Jizo at Togaku-ji

I was up in Matsue last week and took the opportunity to walk around the area north of the castle and visit some shrines and temples.

One temple I visited I had not been to before, Togaku-ji, had a big collection of Jizo.

The main hall oif the temple was being renovated, hence covered in green tarp, so I couldnt see what art may have been inside.

As well as all the jizo there was also a hall containing 500 statues of the Rakan, which I believe were disciples of the Buddha. Photos of those will come later.

The raked gravel along the entranceway hinted that this was a zen temple, which it turns out to be. It belongs to the Soto sect.

I could find no stories or historical personages connected to the temple, so it won't be found in any tourist guides, but like many shrines and temples off the beaten track it was filled with fascinating art.

Himosashi Catholic Church

Himosashi Catholic Church is located in the small village of Himosashi on Hirado Island in Nagasaki Prefecture.

The island was home to many "hidden christians" who secretly practised a type of Christianity after it was made illegal 1n 1612.

In 1865 some of these hidden christians came out and visited the Oura Church established by the French in Nagasaki. Many of these christians were rounded up and persecuted and tortured.

Finally the persecution ended in 1888 with the Meiji Constitution that guaranteed religious freedom and chuches began to be built.

Himosashi Church was not built until 1929, but replaced a nearby chapel built much earlier by a missionary.

It was designed by Yosuke Tetsukawa, a Japanese architect who designed many churches in Kyushu.

It is a concrete structure in the Romanesque style and has a lot of stained glass.

It is open every day and there is no entry fee.

Vacation 2010 Day 16: Dartmoor

For the last proper day of my vacation one of my nephews was kind enough to drive me to Exeter via Dartmoor. The lower slopes of Dartmoor are steep, wooded valleys with fast flowing streams.

We stopped in one of the many picturesque villages and found a tea room

and then explored the local churchyard.

Up on top of the moor we stopped by one of the many exposed Tors..... not sure which one it was

I like Dartmoor.... lots of open space and mostly treeless so one can see for miles. It is Britain though so its very wet.

This is probably a neolithic structure of some kind..... lots of stone circles, ley lines etc up on the moors.....

Miyoshi

This is the draincover for Miyoshi, a town in the mountains of Hiroshima, and upstream from us on the Gonokawa river. It depicts cormorants as ukai, the traditional method of river fishing using trained cormorants is still practised here in the summer.

I don't have any photos of the ukai, but I hope to see it later this year. I do have a few photos of wild cormorants though, this one was along the moat of Okayama castle.

In front of a house a few meters away from where I took the draincover photo I did find this rice-straw model of what I believe is a cormorant sitting on top of a turtle.

Miyoshi is not particularly famous, but like a lot of places off the beaten track it is possible to spend a day or two there and find enough to see. Miyoshi dolls are still produced here, made of clay, and there is a nice free museum with a big display and its alos possible to visit workshops where they are made.

Miyoshi also has a connection with the Chushingura, the story of the 47 Ronin. The wife of the Lord who was avenged by the ronin came from Miyoshi and after they committed ritual suicide she spent the rest of her life caring for the families of the 47. At her burial place in Miyoshi are statues of her and the 47 ronin as well as a cherry tree reputedly planted by the leader of the 47.

Previous posts on Miyoshi, mostly about the shrines, can be found here

Ikura-do

The entrance to Ikura cave (Ikura-do) is at the base of a 240 meter high cliff along the Takahashi River.

The cave is 1.2 kilometers long and is mostly narrow.

Its best to wear waterproofs as the roof drips.

The cave climbs mostly, and while there are no caverns as such there are several places where one can peer up to great heights.

If you suffer from claustrophobia you probably wouldnt want to go in.

The cave exits high in the cliff face at the Arisanomiya Shrine from where there are stairs leading back down to the river and waterfall.

The cave, gorge, and waterfall are located in northern Okayama Prefecture, not far from Niimi

Not too far away is Maki Cave, only 400 meters long, but more open and spacious.

Funadama Inari Shrine

The shrine is located in a residential area not far north of the main train station in Matsue, and while it is an Inari shrine there are none of the usual trappings associated with Inari.

In the corner was a Jizo, and I always somehow find it reassuring that the governments attempt to seperate the Buddhas and the Kami was never completely successful.

The main kami is of course Ukanomitama, and the secondary kami are Sokotsutsuno o no mikoto, Nakatsutsuno o no mikoto, and Uwatsutsuno o no mikoto, the triad of kami known mostly as the Sumiyoshi Kami. With strong connections to water and sea travel, the Sumiyoshi Kami are now mostly associated with the Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka, though originally they were from north Kyushu and have strong connections with Korea.

By the side of the shrine was a nicely shaped phallic stone. There was no signboard for it, but as Sarutahiko is listed as enshrined at the shrine the stone may well be a Dosojin.

There were a couple of smaller secondary shrines within the grounds that most likely were gathered here from the surrounding area. Enshrining Okuninushi, Susano, and Amaterasu, there is also a Haniyama Hime listed who is an earth/clay kami created from the feces of Izanami. The final kami listed here is Kan Yamato Iware Hiko no Mikoto which is the long name for Jinmu, the mythical first emperor of Japn

Hotel Il Palazzio

I really, really like this building, especially the windowless facade.

From the side you can see that it is just a regular brick hotel building.

It was built in 1987 and designed by Italian architect Aldo Rossi.

The facade is marble and steel and I believe the steel is enamelled. I like how it almost perfectly matches the color of the brick.

A one hour walk in the morning

Yoko dropped me off about one kilometer upstream at my favorite overlook.

I hung around for about 20 minutes hoping for the sun to break through but I was getting cold so started to head back home.

Yoko gets to drive up the river every morning and often remarks when she gets home how beautiful it was with the mist and sun and snow.

I stopped in at the Zen temple. There is a nice garden behind it and I hoped to get some shots of it in the snow, but the priest wasn't home, so no luck.

Headed down to the riverbank to take photos of the plum blossoms and scared off a heron

And a flock of ducks. I think these might be a species of Eider. I suspect they will be heading north soon.

We have a lovely new set of tetrapods.......

and back to the village about an hour after I left....

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...............