Blue Oni (demon or ogre) Mask

This is my largest kagura mask to date. It is a blue Oni. As usual I had to experiment a little, so I changed the eyes some. The most common translation of oni is "demon", but I am less and less satisfied with that due to the association of the word demon in english with pure evil. I think a better translation of oni would be ogre. Oni can do bad things, but they can help people too.

Oni are almost always depicted as being very hairy, and one theory of their origin is that they were the original inhabitants of Japan. As the rice-growing Yayoi people started moving in to Japan around 2,300 years ago from the Asian mainland, the indigenous people were pushed up into the mountains where the rice-growing invaders did not initially go. From the mountains the "oni" would probably have raided villages for food or women.

Kagura Mask Index

Hagi walls and natsumikan

This manhole cover is from the town of Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It depicts 2 of the things this popular tourist destination is famous for, old walls, and Natsumikan. The natsumikan is a type of large, bitter orange that bears fruit in the summer. You can see many natsumikan trees throughout the town, and juice and preserves from the fruit are on sale everywhere.

Large sections of Hagi have been spared redevelopment, mainly as a result of the railways line going around the town rather than through it, so some areas of the town are still laid out as they were in the Edo period. Tall earthen walls and stone walls in a multitude of forms line the streets.

Utilizing old rooftiles in walls is not uncommon. See this one in Kyoto.

Milky Way Hall (outside)

With its rectilinear, minimal design and windowless walls clad in blue tile, Gotsu's Milky Way Hall looks like a warehouse or factory, but is in fact a 700 seat auditoriun and conference centre that hosts concerts and other cultural events.

Opened in 1995, and designed by Shin Takamatsu, it is called Milky Way Hall because there are small lights set in the wall and at night the building displays constellations on its exterior.

Takamatsu is a professor at Kyoto University and was born locally at nearby Niima. He has designed many buildings in his home prefecture including Hamada Childrens Museum, and Nima Sand Museum.

See inside Milky Way Hall

Anaguma Japanese Badger

Anaguma Japanese Badger

This guy was rooting around in my back yard recently. I figured it was a tanuki, a racoon dog, but when I posted the video on another site someone pointed out that it was an Anaguma, a Japanese badger. They are quite similar animals, and Tanuki soup is quite often made with anaguma. It's the same species that is found all over Europe and Asia, Meles meles. They are found all over Japan. Anaguma are nocturnal creatures, so it was strange that it was out and about in the middle of the day. They are omnivorous, and it was rooting around one species of plant, so maybe it was going for the roots, maybe for bugs or worms. When I finally moved closer it just sauntered away nonchalantly. The name anaguma derives from 2 kanji that mean "hole", and "bear". We are visited often by creatures from the surrounding forest, usually at night. I caught a Marten going after my chickens, and there was a Civet around for a few weeks. The monkeys haven't been by in a while, though they will surely come once the persimmons ripen. Shimane gets more bear sightings than any other prefecture, but so far none have come into our village. The wild boar will probably raid the gardens once the sweet potatoes and pumpkins are getting fat, though we trapped and ate three of them last autumn, so maybe word has gotten round and they will leave us alone this year.

Omoto Shrine, Yato.

This wonderfully weathered torii stands in front of the Omoto Shrine in Yato. It's a small settlement on the banks of the Yato River, not big enough for a shop, but it has 2 shrines.
The Omoto shrine is dedicated to Omotojin who is the original, local, land kami. Up in Izumo he is called Kojin, and he was the main kami of worship for every community in the old days.

Prior to 1945 there was just a hokora (wayside shrine) here set in a grove of trees. The trees were cut down and sold and the money used to build the present shrine. Every 6 years until 1966, Omoto Kagura was performed here. My friends recently deceased grandfather danced here and 5 times became possesed by Omotojin, the most times for one person in living memory. Shamanic kagura was widespread in Japan until the Meiji era. This area of Iwami is the only place in Japan where it is still practised.

In front of the shrine stands a giant Mukonoki tree with a width of 1.5 metres. Aphananthe Aspera has no name in English. The leaves of the tree were used as sandpaper.

A few hundred meters away, the steps lead up to the Hachiman Shrine.

Modern Japanese Thought

Modern Japanese Thought
ed. Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi
Cambridge University Press
ISBN 0-521-58810-3
403pp

I read books about Japan so that I can deepen my understanding of the place I live. After reading hundreds of books it gets harder to find ones that add much to what I already know, so it was a thrill to pick up and start to read this one.
The two main areas of interest for me are, pre-Yamato Japan, and the Meiji era. This book is about the latter. The bulk of the book is made up of chapters from the Cambridge History of Japan, with an introduction and a chapter on post-war Japan added. The introduction itself is excellent, and well worth the price of the book. The first chapter on Japan's turn to the West does a good job of introducing all the different strains of thought that began to influence Japan in the late Tokugawa period, and dismisses the overly simplistic notion that Japan was a "closed" country before Perry.
The second chapter on Meiji Conservatism documents the reaction of those who held power in Japan doing everything they can to resist any new ways of thinking that threatened their hold on power. The third chapter covers the chequered history of socialism, liberalism, and Marxism, in Japan, and the fourth "Japan's revolt against the West" covers the politics and philosophies that fed into the drive to colonial expansion and war. The final chapter covers the period after the end of WWII.
One thing that recurs again and again in Japan, in the late Tokugawa, early Meiji, early Showa, and Late Showa eras, in reaction to what is perceived as negative processes, is the looking back to the village, and "Folk" as the source of Japan. While reading about Yanagida Kunio, the father of Japanese follore studies, I gained a new repect for him. His views on the damage that State Shinto did to what he considered the heart of Japan is fully in accord with my own views.
If you are wanting to know why so many "western" notions, like democracy, or Human Rights, don't quite make a transition into contemporary Japan, this book will help.
Highly recommended.

Gotsu Sunset

The skyline of Gotsu is dominated by the smokestacks and industrial structures of the cellulose factory. Snapped this a few hours ago from the car as we crossed the bridge on the way home.

Imamiya Shrine Kyoto

Imamiya Shrine Kyoto

Imamiya is a large shrine complex that was built at its present site in 1001, though established a few years earlier on top of nearby Funaoka Hill. The shrine was established to ward off one of the plagues that periodicly attacked the area. There are many sub-shrines within the grounds, but the 3 main kami are Okuninushi (sometimes called Onamuchi, sometimes Daikokuten), Kotoshironushi, and Inadahime. What is interesting is that these are all Izumo kami. Okuninushi was the Izumo leader who "gave" Japan to Amaterasu's descendants, Kotoshironushi is the Izumo version of Ebisu. There are three distinct versions of Ebisu, one for central Japan, one for northern japan, and one for western Japan. Usually in the Kyoto area they refer to Ebisu as the child of Izanami and Izanagi and hailing from nearby Awajima. Inada is the Izumo "princess" who married Susano after his defeat of the serpent Yamata no Orochi.

The architectural style of the main shrine buildings and impressive gate are 17th Century, but were reconstructed in the early 20th century.

There had earlier been a ceremony at one of the sub-shrines (Munakata-sha, I think), and the offerings (sake and various foods, sakaki branches) were still on the altar.

The area around Imamiya has a nice old atmosphere, and its not surprising that many "Samurai" dramas are filmed here. Heading south from the shrine I spied this wonderful old wall built using roof tiles.

Kyoto Accommodation

Sky beans.

Finally finished picking my Lima beans! It was a bumper crop this year,... probably more than 50 kilos. Called Sora mame in Japanese, it means "sky beans", because when the young pods first start to grow on the stems, they grow upwards towards the sky rather than hanging down.
Its not sure exactly when they were introduced into Japan, but probably around the end of the Edo period. They are quite expensive in the supermarkets because they don't stay fresh for long, and so are not particularly popular. They are usually eaten boiled or grilled. Recently at a ryokan we were served rice with a few lima beans mixed in.

I like them! Mainly because they are easy to grow, they take very little tending, and also because they grow through the winter and so supply fresh food to the table by spring.

The bridge at Aquas.

First-time visitors driving along Route 9 or passing by on the train through Hashi always point to the tower of the bridge at Aquas and ask "What is it?". From a distance the 46 metre tall curved tower doesn't look like a bridge at all. I'm not a civil engineer, but I believe it is an unusual form of cable-stayed bridge.

The curve of the tower represents a wave, and the 130m long bridge connects one of the fine, white, sandy beaches of Iwami Seaside Park with Aquas, the biggest and best aquarium in west Honshu.

The tiled surface of blues continues the theme of the sea. Built in 1996, as yet I have been unable to find out who designed it.