Children's Inari Shrine

The 4th shrine I visited on my walk around Matsue was yet another Inari Shrine, knowns as the Children's Inari. It is well known mainly due to the writings of Lafcadio Hearn.

It was built by the Lord of Matsue as a subsidiary shrine of the Jozan Inari within the nearby castle grounds and he named it Komori Shrine which means child guardian.

In Hearns day mothers would come here to ask for help with their children that refused to take baths or have their heads shaved.

Nowadays those two problems are rare but parents leave prayers for any kind of problems they are having with their children, most often illness.

There is a smaller Inari shrine just behind the main building. There are many Inaris. According to the signboard at the shrine the main kami is listed as Uganomitama, the female as opposed to the more usual male Ukanomiama.

Hoki Church

Hoki Church is situated on the hillside of Hoki village with great views looking out over the coastline and islands.

It is interesting architecturally as the foundations are stone, the facade is made of red brick, the walls are wooden, and the roof is tile.

Like all the churches on Hirado, entrance is free.

It is the oldest church on Hirado Island, being built in 1898 to replace an earlier temporary church.

Vacation 2010 Day 16: Exeter

My final stop on my 2010 vacation was in Exeter, a place I lived for a couple of years, but havent been back to since.

The town was the westernmost outpost of the Romans in the SW, and parts of the Roman wall still remain. The Cathedral was built in the early 12th Century.

Actually this was the first time I had been in the cathedral.

Traces of medieval buildings still abound, and the town is not such a bad place to live.

After the Cathedral I wandered down to the River Exe and the canal basin next to it before walking to the train station.

So thats it for my 2010 vacation. Right now I am on my 2011 vacation so will start posting on that in a few weeks when I return from the deserts of Morocco.

Kakaji Town

Kakaji town is a collection of fishing villages on the north coast of the Kunisaki Peninsular in northern Kyushu.

We stayed in one of the villages, Otakajima, when we visited Kunisaki last year.

The ryokan was excellent quality, but cheap, probably because it is off the main road. Actually the village was in a hidden cove that could only be reached by a narrow mountain road.

The little island, Horseback Island, had a small shrine that could be reached at low tide.

The village ( actually small hamlet would be more accurate) was of course well protected by concrete.

This is not the ryokan!

Nagi MOCA

Nagi is a small town in northern Okayama with a population of around 6,000 people, yet is home to a large Museum of Contemporary Art.

When we visited it there was an exhibition that featured a variety of artists, and the piece I enjoyed the most was by an Okayama artist, Gen Okabe, featuring a large "tunnel" constructed out of tree limbs. I saw a piece of his many years ago up in Kansai.

The occasional exhibits of modern art are not what this museum is primarily about. The museum is a collaboration between renowned architect Arata Isozaki and 4 artists who were asked to create artworks that would not be able to be displayed in a normal museum or gallery.

Opened in 1994, the three artwork/architecture pieces are titled Sun, Moon, and Earth, and are interesting enough that I will do a post on each one later.

Spiral Staircases

There is nothing particularly Japanese about spiral staircases, but they do make nice photos!!

The first 2 photos are from the Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum near Kochi, Shikoku.

This one is in the Warabekan, a museum of toys and childrens songs in Tottori City.

These last 2 photos are from the observation tower on top of Mt. Senkoji in Onomichi.

Otobe Inari Shrine

The tjhird shrine I visited on my little walk around the neighborhoods east and north of Matsue castle was yet another Inari Shrine. It was hard to find, perched on a piece of high ground surrounded by houses, I eventually found a narrow gap between 2 houses with the steps leading up to it.

It looked as if there was not much activity here nowadays, and if it wasnt for the shimenawa it might be mistaken for a shed. The badly damaged statue to the right of the komnainu is all thats left of the fox statues.

The shrine was built by the Otobe family who were high-ranking retainers of the Lord of Matsue, and this location was chosen to protect the castle from the NE, in the same way that Enryaku-Ji on Mt Hie was chosen to protect Kyoto from that inauspicious direction.

Canal City (outside)

I post a lot on shrines, temples, and churches, but far more important to many contemporary Japanese are Cathedrals to Consumption!

Canal City in Hakata is one.

There are hotels, entertainment complex, restaurants, and more than 200 retail establishments.

But not one single place to buy a battery for my camera!!

It was designed by the Jerde Partnership who focus on creating "spaces" for people to meet rather than buildings per se. They are currently redesigning my hometowns city centre (Coventry)

Drawing inspiration from the canyonlands of the American Southwest, that is more apparent from the photos shot inside which I will post later.

The view from Asari Fujisan

Sailing down the coast of Shimane approaching Gotsu one can see what looks like a miniature version of Mount Fuji. The proper name of this mountain ( hill in English) is Mount Murokami, but everyone kniws it as Asari Fujisan. On top is a small temple that can only be reached by foot, so recently I went for a walk to revisit it.

On the lower slopes passed this abandoned roadside shrine to Ebisu. Its been a long time since anyone left any offerings here.

Further up are several Jizo statues on the pilgrim path to the mountaintop. According to the story on the signboard, a long time a guy a boat was heading down the coast from Izumo to Hashi and stopped in near here. On board was a young girl who an old childless couple convinced to stay with them. At some later point the girl left and started to walk back towrds Izumo and the old couple chased after her. At this spot the old woman died. The old man died on top of the mountain at the site of the temple.

Asari Fujisan is only 246 meters high, but has 360 degree views around and along the coast. The coastal villages seen here are Gotsu, Kakushi, Tsunozu, Ninomiya, and Waki.

Right below is the village of Watazu.

The Gonokawa River close to where it meets the sea.

The village of Asari with its wind generators, looking up the coast towards Izumo.

Jozan Inari Shrine

Matsue has a lot of Inari shrines. This one is in the grounds of the Fumon-in temple about 500 meters from the castle in Matsue. Though still in the grounds of the temple it was officially "separated" from the temple with the shinbutsu bunri of Meiji.

It has the same name as the famous Jozan Inari in the castle grounds, and I would guess was set up as a subsidiary shrine of the former. Incidentally, Jozan can also be read as Shiroyama, and that is the name Lafcadio Hearn used.

Inari is mostly known as a kami of rice, but according to Hearn in the Matsue area it has stronger links to the cult of Fox witchcraft, and the Lords of Matsue were supposed to be masters of the cult, using foxes to send messages to Edo in hours rather than weeks.

The previous shrine I visited this day was also an Inari shrine, as was the next.

I could actually find very little information about this one, except Hearn has a ghost story from this temple.