A new red hanya mask

In the months of December and January there is almost nothing to do in the garden, and with more than enough firewood for this winter I have had enough "free" time to finally get round to finishing some masks.

Red hanya masks exist in other parts of the country, but I have never seen one in an Iwami Kagura dance.

There was a program on NHK a few days ago that included an interview with a master maskmaker from Hamada, and onbe thing he said was that if a mask was meant to be scary, then make it scary. That's what I have tried to do here....

More komainu of Kunisaki

This wooden komainu was in the museum at Usa Jingu. It is a type of komainu that is no longer as common as the stone ones found at the entrances to shrines and temples. If a shrine has a Zuijinmon, an entrance gate with pairs of zuijin (guardian statues) there will often be a small wooden komainu with them.

The most common komainu now are the stone ones found along the entranceways. These are mostly from the Edo-period.

Here is an excellent paper on different komainu styles. The author discusses many of the different styles and their geographic ranges, as well as laments modern japans drive towards national homogenity which is seeing one, modern, national style of komnainu increasing.

For me, the diversity is what is fascinating.

All of these komainu were found on the Kunisaki Peninsular of Northern Kyushu.

The other place to see komainu is carved into the beams of shrines and temples.

Vacation 2010 Day 14: Pendennis Castle

Falmouth was the first place I lived in Cornwall, and I ended up spending more than ten years there and in the surrounding area. It had been about twenty years since I had lived there, so I was very interested to see if much had changed. The first place I headed to was Pendennis Castle.

Built in the 1540's, Pendennis Castle and its sister St Mawes Castle were built to protect the narrow entrance to Falmouth Harbour and Carrick Roads, one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Built under orders of Henry VIII in expectation of an attack by the French and Spanish, which never materialized, the castle played a part in the English Civil War and was one of the last Royalist hold-outs.

From the castle one can look down on the Falmouth Hotel, a railway hotel built after the train line came to Falmouth from Truro. I worked at the hotel as a night porter when I was a student. Spent most of my time in the hotel swimming pool and writing my thesis. My kind of job.

Looking back over Falmouth, little seemed to have changed.

The castle itself is not so big, but with several narrow staircases and narrow windows the combination of stone, light and shadow remained evocative. Disappointing was that one floor had been set up with cannons and mannequins and with fake smoke, flashing red lights, and a pre-recorded soundtrack the disneyfication of history and culture seems to be growing.

All around the headland and castle are benches to sit on and enjoy the expansive views up and down the coast and inland as far as the China Clay pits up around St. Austell. I miss benches here in Japan. One of the first things I noticed when moving here was the lack of places to sit in public. My first thought was that sitting was not good for the economy. Waste of time. Should be either working or shopping. Not sure my thought has changed after all these years.

Wakamiya Hachimangu

Known locally as Toki Shrine, the Wakamiya Hachimangu is located near Gojo a little south of Gion in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto.

This is the heart of the old pottery district, and in August the Kyoto Gojozaka Ceramic Festival is held at the shrine with stalls along the street in front.

The primary kami is Hachiman, now equated with the legendary Emperor Ojin, and also includes his mother Jingu and father Chuai. There are other secondary shrines including this one to Inari.

There is also a Touso Shrine, enshrining the famous Shikoku potter Toushiro. I think this is a twentieth Century addition.

This is the Rengeishi (Lotus stone) donated to the shrine by Ashikaga Takauji, the founder of the Ashikaga Bakufu in the 14th century.

The shrine was originally built some miles to the west in 1053 and was moved to its current location in 1605

Nagashibina Doll Museum

This is the draincover for Mochigase Town, now part of Tottori City.

It shows the Nagashibina Doll Museum which houses a collection of over 1,000 Hina dolls of the Edo period from all over Japan.

Mochigase Town is one of the few places in Japan that still practises the rituals at the heart of the Hina Matsuri.

There is a nice little garden and pond within the grounds

With the obligatory hungry koi!!!

The building itself is an unusual example of a large wooden building built in the traditional style.

Saijo Inari

The Niomon at Saijo Inari is most unusual. It is built of stone in the style of an Indian Palace.

The nio are quite remarkable, though taking photos of them is hindered by the wire grill protecting them.

Saijo Inari is often considered on of the top three Inari in Japan. It is located a little off the Kibi Bike Path, and well worth the detour.

Saijo Inari is officially a temple named Myokyo-Ji, and is sometimes known as Takamatsu Inari.

According to legend it was originally founded in the 8th Century as a Tendai temple. In the 16th Century it became a Nichiren temple, and in 1954 it became the head temple of its own separate sect known as Saijo Inarikyo.

According to the founding legend the founder of the temple, a monk known as Hoon Daishi, had a vision involving a deity riding a flying white fox, though it is quite possible that this is a Meiji-era invention created after the separation of the buddhas and kami.

Also worshipped here along with Inari is the Lotus Sutra, and behind the main hall of the temple the cliff has been sculpted supposedly into a sculpture based on the Lotus Sutra.

The tallest torii in Japan

This is not the tallest torii in Japan! It is probably the 4th tallest. It is on the road to Saijo Inari in Okayama Prefecture and is 28 meters high.

It is 3 meters higher than the torii at Yasukuni Shrine which many websites falsely claim is the highest in Japan. Apparently the Yasukuni website makes this claim, but if you believe anything that place says you are asking to be lied to.

Many websites claim that the torii leading to Heian Jingu in Kyoto is the tallest in Japan, but it is only 24 meters high.

Taller than Saijo Inari torii is the Yahiko Shrine torii in Niigata. It is 30 meters high.

Probably the second-tallest torii in Japan at 32 meters is this one at Omiwa in Nara. ( when I first researched Omiwa about 8 years ago it was the highest)

But, as far as I can ascertain the tallest torii in Japan, built in 2003, and with a height of 33 meters is at Kumano Hongu Taisha in Wakayama.

Try typing "tallest torii in Japan" into any search engine and see how long it takes you find these statistics......

Ebisu Shrine, Gion

Ebisu Shrine in Gion is just across the road from Kennin-Ji, the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto.

Both were built in 1202 and the Ebisu shrine was built to protect Kennin-Ji.

The main kami is of course Kotoshironushi, the official name of Ebisu.

There are numerous secondary kami enshrined within the grounds, including Hachiman and Sarutahiko.

Gion Ebisu is included in the "top 3 Ebisu shrines", and the major Toka Ebisu Matsuri takes place here in early January.

Around Gion

The Gion district of Kyoto is one of the most familiar places to visitors to Japan, and whiles I try to concentrate on posts that are more unfamiliar, because Yoko is from Gion we visit there fairly often to visit family, so sometimes I will post on Familiar Japan.

This little girl was being photographed by her parents last August. Probably not dressed up for Shichigosan as that is not until November.

The chances are she is a student of Nihon Buyo, traditional dance, and has just finished taking part in the annual recital.

NEC Building, Momochi

The 11 storey NEC building in the Momochi district of Fukuoka is not a particularly outstanding piece of architecture, but its use of some subtle curves and its cantilever porch gives it a little style.

Like so many other buildings in this area of reclaimed land in Fukuoka it was built in 1996.

It was designed by Nikken Sekkei, and while they are not a particularly famous architectural company, they have done a lot of interesting buildings. Clicking on their name in the tags below this post will show you some of them.