Sasebo Port Revisited

 

On my last day in Sasebo I went back and visited the recently redeveloped port and harbour area.

I had been based in Sasebo for a week and each day took the local trains out into the surrounding areas of northern Nagasaki and western Saga visiting a cluster of temples on the Kyushu 108 temple pilgrimage.

Lots of interesting architecture but not a lot of people.

Sasebo is a major naval port for both Japan and the USA.

I did post earlier on this area like this one on Sasebo port, and this one on the ferry terminal.

The previous post was on some interesting buildings nearby.

This was the end of day 71 of my walk and the next day I headed north on the final week's worth of walking to complete the pilgrimage up in Munakata Fukuoka.

Interesting Modern Architecture in Sasebo

 

One of my favorite subjects for photography has always been modern architecture, and the cities and even the countryside of Japan have been great locations to find such.

Walking around Sasebo in Nagasaki I came across a few buildings that while not amazing, were quite interesting. These first three shots show the Sasebo City Library. 

I can not find the architect, but believe it was built in 1993.

Literally across the road is the Sasebo City Museum Shimanose Art Center. A somewhat brutalist building housing many galleries and arts facilities and also an archeology museum.

Again, I could not find who the architect was, but it was built in 1983.

The next 2 shots are of a headquarters  for Shinwa Bank. Of the three it is quite well known and was designed by Seichi Shirai who seems to have been fairly well known.

Built in three stages with each of the three sections distinctly different, the section shown, known as Kaisho-kan, was the last built, in 1975.

Finally, back near the port another shot of Arcus Sasebo, the newest, and for me, the most interesting of the modern structures in Sasebo.

The previous post was Miyajitake Shrine.

Miyajitake Shrine Sasebo

 

Miyajitake Shrine in Sasebo is on a steep hillside in the downtown area.

I can find no history of it, though at the entrance there is a cluster of small local shrines that would have been moved here probably in the early 20th century, if not earlier.

The architecture is modern, as the original would have been destroyed in the great bombing raid of 1945.

The new structure is quite unique, with a long covered structure leading to the main hall.

It is a branch of the quite famous Miyajidake Shrine further north in Fukuoka.

It was built around a major kofun for a powerful, local ruler and is now considered to be Empress Jingu.

Also enshrined are two of her brothers.

The previous ost was on the Fudo Myo statues below nearby Saihoji Temple.

Fudo Myoo's below Saihoji Temple

 

Just below Saihoji Temple in downtown Sasebo, but quite outside its grounds, is an altar with numerous Buddhist statues, most being Fudo Myoo

Because there were no statues of Fudo inside the temple  and grounds, I surmised that this altar was not connected to Saihoji.

Saihoji is a Soto Zen temple, and Fudo is most usually associated with Shingon or Tendai Buddhism, the so-called esoteric sects, and with Shugendo, the syncretic mountain religion with strong ties to those esoteric sects.

I can find no information at all about this small site.

The previous post was on Saihoji Temple.

Saihoji Temple Sasebo

 

Saihoji Temple is considered to be the oldest and the most important temple in Sasebo.

It was rebuilt after being destroyed at the end of WWII in a bombing raid. The impressive Niomon was not actually completed until 2001.

Inside the Niomon were a pair of statues of Fujin, the Wind God, and Raijin, the Storm God.

Ostensibly Shinto in origin, being created by Izanami while in Yomi, they are usually found, like here, in Buddhist temples.

According to the temple's website, the Nio were each carved in China from a single piece of wood.

It is a Soto Zen temple with a Shaka Nyorai as honzon.

The original temple was Rinzai and founded in the early 13th century. It fell into disrepair but in the mid 15th century it was moved to its current location by the Akasaki Lord and rebuilt as a Soto temple.

The previous post was on nearby Kameyama Hachimangu Shrine.

Kameyama Hachimangu Shrine Sasebo

 

Located on top of a small hill in what is now central Sasebo, Kameyama Hachimangu is by far the biggest and most important shrine in Sasebo.

The shrine claims to have been founded directly from Usa Hachiman Shrine in the late 7th century.

At that time it was a Kyushu cult and had not yet been adopted nationally, nor was it yet associated with the legendary emperor Ojin.

The Hachiman cult was adopted by the samurai and so assumed major importance in later Japanese history, so when Sasebo became a major naval port in the late 19th and  twentieth centuies the shrine was patronized by the local naval officers.

Like much of central Sasebo, the shrine was completely destroyed by bombing in 1945.

As a Hachman shrine the main kami are Ojin, his mother Jingu, and his father Chuai. Unusually Nintoku, his son, is also listed here. There are also numerous secondary shrines within the grounds.

In the modern, postwar ranking of shrines Kameyama Hachiman is listed as Beppyo, which means more important than a regular shrine.

I was exploring Sasebo at the end of day 71 of my Kyushu pilgrimage walk as I had been based in Sasebo for several days. The previous post was on Mimasakachinju Shrine.