Yuga Shrine

 

Yuga Shrine is unique in having a ceramic torii entrance gate made of local Bizen-ware. It is not the only ceramic torii in Japan. Down in Arita in Saga on Kyushu is a torii made of porcelain at Tozan Shrine.

Yuga Shrine is the now Shinto part of the former shugendo complex of Yuga Daigongen, a syncretic establishment forced tp separate in early Meiji. Post 1945 the shrine and temple began operating again as one entity but in the late 90's a dispute arose between them that continues to this day.

Immediately adjacent to the shrine is the okunoin of the temple. Again, the architecture alone is no help in distinguishing between the shinto and Buddhist parts as they are the same.

The okunoin currently houses a Fudo Myo.

The original kami enshrined here was Yuga Daigongen, a buddhist name and considered a manifestation of Amida and Yakushi.

The kami listed now I suspect were added in the Meiji Period and are Hikosachi no Mikoto, Kaminaohi, and Teoshihobo. They are not well known kami at all.

As well as the torii there are a pair of fine ceramic komainu also in Bizen-ware. The komainu date to 1829 and tye torii to 1894.

There are numerous secondary shrines around the grounds, many clustered around a set of Iwakura, large sacred rocks on the hillside said to have been worshipped since ancient times.

There is a Tenmangu, and also the Seven Lucky Gods are here as well as in the parking lot of the temple.

Interestingly there is a Susanoo Shrine, and here he is considered a god of matchmaking. Males will pray to the female ceramic komainu and females pray to the male ceramic komainu, both with a dark glaze so not technically Bizen-ware.

Yuga Shrine is considered an important shrine for disaster prevention and was historically connected to Konpira on Shikoku with both being connected pilgrimage sites.

The main hall, (photo 9), was built in the early Edo Period and is a registered Cultural Property, as are the ceramic torii and the honden (final photo).

There is a largish Inari presence here, though they list the kami as Kurainakatama no mikoto, not a variation I have ever heard of before.

You might notice the "cute" octopus statue......

This is Owatatsumi, a modern creation by the local fishing culture.....

Though somewhat distant from major tourist sites, and not accessible without a car, Mount Yuga, with all the sights of the temple and the shrine, is well worth a visit.

This was my final stop on day 8 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, and the previous post in the series was on the Buddhist section of Yuga Daigongen, Rendaiji Temple.

Rendaiji Temple 6 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Rendaiji, the 6th temple on the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, is a large complex located high on Mount Yuga in the Kojima area south of Kurashiki and Okayama.

It was a syncretic site known as Yuga Daigongen until modern times but has now split into Rendaiji Temple nd Yuga Shrine, though they both occupy the same site.

In the Heian Period it was one of three sites that were called New Kumano, this site being the equivalent of Nachi Taisha.

Long a site of pilgrimage, the approach to the shrine-temple complex has a temple town with long street lined with souvenir shops.

I arrived by following the old pilgrimage trail from the north and the first things I saw were the statues of the Seven Lucky Gods. The tradition here is that you write your prayer or wish on a white stone and leave on the statue.

Also in this area was a newish Fudo statue, but much more of Fudo is to come......

In one hall is this striking statue of Dakiniten, a Buddhist  goddess with Hindi roots that has become synonomous with Inari in Japan. Two great Dakiniten temples are commonly known as Inari, Toyokawa Inari in Aichi, and Saijo Inari near here in Okayama.

Dakiniten is often associated with foxes and sometimes depicted riding a white fox. The association with foxes seems to be behind much of the association of Dakiniten with Inari.

In this part of the temple is also this magnificent statue of Fudo Myoo, the biggest wooden Fudo in all of Japan, and possibly the world.

It was unveiled in 2007 and is about 7.5 meters tall. You can see more on this earlier post.

Rendaiji was siad to have been founded by the famed monk Gyoki in 733. He enshrined a Kannon and Yuga Daigongen.

In the late Heian Period the complex was destroyed by fire.

It was rebuilt in the Muromachi Period, but really grew in stature during the Edo Period when it became a major pilgrimage destination.

Yoga Daigongen was a deity that offered protection against misfortune, and it became paired with the Konpira Daigongen across on Shikoku. A pilgrimage to both sites became very popular.

The Guest Hall, or, Reception Hall dates back to the very end of the 18th century.

It boasts an impressive collection of painted screens by some well known artists and also offers views of the garden

It is free to enter and I am disappointed I did not.

In many placdes where a temple and shrine were seperated, they now sit adjacent to each other, but here thye shrine part is in the middle of the Buddhist part. After passing through the shrine you come to the second area of the temple and here is the Kannon Hall, pictured in photo 1 above, and also the Daishi Hall below. I will cover the shrine, with its unusual ceramic torii, in the next post in the series.

Also on this side of the complex is an area devoted to Mizuko Jizo.

Also in this part of the complex is the pagoda. In Tahoto style associated with Shingon.

The original pagoda collapsed during a storm in 1670, and was rebuilt during the 1830's and 40's. It is said to be the biggest pagoda in Okayama.

Officially seperated in 1868, the shrine and temple began again to operate as one entity after 1945, however in the lat 1990's a duispute arose between the shrine and temple that continues to this day.

The head priest of the temple and the head priest of the shrine are brothers, which may explain the dispute somewhat.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the old  pilgrimage trail leading to Rendaiji.

Kitasando The Road to Yuga Daigongen

 

The Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage is modelled on one of the oldest pilgrimage routes in Japan, the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, however the Chugoku Pilgrimage is a fairly modern creation, dating back to the 1980's, and therefore its route is based on the modern transportation system and is basically geared towards driving.

However, a few parts of it do coincide with older pilgrimages, and some of these still have sections of footpath, a case in point being this section I am walking on day 8 of my walk along the Chugoku Pilgrimage. South of Kurashiki is Rendaiji, temple number 6 of the pilgrimage, and it has been a site of pilgrimage in its own right for centuries.

Known as Yuga Daigongen, it was a syncretic site now split into a temple and a shrine, but it was a fairly major pilgrimage destination, and connected to Konpirasan on Shikoku, with both sites often being visited on the same journey.

There were 4 routes to reach Yuga Daigongen, depending on which direction you were coming from, but the most travelled route was known as Kitasando and approached from the north.

After visiting the Kumano Shrine and its associated temples in Hayashi, a few kilometers further south a large torii across a minor road show the way to Yuga Daigongen.

Soon a path leads off the road and heads through a huge grove of bamboo. Whenever I am fortunate enough to pass through a bamboo forest I think of all those poor tourists in Arashiyama, crowded shouder to shoulder, viewing a manicured bamboo forest behind a fence while I have a huge, silent one all to myself.

Along the trail are several small wayside shrines, none visited often and with almost no upkeep.

The trail leads to a narrow mountain road and passes a village shrine, photo 11

The torii says its name is Eki Shrine, but it was renamed Susanoo Shrine in 1943.

Earlier that morning I had stopped in at another Susanoo Shrine that had also previously been called Eki Shrine.

The road then passes a series of vegetable gardens... well protected against wild boar, monkeys, and deer.

and then skirts a village...

before once again becoming a trail....

As we get closer to the shrine-temple complex, more indications of the destination appear...

It was an absolute delight to spend an hour off of asphalt and traffic....

The previous post was on the Kumano Shrine at the base of the mountain to the north.