenmangu Shrine. My route will take me roughly south, a little deeper into the mountains. This is an unknown area to me.

For a while, I follow the Masuda River upstream and pass by a small shrine on the hillside.

It's not a big river at this point, so I wondered what the civil engineering was all about...

At first I thought it was tetrapods they were casting, but then I saw they were some kind of tessellate. Not sure what the purpose was, but suspect that down the line even more costly works will have to be done to undo the effect of these works...more profits for concrete and construction companies...

Then a huge rock covered in greenery with numerous little Buddhist statues set inside an overhang.

Nearby a small shrine, and then not far away, a more substantial "hall" with some quite old statues

As usual, I didn't take notes while walking, but now I cannot find such a place on the map...

A clump of banana trees, and then a big surprise: the remains of an industrial installation

Turns out to be a big mine. The Tsumo mining area has been mining copper, zinc, lead, and tungsten since at least 836. During the Edo Period, it was controlled by Iwami Ginzan. One often reads about Japan's "few" natural resources, but they have mined copper, silver, and gold for almost 2,000 years, as well as coal.

During the war, production was increased and Korean slave labour was used. After the war, a huge deposit was discovered, and in the 70s, 200 people were employed here. The mine closed in 1986 as foreign imports were cheaper, the same fate as the coal industry in Japan.

An intriguing sidenote,.... a rare mineral was discovered here with a 1:1 ratio of bismuth atoms to tellurium atoms. This new mineral, Tsumoite, is named after this mine where it was discovered.

Now the area is quiet, and no traffic passed me....

Later, some contemporary mining..... of timber. In the postwar period, the government planted much of Japan with huge tree farms. Foreign-imported wood is much cheaper now, so these huge swaths of monoculture now cause landslides and force bears into the inhabited areas, as well as give a large percentage of the population hay fever. The government is now spending a fortune to try to correct the situation.

I am now getting into the Hikimi area, higher in the mountains and closer to the Hiroshima border.

After climbing over a pass, I am now heading down the Noto River.

The previous post was on Tenei Hachimangu, the last stop yesterday.

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Kiyomizudera Temple 28 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

There are many Kiyomizudera temples scattered across Japan. This one is in Yasugi, Shimane, and may very well be the oldest.

Kiyomizudera literally means "Pure Water Temple", and the most famous is the one in Kyoto.

The temple is very old with the date of 587 generally given for its founding.

According to the legend, an itinerant monk named Sonryu investigated the mountain where locals claimed an eerie light could be seen. He found an old man who gave him a statue of Kannon, and so the first, crude structure housing the statue was erected. Not long afterwards a spring of clear water appeared.

The temple had imperial support as well as from local powers and grew in stature.

At its peak it had 48 buildings, though now only 10 are left. It was the premier temple in the whole San-in region.

The main hall is dated to 1393, and is an Important Cultural Property along with several statues dating back to the Heian Period.

One of the huge trees lining the final set of stairs is said to be 1,000 years old.

In the Gomado next to the main hall are several Fudo statues and a Zao Gongen statue.

The stone statue of Fudo at the start of the climb up to the temple is particularly fine. Top photo.

In 847, a disciple of Saicho stopped here on his way back from China, and since then it has been a Tendai temple.

In the battles between the Amago and the Mori in the late 16th century, everything except the main hall was destroyed by fire.

The pagoda, the last remaining 3-storey wooden pagoda in San-in, was built in 1859.

Unusually, visitors are allowed inside to climb to the upper level.

There is quite a large Inari shrine in the temple.

I left via the Niomon and took a trail down the mountain. This suggests that in earlier times the temple was primarily approached from the East.

On the current approach to the temple there are two eateries offering traditional temple cuisine, Shojin Ryori.

The previous post was on the walk here from Unjuji Temple.

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Oki Beach to Iburi to Kubotsu to Kinpei-an

 

Day 23 of my Shikoku Pilgrimage, and from Oki Beach I continued on down the coast of the Ashizuri Peninsula towards the cape and Kongofukuji Temple, the 38th temple of the pilgrimage.

I should easily reach it today, but it has been 3 days since the 37th temple, Iwamotoji.

It is unusual to find a cemetery with a Shinto gate....

With a large torii flanked by komainu, I was expecting a substantial-sized shrine...

But it turned out to be little more than a roadside hokora...

However, in a fishing area, an Ebisu shrine is going to be well maintained and used...

Several renditions of Ebisu statues .....

Plus a Taiko, indicating that rituals are still performed....

A Daikoku and a Buddha statues extend the mix.....

I think this final one must be a Benzaiten... looking like a female riding a dragon...

a small Tenmangu shrine...

Iburi harbour... with a curious tunnel... part natural, part man-made, I think...

Looking back up the coast....

Not sure what species of fish these are...

Another small shrine...

And then an Ichioshi Shrine, right on the waterfront....

... where a new road over the inlet...

Another very small shrine which has been completely rebuilt recently...

And then, on the outskirts of the little fishing village of Tsuro, an establishment with the name of Kinpei-an. It is a Zenkonyado, rudimentary lodgings made available free of charge to walking pilgrims. This one is very well known to walking pilgrims, as the 80 year old man who offers it is very generous, offering the use of the shower and kitchen in his house.

The structure is handmade but has a woodstove made out of an oil drum. The number of ofuda left is a testament to how many people have used his place. There is a move to gentrification on the pilgrimage, with pilgrims who want to camp and sleep out being actively discouraged. One website I know of for pilgrims refuses to carry posts on free accommodation options. It is a real shame as this has always been a pilgrimage for the less well-endowed financially. I know if I had to pay for lodgings every night of the pilgrimage I would not have been able to do it. It was too early in the day for me to stay, but in my opinion it is an example of the genuine spirit of a pilgrimage.

The previous post was on the glorious sunrise of the day...

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