Another Time XX by Antony Gormley

Another Time XX is a cast-iron sculpture by British artist Antony Gormley situated on a remote mountaintop in the Kunisaki Peninsula in northern Kyushu.

Installed originally as part of a 2014 arts festival, the statue can only be seen by hiking a mountain trail after driving a very narrow mountain road.

Made from a cast from the artists body, it is one of a 100 similar statues placed in unusual locations around the globe. Made of iron, the statue is already showing signs of deterioration and will eventually disappear.

The statue weighs more than 600 kilos, and it turned out that using a helicopter was not possible so it was moved   to its location by manpower. Down below the statue is the Fudo Chaya, a renovated teahouse that has displays of how the statue was moved into position.

I have read that there is some opposition to the statue, but the head priest is supportive. My guess is any opposition is fed by narrow-mindedness and has no basis in history or culture.

I visited after passing through the Kyu Sentoji Temple area down below and just before visiting the Fudo Hall just above the statue. The views are fantastic, over the north side of the Kunisaki Peninsula and to Himeshima Island just offshore. The statue is facing East.

Kyu Sentoji Temple

 

The "kyu" in the name means "former" as it refers to the site where the temple once stood.

Down the mountain on the main road is the new Sentoji Temple, built, I believe after 1968 when a forest fire detroyed the last vestiges of the original temple.

Once the grandest of all the Rokugo Manzan temples in the central Kunisaki Peninsula area, some sources also suggest it was the first to be built.

A Torii tands on the path to the ruins, typical of the syncretic cult that existed here with Nio guardians at shrines, and torii at temples.

A pair of Nio stanf guard at what was the Goma Hall of the temple.

Sento-ji, as well as 27 other temples, are said to have been established in 718 by legendary monk Ninmon. This is of course legend, as records from this time are minimal, but Ninmon was a historal figure and his grave, and also the cave where he is said to have died, is a little higher up the mountain next to the Okunoin.

The temple was mostly detroyed, probably in 1560, when Otomo Sorin fought against and subdued the armed monks of Usa Hachimangu.

The Rokugo Manzan cult had strong connections with Usa Hachiman, being a Tendai-Hachiman cult primarily.

Obviously something continued to function here until the forest fire of 1968.

From the main temple site a path leads through the forest and up the mountain to the Okunoin.

Like most such places here, it is built into a cave. There are other caves with statuary and the cemetery that has Ninmons grave. 

I was here at the start of day 4 of my second walk around Kyushu, this time following the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage. For this first week I was roughly following the Kunisakihanto Minemichi Long Trail which closely follows the ancient yamabushi pilgrimage from Usa Hachimangu and then around the Rokugo manzan sites.

The previous post was on the Rokugo Shrine in Ebisudani.

Rokusho Shrine Ebisudani

 

Rokusho Shrine was once a part of a powerful temple-shrine complex in the high country near the centre of the Kunisaki Peninsula, but is nowadays a bit far off the beaten track to get many visitors.

Ebisudani is one of the 28 valleys that radiate out from the centre of the peninsula that is home to an ancient form of shugendo pilgrimage based on Tendai Buddhism and Usa Hachimangu called Rokugo Manzan.

Ashikaga Takauji visited here in the early 14th century and is said to have planted 6 trees and prayed for victory against Emperor Go-Daigo before eventually starting the Ashikaga Shogunate. Some sources claim these 6 trees to be the ones planted, but they are obviously planted much more recently.

A new trail that roughly follows the old pilgrimage route is called Kunisaki Hanto Minemichi Long Trail, and passes right by here.

The shrine was originally the okunoin of Reisenji Temple. Reisenji and Jisso-in, a sub-temple, are now located immediately adjacent to the shrine following the separation of Buddhas and Kami of early Meiji.

As is fairly usual with these Shugendo-based sites in Kunisaki, they are situated in caves and cliffs of rocky outcroppings.

This Hachiman Shrine is probably a post-meiji addition.

Rockusho is a fairly common name and pretty much means "six kami", although the different Rokusho shrines around the country have different 6 kami.

Here the 6 kami start with Izanagi, and is then followed by Yatomagatsuhi no kami and Ono no kami. This pair were created by Izanagi while purifying after fleeing Yomi. One is said to be the kami of disasters, and the second one who fixes disasters. Tbey may be two aspects of the same kami.

The last set of kami are Umetsuno, Nakatsuno, and Sokotsuno, known collectively as the Sumiyoshi kami. Now associated with the head Sumiyoshi shrine in Osaka, the three kami are originally from northern Kyushu and are connected with sea journeys.

The zuijin here are painted, not statues, something I have seen at other shrines in Kunisaki.

The shrine-temple used to hold the Shujo Onie fire festival, but as a sign of its decline, no longer does.

There is a small group of magaibutsu, Buddhist carvings, that seem to show a couple of monks and a nun. The central figure may well be Nimon, the legendary founder of Rokugo Manzan

The previous post was on neighbouring Jisson-in temple.

Mt. Ebisu Reisenji Temple

 

Reisenji Temle was one of the 12 main temples located in the heart of the Kunisaki peninsula in Oita that made up the unique Rokugo Manzan cult and pilgrimage, a form of Shugendo based on Usa Hachiman and  Tendai Buddhism.

Situated high up the Takeda River valley, one of the 28 valleys that radiated out from the volcanic heart of the peninsula.

The main gate was relocated here from neighbouring Rokusho Shrine after the separation of Buddhas and Kami. The shrine, Jisson-in Temple, and Reisenji Temple were all originally the same site.

Reisenji is nowadays number 14 on the Rokugo Manzan pilgrimage which can be followed along a recently renovated long-distance trail, the Kunisaki Hanto Moimemichi Long Trail. It is said the temple was founded in 718. The honzon is a Thousan-Armed Kannon.

The shrines and temples of Kunisaki are known for their stone Nio guardians, and Resenji is home to six, 2 of which are guarding the biggest Jizo statue in all of Kyushu.

Almost 5 meters tall, and made out of a single piece of stone, the Jizo was carved in 1860.

I visited at the start of my second leg walking the Kyushu Fudo pilgrimage during which I walked a large part of the Kunisaki pilgrimage at the start as they somewhat coincided. The previous post in the series was on the large Hachiman Shrine near the mouth of the Takeda River.

From Orekiji Temple to Kakaji

 

Mount Shiritsuki, 587 meters, is clearly visible as I leave Oreki Temple and carry on up the road.

For a couple of hours, the road is forest and mountain with no habitations of any kind.

I'm on the second day of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Pilgrimage, which for this first part also follows the old yamabushi Kunisaki pilgrimage now followable along the Kunisaki Hanto Minemichi Long Trail.

Every now and then the view opens up to the typical Kunisaki Peninsula landscape of cliffs and spires of rock, the kind of place that attracted yamabushi.

Eventually the road lead down past some mountain farms and eventually reached the main road running along the Takeda River. The next temple is not far upstream but that will be where I start on the next leg as I am heading home now.

The road runs north towards the coast where I will take the ferry across to Honshu.

Along the way I stop in briefly at some local shrines, a Wakamiya Shrine, a Yasaka Shrine, and a Hie Shrine, none with any interesting attributes, and none part of the syncretic shinto-buddhist Rokumanzan culture that is so intriguing in this area.

The largest settlement on the coast is Kakaji and there is a big shrine here for me to explore, but that will be the next post.

The previous post in this series was Oreki Temple.

It is the first week of  May and so the carp streamers are up......