Kumanohara Shrine Karatsu

 

Kumanohara Shrine is a small, but ancient shrine in what is now the Teramachi district of Karatsu in Saga.

According to the shrine legend it goes back to the mythical days of Jingu and her "invasion" of Korea.

While in this area, which at the time was pine forest, a great white light appeared and showed the direction for the sea journey to Korea, and so later some of her soldiers established Shiranui Shrine here.

Later, in the 7th century, the area was suffering an epidemic and so the locals prayed at the shrine for relief. 12 black birds with white breasts lined u in the trees at the shrine and emitted a white light, and from then on the epidemic subsided. The villagers were told the birds were messengers of the kami at Kumano and so the shrine was renamed Kumonohara.

The primary kami are therefore listed as Ketsumiko, Hayatama, and Fusumi, the three great kami of Kumano, otherwise known as Susano, Izanami, and Izanagi.

Also enshrined is Sarutahiko, Oyamatsumi, Ojin, and the spirit of Goro Kanda, a local ruler from the 8th Century. Within the grounds are an Awashima Shrine, and an Inari Shrine, which unusually has komainu rather than fox guardian statues

The previous post was on Daishoin the temple next door.

Kumano Sansho Omiwasha

I started my walk along the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage in Nachi on the south coast of Wakayama. The first temple is Seigantoji at the famous Nachi Falls, and for the first 8 days the Saigoku Pilgrimage follows the Kumano Kodo.

Just across from the station in Nachi is Kumano Sansho Omiwasha, a subsidiary shrine of Nachi Taisha, and right next door to Fudurakusanji, the temple it was a part of until the separation of shrines and temples in early Meiji.

People would stop at the shrine to purify before heading next door to the temple and then on up the valley to the falls.

The three kami enshrined here are the three Kumano kami enshrined at Nachi, Shingu, and Hongu, Fusumi no okami, Hayatamano, and Ketsumiko no mikoto.