Showing posts with label matsue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label matsue. Show all posts

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Meteor Plaza

 

Meteor Plaza is located in the port of Shichirui on the Shimane Peninsuka. Now part ofMihonoseki which itself is now part of nMatsue City.


Its primary function is as a ferry terminal operating car ferries and high-speed ferries to the Oki Islands.


Meteor Plaza was designed by Shimane-born architect Shin Takamatsu and opened in 1995


As well as the ferry terminal the complex also houses a saltwater swimming pool and a museum and performance space, although I am unsure how often the pool opens nowadays.


The museum is devoted to the meteor that struck the earth a few kilometers away in 1992.


The cone of the structure represents the meteor's trajectory, and the weird curved shape is the shape of the meteor itself.


The meteor crashed  through a local house and embedded itself in the earth. The inhabitants, who were home at the time, didn't notice it until next morning as the night was very noisy with a thunderstorm


Inside the big space is a kind of auditorium that puts on a light show and a short movie about the meteor.


When we visited we were the only people there so it was kind of eerie.


The meteor itself is on display inside the cone structure. It weighs 6.8 kilos and is just over 25 cms long.


The architecture appeals to me and I have posted on many other Shin Takamatsu buildings, like his ferry terminal in Nagasaki, his public onsen in Tamatsukuri, a Buddhist Hall on a mountain, and of course, his Sand Museum in his hometown.


The curved interior of the performance space offered me plenty of opportunity for the kind of geometric abstract photos I am partial to...




Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Miho Shrine

 


Miho Shrine is a major shrine located at the Eastern tip of the Shimane Peninsula and is the head shrine of about 3,000 Miho shrines throughout Japan.


It is also said to be the head shrine of all Ebisu shrines nationwide, though that is also claimed by Nishinomiya Shrine in Hyogo.


There are two quite distinct origins for Ebisu, one as the "leech child" born to Izanagi and Izanami, and the other as Kotoshironushi, one of the sons of Okuninushi in Izumo. The former si the basis for Nishinomiya Shrine, and the latter for Miho Shrine in Izumo. In early Meiji Period the government officially classified Ebisu as Kotoshironushi.


Miho Shrine was mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki, the 8th century local gazeteers published shortly after the more famous Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.


It seems quite possible that at first the kami Mihosumi was enshrined here but that later Mihotsuhime and Kotoshironushi became the two kami under the influence of the Kojiki and Nihnshoki.


Mihotsuhime is a wife of Okuninushi, and step-mother to Kotoshironushi.


Their twin hondens are in a unique architecture style and registered as Important Cultural Properties. They were constructed in 1813.


I have not noticed before at other shrines, so am not sure how prevalent the custom is, but above the entrance gate hang two Onusa purification wands.


Kotoshironushi used to go fishing often at his favorite spot on an offshore islet.


He was there when his father, Okuninushi, sent for him to consult about the offer from Amaterasu envoys to hand over the land to her descendants in what is known as the Kuniyuzuri myth.


This event is recreated in two unique festivals involving boats, the Murote Fune held on December 3rd involving two large canoes, and the Aoshibagaki held on April 7th.


The shrine also has an impressive collection of hundreds of musical instruments that have been donated over the centuries.


846 are registered as Important Tangible Folk Cutural Properties and include the first accordion and organ in the country


Often depicted carrying a Sea Bream, Ebisu is well known as a kami of fishing but also safety at sea, and prosperity in business.


Mihotsuhime, a daughter of  Takamimusubi, is known for abundant harvest, marital harmony, safe childbirth, prosperity of descendants, and music and dance.


Mihonoseki is a small port in a sheltered position that was used as a lay-over for the Kitamaebune ships in the Edo period.


Served by buses from Matsue, it is a nice place for a quiet visit and the guesthouse used by Lafcadio Hearn is still in business.


The previous post on sights to see in Matsue was on Jozan Inari Shrine, another shrine with a famous boat festival.


Thursday, May 16, 2024

Jozan Inari Shrine

 


Jozan Inari Shrine is tucked away at the northern end of the grounds of Matsue Castle and consequently is missed by most visitors.


It was a favorite spot of Lafcadio Hearn who lived literally a stone's throw away across the moat and visited here often.


Jozan Inari Shrine is the origin of the  Shikinen Shinkosai Festival, one of the top three boat festivals in Japan wherein a procession of brightly decorated boats transport the kami of the shrine 10 kilometers downriver to Adakaya Shrine. The festival only takes place every ten years and the next will be in 2029. Some of the boats are stored at Adakaya Shrine which is worth visiting for the unusual straw "serpents"


The shrine was established in 1638,  a couple of decades after the castle was built when the grandson of Ieyasu, Matsudaira Naomasa, took over the domain.


He had a vision that said Inari would protect not only the castle but also his Edo estate.


Though there are many different Inari's, its primary feature was as a kami of rice, although later it became very much associated with business success. In this case Inari was very much seen in Matsue as a kami to protect the home from fire.


The aroach to the shrine is like many others, and lacks the "tunnel" of red torii seen at many Inari shrines.


However, if you venture behind the main buildings you will find thousands of fox statues....


The previous post was on the Western-style Meiji-era guesthouse in the castle grounds.


Thursday, March 14, 2024

Kounkaku Matsue



In the grounds of Matsue Castle stands quite an elegant Western-style building called Kounkaku.


It was built in 1902-3 as a lodging for the Meiji Emperor. The emperor made half a dozen grand tours around the country, part of the governments program to instill a sense of nationhood among the population using the emperor as a unifying symbol. 


All across the country towns and cities built such places in the hopes of attracting a visit from the emperor.


In the end, Meiji didn't visit Matsue, but his son, the Crown Prince did, in 1907, and he stayed there.


Now it is used for a variety of exhibitions and also houses a cafe.


Many similar, Western-style buildings were built, in the early days as residences for foreigners, like the mansion for foreign engineers in Kagoshima.


Some of the Japanese nobility built them for themselves, like the Jinpukaku in Tottori. However, many smaller, much less pretentious Western-style buildings were used for such things as post offices, hospitals, local government offices, etc. Like this former hospital near Kurume.


The previous post in this series on Matsue was Matsue Castle itself.