The Tenmangu Shrine in the village of Tsudera is located a little off the Kibi Bike Path, and is a fairly standard, small, local shrine, but it is my nature to not be able to pass by a Torii without going in to explore.
The honden backs right up to the Sanyo Expressway and the shrine was newly reconstructed using money from the construction project. The honden was decorated as this particular saturday in June was the annual matsuri.
In front of the honden were the offerings laid out for the kami, in this case Tenjin, the deified identity of Sugawara Michizane.
What was unusual, and something I don't remember seeing before is that flowers were used. Thats a Buddhist practise, and though officially "separated" by the government, buddhism and shinto evolved symbiotically and one can still find evidence of the mix. Also unusually this shrine, and others in the area, still had a buddhist bell.
Deep in the shadows of the interior of the honden peeking out from behind a screen was Sugawara himself.
Wow, is the Sugawara statue the shintai, then? Thank you for these.
ReplyDeletePossibly, though the shintai should usually remain invisible, so maybe the statue was guarding
ReplyDeleteEme & Mimi desu
ReplyDeleteThank you for these
your pics are so great ^^
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Yoroshiku~!