Kurashiki Heron

Tenryo Maru

The Tenryo Maru is one of the many tour boats that ply the canals of the Bikan historic district of Kurashiki in Okayama Prefecture.

Kurashiki is a fairly typical industrial city on the south coast, but the Bikan district is a little oasis of traditional streets and buildings that is a very popular tourist destination due in large part to the famous Ohara Museum of Art.

As with most of the major tourist destination in Japan I suggest exploring it very early in the morning. Japan doesnt use Daylight Savings Time in the summer so the days begin ridiculously early, but the tour buses and the hordes they bring don't usually arrive until 9

I found Kurashiki a little bit too touristy, a little bit too theme parkish. Most of the buildings are no longer in use except as tourist sites. Nearby Takahashi and Tomonoura I found to be more authentic.

Anyway, the combination of early morning light and still water makes for easy photography....

Kami no Miya Kojin Shrine

On the nearby guide map this little shrine is called Kari no Miya Kojin Shrine, but in the torii and shrine building it is called Hachidai Aragami Shrine.

Many shrines had their names changed in the early Meiji Period, to remove any buddhist influence from the shrine ( a process akin to unscrambling eggs), and to add an Imperial identity.

After WWII when the states grip on shrines was loosened many shrines chose to revert to their earlier identity.

Aragami is a term often translated as "rough deity", but I have come to prefer the word "turbulent" over rough. Aragami are often "Earth" kami, ie natural forces that can be dangerous and violent. Kojin is certainly an aragami, though at this shrine there was no rope snake typical of other kojin shrines in Izumo.

The shrine is located on a small hill in Taisha Town between Izumo taisha and Inasa beach.

There were a couple of small Inari shrines in the grounds.

Not Jabba the Hut

I am almost certain that this is not a statues of Jabba The Hut, though the resemblance is uncanny. I am almost certain that it is a statue of Daruma, the Japanese name given to the Bodhidharma, known as the founder of Zen.

Bodhidharma is believed to have been an Indian monk who took new Buddhist teaching to China where it became known as Ch'an. When Japan appropriated Ch'an they called it Zen.

Daruma dolls are found all over Japan. They have no arms or legs as the Bodhidarma spent so many years in ascetic meditation that his limbs dropped off through lack of use.

Daruma dolls are usually sold without eyes. They are used to help achieve your goals. After purchasing one a single eye is painted in as you set your self a goal. When you achieve your goal you paint in the second eye.

Though Daruma is technically a buddhist symbol, most of the photos on this page were taken in shrines.

Yattai

This rather funky looking contraption looks like it may be some sort of mobile home for a homeless person, but once the sun goes down it transforms into......

...a street stall dispensing food and drinks on the streets of Fukuoka. Known as Yattai,　they are probably the most well known symbol of Fukuoka and high on the list of things to do for visitors there.

There are about 150 yattai scattered across the city, but most are clustered around the Nakagawa and Tenjin districts. A variety of foods and drinks are available, including the local speciality Hakata ramen.

It seems that the first Yattai was created in 1937 by someone returning from China who wanted to sell the style of noodles he came to enjoy in China, and by 1941 there were already 80 yattai in business.

Izumo Taisha JR Station

The old JR railway station at Taisha, on the main road leading to Izumo Taisha, is unusual in that it is built in traditional Japanese style rather than the hybrid of japanese and western styles that most stations of the period were built in.

It was built in 1924, architect unknown, to bring tourists and pilgrims to Izumo Taisha.

The line and the station were closed in 1990, but the station has been kept as a museum and attracts thousand of visitors. It is a registered Important Cultural Property.

The ticket office and station office contains mannequins dressed in period uniforms

and other items are also on display. Entrance is free.

Access to Izumo Taisha by rail now is via the Ichibata Electric Railways Taisha-Mae station on the same road as the old JR station but closer to the shrine itself.

Hasedera Temple in Izumo

After passing through the Niomon (gate with guardian statues), the shady, banner-lined, path leads up to the main buildings of Hasedera.

When I was there a few weeks ago the shadows framed the statues of Kannon, which seemed very fitting as this is Temple number 1 on the 33 Temple Izumo Kannon Pilgrimage.

The main building was covered in strips of paper with what I guess to be prayers on them from pilgrims. I know very little about Buddhist practices and terminology in Japan.

Hasedera belongs to the Koyasan Shingon sect, and I did read that it is the oldest temple in Taisha Town (the name now given to the town around Izumo Taisha, formerly known as Kitsuki.

There is a small shrine to Inari, though it may be Dakiniten, the Buddhist version of Inari.

I like Hasedera. Its quiet, and in a natural setting. Its located west of Izumo Taisha, up a small valley from Inasa Beach.

The Nio at Hasedera Temple in Izumo

This pair of Nio, temple guardians, stand guard at the entrance to Chokokuji temple in Taisha Town. near Inasa beach, not far from Izumo Taisha.

Sometimes called Kongorikishi, this pair features quite detailed painting.

The one on the right, with his mouth closed is called Ungyo, the one on the left with opened mouth is called Agyo.

Nio were introduced into Japan in the 7th or 8th century from China. Originally based on Hindu deities, it is suggested that they may even have been influenced by Heracles, the Greek God.

Other photos of Nio can be seen here

A Walk to Suga

The weather during May remained unseasonably cool, so I talk advantage and went on another exploratory walk. I started in Nogi, now little more than a suburb of Matsue. A cookie-cutter town of convenience stores, pachinko parlors, and drab, utilitarian buildings.

My route was to roughly follow Route 24 up the Inbe River and over into the watershed of the Hi River around Suga.

After about 30 minutes I was in the foothills on narrow lanes with mostly older, more traditional houses. The person in this house is obviously really into bonsai!

As usual I stopped in at all the shrines along the way.

In the village of Noshira I found this that looks like a shrine, but is in fact a "kyo", translated as "church". Its a branch of Izumo Yashirokyo, a religion started by the then head priest of Izumo Taisha in the late 19th Century when the state basically told priests to stop preaching or dealing with "religious" matters. If they wanted to deal with religious issues they should found their own churches. The state had appropriated the Torii symbol, so only "shinto" shrines could have a torii, so many of the shinto-based Kyo simply use a simple gate with one crosspiece.

Also in Noshira I found an interesting shrine with a huge mask of Uzume or Otafuku. As Uzume is one of the kami enshrined here it is most likely her.

And then, paydirt!!!!! I found 2 examples of something I search for and hope to find on my backcountry explorations, a pair of Phalli!

I chatted for a while with a lady visiting the shrine, but she professed to not know anything about them, which may be true, but its more likely that she didn't want to talk about them with a foreigner.

I have an extensive collection of photos from small fertility shrines I've visited, but I've hesitated to post any as about half the visitors to this blog are from a certain North American country wherein many citizens react strangely to such topics. They either get offended and indignant, or they react like giggling Elementary schoolgirls.

Anyway, to have found these two really made my day and my steps had more spring to them.....

Route 24 is a fairly busy, 2 -lane road, that has been straightened a lot and bypasses many smaller settlements. I chose to walk the old sections of road that snake along the river. Its a longer walk, but there is almost no traffic, often the things to be discovered are in the small villages, and I'm more likely to meet friendly people. Sure enough I soon came upon a small unmarked shrine to Kojin with the rope serpent wrapped around the base of a tree. It looked like nobody had visited the shrine in a few years.

There were a lot of snakes of the non-rope variety out and about. This one was a bit over a meter in length. No idea what species it was, though if it was a 4-lined Rat snake I wouldnt be surprised.

Vacation 2010 Day3: Warwick

On my third day of vacation I took a 20 minute bus ride to the castle and market town of Warwick.

I have vague memories of visiting the castle here when I was a young kid, but essentially I didn't know the town at all.

My first stop was St. Marys church in the middle of town, where, for a small fee, you can climb the church tower for some wonderful views out over the town, the river Avon, and some typical English countryside.

The church was founded in the 12th Century, but it, along with most of the town, was destroyed in a great fire in the 17th century, so the rebuilt church dates from that time.

probably due to the number of shrines and temples I visit in japan, I now have become fascinated by churches and cathedrals. One of the chapels in St marys is particularly fine.

Warwick is most well known for its castle on the banks of the Avon. The oldest parts date back to the 11th century. It is now a tourist trap, so I couldnt be bothered to pay the exorbitant entrance price.

warwick has many fine examples of 17th century architecture, including this pub.

Parts of the Lord Leycester Hospital were built in the 13th century, but most buildings are a bit older. Its not a hospital in the medical sense, but a home for retired and injured soldiers and their wives, something it is still used for today. In the garden is a vase over 2,000 years old. I would have liked to look around inside, but it was closed that day.