Vacation 2010 Day 8: Bamberg

Bamberg is a wonderful example of a Bavarian medieval town that escaped the bombings of the war, so its no surprise that the whole of the old town is a World Heritage Site.

I was fortunate to be able to be shown around by friends who live in Bamberg.

There were of course lots of churches, cathedrals, etc, but as usual my eye was drawn to details...

I don't think I have seen anything like the murals on the outside of the Old Town Hall.

Built in the middle of the river, the 14th Century Old Town Hall is reached via two bridges. This is probably the most well known view of Bamberg.

Like I mentioned, my eye was drawn more to details...... after 3 days of massive churches and cathedrals.....

Soja Local History Museum

Soja is a small town at the western edge of the Kibi Plain in southern Okayama. The local history museum is housed in the only remaining Meiji Period western-style building left in the town.

Like virtually every other local history museum in Japan they have an exhibit of clothing made from rice straw.

The bulk of the exhibits however are rather unusual and focus on the local industry, travelling salesmen of medicines.......

Anyone interested in Meiji or Taisho era graphic design would be pleased. These were door-to-door salesmen selling what we might call first aid kits.

They also had a few nice wooden masks.

Before we left the curator gave us some free gifts...... paper balloons "kami fusen". These were the free gifts that the salesmen carried to give away to kids.

He also gave us a detailed map of the area around the Kibi Bike Path that was in English and far more detailed than the map given us by the bike rental shop.

Fudo Myo & Nio: Kiyomizudera

A couple of weeks ago we drove up to visit some old, important, temples. Each of them had a pair of Nio guardian statues, and each temple had strong histories of Shugendo, so each of them had statues of Fudo Myo-O. The first we visited was Kiyomizudera in Yasugi, not to be confused with the more famous temple of the same name in Kyoto.

 

Kiyomizudera in Shimane was founded in 587 more than 200 years before the one in Kyoto. I find myself becoming more and more fascinated by Fudo Myo statues..... partly because of their variety, and partly through their locations connected to ascetic practices of the Shugenja

 

The Niomon (Guardian Gate) was in an unusual location above and behind the main temple, not where one would expect it at the entrance to the temple. I thought it was maybe placed to the NE of the temple to offer protection from that most inauspicious direction, but checking the map said no. Maybe the original entrance was facing in a different direction.

 

Sculpturally they were not particularly sophisticated Nio statues, but the faded paintwork suggests they would have originally been quite impressive.

 

As is often the case, the Niomon was decorated with a huge pair of Waraji (straw sandals)

A Walk to Suga. Part 3

This is the third and final part of a walk I took last May up in Izumo. The previous 2 posts can be found in the links below this post.

Walking along any road, in a city, in the country, or up in the mountains, you can't go far without passing a buddhist altar by the side of the road. Sometimes there is a single statue, usually Jizo, and sometimes several. Even in the most remote locations one can see signs of recent offerings.

May is a wonderful time to go walking in the countryside. The paddies have been filled and the reflections make for wonderful mirrored scenes.

This day there were a lot of snakes on the roads..... the filled paddies bring out the frogs, and the frogs bring out the snakes.

I passed several small shrines to Kojin, the land-god represented as a snake.

Also passed a nice shrine with many secondary shrines in the grounds. Unusually all the secondary shrines had signboards

Finally I arrived in the village of Suga, and here was my destination, Suga Shrine.

It was here, according to legend, that Susano and Kushinada settled after the defeat of Yamata no Orochi. It was here also that Susano composed what is considered the first Tanka.....

Many clouds rise up
clouds appear to form a fence
holding this couple;
They form layers of a fence
Oh, the layers of that fence.

Because of its out of the way location Suga Shrine does not receive so many visitors, but enough that a Miko is on duty most days.

Like many shrines there are a pair of giant cedar trees straddling the entrance.

I carry on down the road towards Daito. I have a sleeping bag with me, but I see that there will be a bus in a few minutes that will take me back into Matsue in time to catch a train home, so I decide to leave Daito to another day.

I walked about 25k in 7 hours and visited 12 shrines......... another good day...

Otoshi Shrine, Inome

The Otoshi Shrine in Inome, a fishing village on the coast directly north of Izumo Taisha, is unusual in that it has a double honden. Double hondens will often enshrine a male-female pair of kami, but in this case both hondens enshrine the same kami, Otoshi. One is called upper shrine and the other lower shrine, so I am guessing that originally they were seperate shrines.

Otoshi is a son of Susano and is associated, like his brother Ukanomitama, with grains.

Like his father, and many of the older kami, Otoshi had a multitude of "wives" and produced an inordinate number of offspring. Many of Otoshi's offspring are kami that have strong associations with immigrant groups.

Kamakiri. Japanese praying mantis

The most common name in Japan for the praying mantis is "kamakiri" which means "sickle cut" referring to its front legs that look to the Japanese more like someone cutting weeds than praying. Like the names for many animals in Japan, there is a multitude of regional variations.

 

I often find them inside the house, and we have lots in the garden where they help keep down the bugs as they are carnivorous. The spikes on their front legs are used for catching prey.

Unusual among insects, the kamakiri can rotate its head 180 degrees....

If you liked this then have a look at my post on Mukade, the Giant Japanese Centipede

Fukuoka City Museum (inside)

The Fukuoka City Museum has a large hall with galleries running off either side.

Designed by the AXS Satow company it is located in the Momochihama District.

It is open from 9:30 to 5:30 and entrance for adults is a mere 200yen.

Byakko matsuri

The Byakko Matsuri takes place during the first weekend of April in Yuda Onsen, Yamaguchi.

Children dressed as white foxes parade through the streets carrying torches.

The matsuri is in honour of the sacred white fox that discovered the local hot spring.

Tarumi Shrine

Tarumi Shrine is a fairly standard village shrine located in Kawashima, the fishing village at the base of the mountains below Gakuen-Ji.

I once spent a night onboard a small yacht in Hawashima harbor during a typhoon.... but thats another story.

Izumo-style komainu are recognizable by their stance,... with their butts in the air.

The main kami of the shrine is Tagitsuhime, one of the 3 Munakata Sisters. Daughters of Susano, they were protective deities of the sea journey between North Kyushu and the Korean Peninsular, and so have associations with protection at sea.

I have visited the head shrine of Tagitsuhime, on the small island of Oshima just off the coast at Munakata.

her name seems to be derived from "rough water"

There is a secondary shrine to Inari, and a small Aragami shrine.

More Gakuen-Ji

Gakuen-Ji is among the oldest buddhist temples in Japan.

According to the story it is connected to Empress Suiko who ruled from 592CE to 628CE.

Another emperor linked to Gakuen-Ji is Emperor G0-Daigo who stayed at the temple after his escape from exile on the Oki Islands.

Probably the most famous person connected to the temple is the legendary warrior-monk Benkei. Every year at the end of October the temple holds a Benkei Matsuri complete with many people dressed as Benkei to commemorate his carrying a bell 100 kilometers from Mt Daisen to Gakuen-Ji. Until recently the festival included a walk from Daisen, but that has been discontinued.

While the legend of the temples founding is linked to a crocodile, some historians suggest that this is to do with the legendary figure Wani (crocodile) who brought chinese writing and Confuscianism from the mainland.

The crocodile of Gakuen-Ji as well as the crocodiles in the Inaba Rabbit story suggest connections between this part of Japan and the introduction of foreign knowlege.

There is no public transport to Gakuen-Ji, so to get there involves an expensive taxi ride from Hirata, or a walk over the mountains from Izumo Taisha if you dont have your own transport.

Ive always said this was my favorite temple, but I just got back from visiting a couple of mountain temples in Izumo, Mine-Ji and Kezo-Ji, both very, very, old, both remote, and both previously sites of Shugendo training, so........