Vacation 2010 Day 15: South Devon

My vacation was drawing to a close, so on my way back up to London to catch my flight home to Japan I stopped in to visit family in south Devon. South Devon is mostly rolling hills and while there is some tourism its mostly agricultural.

My nephews and niece live in an old farmhouse not far from Salcombe and Kingsbridge just a few miles inland from the coast.

We all went for a walk down to Soar Mill Cove. One thing that is very noticeable in England is the number of people who go for walks, often with dogs, for pleasure. Walking around Japan it is rare to meet people out walking.

The weather was not great, but added a dramatic touch.

Big ol' spider

There are a lot of these spiders around the end of summer and into autumn. I cant be sure but I think its is a female Nephila clavata, a kind of Golden silk orb weaver.

The female will sometimes eat the male after copulating, so this may well be a Jorogumo, a mythical shape-shifting creature in Japanese folklore that takes on the appearance of a beautiful woman to attract men who are then tied up an eaten.

East Well Shrine

When we came out of the Nagashibina Doll Museum in Mochigase I spied a little splash of autumn colors across the valley and suspected it might be a shrine. I was right.

The name might be Higashii Shrine, or it might be Toi Shrine, so to be on the safe side I use its name translated into English, East Well Shrine.

The main kamis are Susano and Myoken Daimyojin. Daimyojin means "great Shining Deity" and is an appelation applied to many kami, eg Kasuga Daimyojin, Inari Daimyojin, etc. Myoken, like many gods and kami in Japan has a long and complex history, but is a primarily known in its esoteric buddhist form as the god of the Pole Star and Big Dipper. With the seperation of buddhas and kami in the Meiji era most places enshrining Myoken changed its name to Ame no Minakanushi, so the use of the name Myoken here may have been a return to the old name in the postwar period.

There were a couple of secondary shrines within the grounds including this one to Inari.

The priests house was empty and abandoned, and behind it a small untended garden that would have looked good in its prime.

Sanbe San

This is the draincover for the town of Oda, a fairly nondescript town close to the border between Iwami and Izumo. The mountains in the background are known as Sanbesan, and are the highest in Shimane at 1,126 m above sea level.

Oda does not have much to see for tourists, and is pretty much just the rail access point for visitors to the nearby World Heritage site of Iwami Ginzan, but I did wander around last fall hunting the fall colors.

This view of Sanbesan is from near my house, and must be about 25k distant as the crow flies. I took the photo on a winter walk up Maruyama.

On the lower slopes. Sanbesan is actually a cluster of 7 volcanoes, and the highest one is named Osanbesan. We were on our way to visit the Buried Forest Museum, actually a fascinating place where you can go below ground and see 4,000 year old trees that were buried in a major eruption.

This is on the south side, and its where I slept out before climbing to the top early the next morning. I had walked two days from my house to get here. One of these days I will write up that walk :)

Iyama Hofuku-Ji

Hofuku-Ji is a rather nice and peaceful temple to the north of Soja in Okayama, a short diversion off of the Kibi Bike Path.

Originally it was a Tendai temple but in 1232 became a Rinzai Zen Temple.

The great zen artist and gardener Sesshu was born near here and it was to Hofuku-Ji that he was sent as a child to begin his training for the priesthood. The famous story of Sesshu and the rat is set here.

The grounds and the gardens are very pleasant, and are particularly enjoyable with the fall colors.

The three storey pagoda is registered as an important cultural asset.

Yasaka Shrine

Well, this place is about as familiar as any in Japan, recognizable to anyone who has been to Kyoto, it is of course the entrance to Yasaka Shrine in Gion, home of the Gion Matsuri.

Until 1868 it was known as Gion Sha, but the name was changed when the government "seperated" the Buddhas and Kami. The original kami was Gozu Tenno, the Ox-Head Heavenly King, a god of epidmics and relief from epidemics. Originally an Indian god, he became associated with Susano.

The main kami is now Susano, but the shrine is very much a family affair with many members of his family also enshrined here. There is Kushinada, his wife, or rather one of his wives, then there is Yashimajinumi, a son born to Susano and Kushinada. he is Okuninushi's great, great, great grandfather. Next comes Isotake and his sisters Oyatsuhime and Tsumatsuhime. All three have connections with tree planting and wood production, and all three came over to Japan with Susano from Korea, so must have been born to another "wife".

Next a couple of Susano's offspring connected to food, especially grains, Otoshi and Ukanomitama. Ukanomitama is well known as Inari, and Otoshi was born to Susano and Oyamatsumi's daughter. There are many Otoshi shrines around, and interestingly he had many, many children who were worshipped by "immigrant" clans.

Finally there is Suserihime ( or Suseribime), a daughter of Susano who became one of Okuninushi's wives. Not bad considering there was 4 or 5 generations between them.

The meaning of all these kami lineages, in my opinion, is to show intermarriage and alliances between powerful clans. What becomes clear is that the lineages tracing back to Susano dominated early Japan, and the Yamato story of Amaterasu and Susano being siblings is the attempt by the later arrivals, the Yamato, to co-opt the ruling clans into their own history and therefore their divine claim to rule.

Africa! The sand sculptures in Tottori

Just behind the sand dunes in Tottori is the Sand Art Museum that opened in 2006 and has just finished its fourth exhibition on the theme of Africa.

Artists from Europe, North America, and Australia created large scale sculptures and tableau. The exhibition ran from April 2010 until January 2011, so I suspect the are now working on the fifth exhibition.

Most of the sculptures are in the open air, so I suspect there must be some kind of resin or epoxy mixed with the sand to allow them to survive in the weather.

One huge tableau though was exhibited under several canvas structures.

 

Each exhibition has gotten larger and involved more invited artists, so it will be interesting to see what the next theme will be.

Fukuoka Marine Messe

The Marine Messe is located on the waterfront in Hakata, close to the Hakata Port Tower.

It is an exhibition space, conference center, and a sports arena.

It was opened in 1995 and was designed by Nihon Sekkei.

Kami statues of Kunisaki

Many of the exterior trappings of the religion now called Shinto can be traced to the influence of Buddhism, but one aspect that never really took a hold is statuary of kami. A few do exist though, but not many, so here are some I found on the Kunisaki peninsular in north Kyushu.

Probably the most common kami statue is Ebisu, and that probably comes from Ebisu being primarily a "folk" kami. Like the one pictured above he is often holding a large Sea Bream.

This very beautiful statue was at the entrance to an Awashima shrine and shows the kami Sukuna Hikona who is now considered to be the kami of Awashima shrines. He is often connected with Okuninushi and the two of them are said to have been responsible for the spread of agriculture and also medicines. The ear of grain looks like millet and may be connected to a story wherein he climbed a stalk of millet and sprang off to Tokoyo no Kuni, the eternal land.

He was a very, very small kami, so tiny in fact that he slipped through the fingers of his father. He arrives in Izumo in a tiny boat made from a seed pod and wearing a single bird skin as a coat.

I have no idea who this is. It was among the carving around a shrine, and often these carving show buddhist stories, but this guy has a long beard and deosnt appear to be wearing buddhist clothes so he may well be a kami. If anyone has any ideas who he is or why he is chasing a fox, please let me know.

At Tenmangu shrines, dedicated to Tenjin, the kami name of Sugawara Michizane, statues of bulls are usually found. According to the legend the bull pulling his funeral cart just stopped and refused to move any further, so that is where he was buried.

More round windows

Photos of round windows have always been popular when I have posted them before, so here are some recent ones from my collection. 3 earlier posts can be found here

This first one is from a tea room at Nagaoka Tenmangu Shrine.

This one is from a temple in Takahashi, Okayama Prefecture.

From a restaurant on the approach to Hofukuji Temple in Soja, Okayama Prefecture.

A shop in Hirado Town on Hirado Island in Nagasaki Prefecture.

An abandoned building in Oda City, Iwami.