Yatogi Shrine, Tenri

Yatogi Shrine, sometimes pronounced Yatsugi, is a delightful shrine located on the Yamanobenomichi a little south of Isonokami in Tenri. The main hall has a fine thatched roof, and behind it the line of seven hondens have cedar-bark roofs.

The seven kami are quite an eclectic collection. The main kami is Futsunushi, a kami of swords and lightning, and possibly the personification of the main kami at nearby Isonokami Shrine. Also enshrined is Takemikazuchi, a main kami of the Fujiwara clan. The myths have either or both of these kami descending to Izumo and convincing Okuninushi to give Japan to Amaterasu's descendants. As the Fujiwara (known earlier as the Nakatomi) wiped out the Mononobe, it is believed that gradually the Fujiwara kami usurped and replaced the Mononobe kami.

Another enshrined kami here is Amenokoyane, one of the kami who performed rituals to entice Amaterasu out of her cave, and another ancestor of the Fujiwara. Another kami is Kotohira, a variation of Konpira.

Strangely, Susano is enshrined here, though that may be connected to local legends that pertain to the spirit of the eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi slain by Susano. It is believed that its spirit became associated with lightning, and in the hills behind nearby isonokami Shrine are rocks said to be it.

The gardens in May

A couple of video, with commentary, on what's going on in my veggie gardens right now.



The first is from the riverside garden, and the second from the village garden

Kujira Ceramic Studio

Went upriver about an hour yesterday to visit the village of Iwami Tsuga in Misato Town to see the opening exhibition of Kujira Ceramics Studio.

Hakudo Hashimoto, a Kyushu native, moved to the area last year after spending a couple of years in the Dominican republic setting up ceramic workshops there. He built a huge kiln and the current show is the first work that came out of it.

The exhibition is in his house and studio and runs until the 20th May. It is located just off Route 375 running along the Gonokawa River about 30 minutes downstream from Miyoshi, Hiroshima.

Kujira Ceramic Studio
696--0702
143 Ueno, Misato-cho
Ochi-gun, Shimane

Tel: 090 8361 8065
email rikihas7@ezweb.ne.jp

Kagura dancer

One of the things that attracts me to Iwami kagura is the sheer dedication and professionalism of the dancers, though in fact there are no professionals, they are all amateurs.

These shots are of my friend Tetsuhide dancing the purification dance as part of last years Omoto Kagura at Ichiyama.

He's been dancing kagura for over 40 years, and all three of his sons are also kagura dancers. During the week he is a travelling salesman, and on the weekends he helps out in his families business, the village liquor store.

Kagura is performed primarily as entertainment for the kami, but in one sense the dancer also becomes the kami. The dancers hold various kinds of torimono, objects into which the kami descend. For this dance he is using a fan and a large nusa, a type of ceremonial wand.

The regular purification dance with 4 dancers was performed before this one, which is specific to Omoto.

Outside of my local area, Iwami, it is rare to find anyone who knows what kagura is, and yet it is the root of Noh, Kabuki, and other performing arts in Japan.

My back yard.

Nothing much exciting this post, just some views of my backyard! Actually we don't have a backyard, our house backs directly on to the mountainside and forest. The mountain is 254 metres high, and no-one knows if it has a name. There is supposed to be an old charcoal-makers hut on the top, but as yet I havent made it up that far.

There is a small graveyard/cemetery immediately behind the house, and this section is planted in cedar, but the rest of the mountain is mixed forest. I havent gone up there much simply because it is very steep. Its the domain of the bear, wild boar, monkey, badger, weasel, marten, civet, among others.

The mountain belongs to the local shrine, but in the years I've been here there has been no work done on or in the mountain, no thinning or planting etc. I plan on talking to the priest and some of the old guys in the village and see if I cant go in and tend the forest a little and get some firewood in the process.

Toyohira, Hiroshima

This is the draincover for the town of Toyohira, now a part of Kitahiroshima in western Hiroshima Prefecture. It's a picture of buckwheat, soba in Japanese, and one can presume that its a major crop in the area. We were driving through the area on Route 433 heading across country on back roads towards Kyushu.

As is usual, whenever we spy a torii we stop so I can explore the shrine. There was nothing of particular note at this shrine in Shijihara village except the biggest plastic shimenawa I've ever seen.

However, on the way into the shrine we spied a thatched roof nearby that turns out to be the only remaining thatched roof temple gate in Hiroshima.

The temple, Jodo-ji, was fairly large with a good collection of carvings and statues, dragons etc. The priests wife came out to greet us and then spent an hour taking us around the temple.

The gardens on 3 sides of the temple property were extensive and rather nice. I remember thinking that if this was in Kyoto there would have been a hefty entrance fee, but we were getting a free guided tour. The gardens were not built by anyone famous, just 15 generations of the temple priests.

The roof of the main hall was impressively large. I always feel pleased with myself whenever I'm off exploring the backroads and discover something really nice, and I was really chuffed with having discovered this place. But there was more, the priests wife beckoned us to follow and she took us behind the temple to a spot where a BBC film crew had spent 3 months making a documentary, for here was a breeding spot of a rare, threatened creature, the worlds second-largest Salamander, the Japanese Giant salamander

They had a craft workshop where kids from all over come and make models of the salamander and learn about it's ecology and why it's threatened with extinction. I'll post more about this creature later as it can be found in our local river.

So, a brief stop to check out a shrine turned into a pleasant 2 hours with history, art, gardens, and ecology, all for free!!

Freewheeling on Route 46

I've been taking a few bike rides in recent weeks. Actually I cycle about 20% of the time, push the bike uphill about 10%, and freewheel downhill for 70% of the time. My bike has no gears, its a "mamachari", so I get my wife to drop me and my bike off up in the high country and then head home downhill.

Yesterday I cycled 30k from near Iwami Ginzan, and took Route 46 all the way back. Some of the time its a 2 lane road, but some of the time its a single lane mountain road. It passes through a couple of villages, and down a couple of mostly uninhabited valleys.

Lots of people busy in the paddies, planting by machine, and also by hand. Most appeared to be at least 60 years old.

Stopped in at a couple of shrines. The shrine in Oe has 3 beautiful huge cedars flanking the entrance.

There is also a few nice temples, and of course many roadside altars.

Lots of empty and abandoned houses, both in the villages and on the hillsides.

In the heat of the middle of the day most people are inside, but this guy was out and about. I think he was out scouting around for gardens to raid. I saw one this lunchtime in my own village, single male out of the cover of the forest. I suspect he will bring the troop back around dawn.

There were also lots of flowers still. In the last valley there were a lot of wisteria.

Hakusan Shrine, Tenri.

This small wayside shrine is located just of the Yamanobenomichi a little south of Isonokami Shrine in Tenri. I believe it is a Hakusan Shrine, sometimes read as Shirayama Shrine. Shirayama is the older reading. The head Hakusan shrine is up in Ishikawa Prefecture. Nowadays the main kami is said to be Kukurihime, a kami who mediated between Izanagi and his dead wife Izanami, so sometimes eithe of these two are claimed as the main kami.

The shrine may well have been part of a huge temple complex that existed near here before being destroyed in the early years of Meiji when the government dramatically altered the religious landscape of Japan.

Typical Japanese Landscape 20

The last 2 weeks has seen a flurry of activity in the countryside as rice paddies are prepared and flooded and the rice plants transplanted. At night the chorus of thousands of frogs echoes up the valley.

These photos were taken in my village.

The views from Kaikyo Yume Tower

The 360 degree views from the tower are well worth the 600 yen entrance fee.
To the NE the Kanmon bridge connecting Honshu with Kyushu

To the NW, Ganryujima Island

To the south, Kitakyushu.

Below, a fairly typical Japanese urban scene.

See photos of the tower