24 Paragons of Filial Piety

The Great South Gate, located halfway up the stepped slope leading to Yusuhara Hachimangu Shrine in the mountains outside of Oita City was built in the 17th Century and rebuilt in the 19th Century.

As well as the usual collection of carvings of mythical beasts and such that adorn many such temple and shrine gates, it has a collection of carved relief panels illustrating the 24 Paragons of Filial Piety.

Written in China in the 14th Century, the book was a popular way of learning about Confucian morality. The use of the relief illustrations probably is connected to the rise of Neo Confucianism in Edo Period Japan.

You can probably figure out which stories each picture represents by googling wikipedia or the online translations of the book.....

Shizutani School

On the first day of mny walk along the Chugoku Pikgrimage I had visited temple number 3, but rather than take the most direct route to the next temple I chose to take a detour so I could visit a couple of sites unrelated to the pilgrimage, the first being the Shizutani School.

Fronted by an unusual Chinese style wall, the school was founded at the end of the 17th Century by the lord of the domain Ikeda Matsumasa as one of his schools of Confucian studies.

The main lecture hall/auditorium is registered as a National Treasure, and other buildings include a shrine to Confucius and a shrine to Ikeda Matsumasa.

The school enrolled students from the samurai class as well as sons of village headmen and is therefore known as one of the first public schools for commoners. More detsails and history can be found in a longer article I wrote over at Japanvisitor.

More Hagi Teramachi

The temple district, Teramachi, in Hagi is not on the main tourist route in the town but is well worth a visit if you are in Hagi for more than one day. There are a few historical buildings, a maze of narrow lanes, and of course temples... a few of which I have already posted about.

Kaichoji is a fairly large temple with an impressive gate, but what is interesting is the main hall which was originally built as a Confucian shrine. It was located at the Meirinkan, the domain school that revered Confucius. After the temple burned down in 1874 they purchased the hall and rebuilt it here as the temples main hall.

Red-bibbed Jizo abound, as do cemeteries. In my area graves are built behind houses, but in many places in Japan they are located at temples.

One can often see huge pyramids composed of gravestones, usually belonging to people who no longer have an living relatives in the area to care for them. These quite large, smooth rocks are unmarked and are I believe marker stones to unknown people.

Confucian Shrine

In Nagasaki you are never far from the influence of China, and nowhere is this more obvious than at the Confucian Shrine.

Built in 1893 by Chinese residents of Nagasaki it is reputed to be the only Confucian shrine outside China actually built by Chinese.

It was badly damaged in the A Bomb blast and did not reopen until 1967, though extensive renovations in 1982 brought it to its current vivid glory.

Behind the shrine is the Museum of Chinese History and Culture, and entry to it is included in the entrance fee to the shrine. The museum's collection is quite large and varied with many of the exhibits on loan from the National Museum in China.

A statue of Confucius is the center of worship in the colorful main building of the shrine, and 72 white statues line the entrance.