Plum blossom viewing

Woke up to a few centimeters of of snow this morning so took the opportunity to go for a short one hour walk......

Tomorrow I will post more of the walk, but for today here are the plum blossoms.

I prefer the plum blossoms to the cherry blossoms..... as do the Chinese apparently.

The harbinger of spring...............

Zuijin of Kunisaki

Zuijin is the common name given to pairs of statues found guarding some shinto shrines, usually in their own gateways called zuijinmon. Zuijin was the term given to Imperial guards.

They are a development from the buddhist Nio guardians found at many temples.

These first two are at Usa Hachimangu and are grand and large as befitting such a major shrine.

Another name for them is Kado mori no kami, and they are most often seen dressed in Heian Period court dress and carrying bows and arrows. They are often associated with Saidaijin and Udaijin, Minister of the Left and Minister of the Right who were the highest ranking ministers in Nara and Heian government below the Chancellor.

Almost all the zuijin I found at shrines on the Kunisaki Peninsular were carved in stone, and it is the only place I have seen them not made of wood, except for one set I saw made of ceramic in Iwami.

Stone plays a significant part in the religious traditions of Kunisaki, with an inordinate number of stone states, cliff carvings etc.

These last pair probably had wooden bows and arrows at some point.

St Francis Xavier Memorial Church, Hirado

The St. Francis Xavier Memorial Church sits on a hill overlooking the town and harbor of Hirado on Hirado Island in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Constructed originally in 1913 it was reconstructed on its present site in 1931.

Originally called simply Hirado Catholic Church it was renamed in 1971

It's open from 6 till 6 and there is no entry fee

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.