Imbara Obon Matsuri

For Obon we went upriver a little ways to Imbara, part of Kawamoto Town, to check out their matsuri. There was kagura performed by the local kagura group who play in Hiroshima style. First dance was Jimmu, a 4 person dance depicting the final subjugation of the Yamato area by Jimmus invading force.

Next up was a performance of Zeni Daiko, a "dance" using 2 tubes decorated with tassles. Traditionally the tubes are bamboo and strung inside them are old coins, but nowadays plastic is not unusual. The tubes are waved, shaken, tapped on the floor, spun, and flipped from hand to hand in time to the music and provide a percussive accompaniment. The dance seems to be very popular in local villages.

Then some traditional dancing.....

The second kagura dance was one I had not seen before. Yamanba, based on a Noh story is popular with Hiroshima style groups, and I was pleased to see a mask that was new to me.

The "mountain hag" of the story transforms into her evil form...

... and a final battle puts paid to her and her accomplice....

Then there was the Bon Odori itself, and unusually it only lasted about 40 minutes..... other Bon Odoris Ive been to have gone on for hours. Also unusually a few of the villagers wore costumes for the dance....

The finale was a firework display..... not big by city standards, but nice that there were no barriers and huge crowds....

Soreisha Tsuwano

A soreisha is usually a small shrine dedicated to the ancestral spirits of parishioners who have received a shinto rather than buddhist funeral.

Until 1868 shinto funerals were extremely rare, and only really came into existence with the separation of the buddhas and kamis in 1868.

Soresha were usually small and located in the grounds of the local shrines, and sometimes in private homes.

The daimyo of Tsuwano, however, decreed in 1868 that all of his subjects would receive shinto funerals.

From 1886 to 1945, soreisha became illegal within the grounds of regular shrines as they were deemed private and shrines were supposed to be public. Possibly this one in Tsuwano did not as everybody had to have shinto funerals, therefore the soresiha was public.

I have heard that to this day a large percentage of people in Tsuwano still have shinto funberals.

The daimyo of Tsuwano, and several other scholars of National Learning from Tsuwano were instrumental in creating the national policy of shinbutsu bunri as well as the persecution of buddhism. Anti-christian thought was also strong which is probably why "hidden christians" were sent here for "re-education"

Kuromatsu Matsuri

A couple of weekends ago was one of my favorite matsuris at Kuromatsu, a fishing village on the coast not far from here.

I usually experience the matsuri from one of the flotilla of boats that take part, so this year for a change I thought I would see it from the land.

The matsuri takes place on the beach in front of the local shrine....

Around 5 in the evening the mikoshi is brought down to the beach......

It needs to be taken out to a small uninhabited island offshore where the honden of the shrine is located so that the goddess can be transferred into it and brought back to the beach for the matsuri.....

The boat used to carry the mikoshi, priests, and musicians, is a purpose built boat just used for this annual trip.

Once all are onboard the boat joins a flotilla of fishing boats that will escort it out to the island and back....

but first all the boats do three circuits of a small outcropping of rocks a few hundred meters offshore on which have been placed 2 small pine trees with a bamboo crosspiece to for a natural torii...

Then everyone heads out to the island to pick up the goddess....

The second part of this story can be found here...

Old Kawara

The next chapter in my photo galleries of kawara, Japanese rooftiles.

All of these exhibit the aesthetics of old kawara...

To see more click on the label below this post.....

Tanegaike Dragon

Tanegaike Dragon

The Bentengu is a shrine to Benzaiten on the shore of Tanegaike, a small lake close to the sand dunes in Tottori. Though only a quarter of a square kilometer in area, the lake is actually the deepest in the Chugoku region, with a depth of 17 meters. Deep in the lake lives a serpent.

Once upon a time a local rich man employed many local villagers as servants. One young woman, who of course was beautiful, by the name of Otane was employed as a maid. Otane was known as a particularly kind and generous young lady and every day she would give people persimmons.

One young man was curious about where she was getting the persimmons from so he secretly followed her. She went down to the shore of the lake and transformed into a serpent and then swam out to a small island in the middle of the lake and picked persimmons from a tree there.

Because she saw the young man watching her she was unable to turn back into her human form and so stayed as a serpent living in the lake.

An old lady built a small shrine to honor Otane, and this grew into the Benzaiten shrine. Benzaiten, originally the Hindu goddess Saraswati, has strong associations with water and therefore also serpents. She is one of the seven lucky gods of japan and has both "shinto" and Buddhist manifestations.

Washibara Hachimangu

Washibara Hachimangu is a couple of kilometers outside of the town center of Tsuwano, so doesnt get as many visitors, which is a shame as its quite a beautiful shrine, especially in the cherry blossom season.

The thatched gate is very unusual.

The shrine was founded in the 13th century when Tsuwano castle was first built.

The kami, Hachiman, is the god of war and the protective deity of the samurai.

The shrine does get hundreds of visitors in early April when Yabusame, horseback archery, is performed. In the grounds of the shrine are the only remaining yabusame grounds from the kamakura period.

Tsubame Japanese Swallows

The local railways station, (5 trains a day in each direction) is a small wooden structure that is home to a colony of swallows.

From late spring its enjoyable to stand and wait for a train while watching the swallows acrobatically swooping around catching bugs to feed to their young safely ensconced in the numerous nests in the waiting room and under the platform roof.

They may be barn Swallows, Im not sure, but I believe they are not migratory.

I quite like the impresionistic effect that is created by photographing them at a slower shutter speed.

Tengu Hornbeam

This is the draincover for the town of Oasa in the mountains of northern Hiroshima. Its where we usually get on and off the expressway when driving long distances. I havent actually looked around or explored Oasa.

The tree is a Tengu Shide. The english name for shide is Hornbeam, and I must admit I have never heard of them. there is a good article on them here.

If you look on the right of the draincover you can see a tengu. Apparently the tengu shide is a mutation and the only place in the world it grows is around Oasa. According to the local story, if you try climbing one of these trees a tengu will appear and throw you off.

Lots of tengu blogs here

Grin Grin Park

Sometimes written Gurin Gurin, Grin Grin Park opened in 2005 on Island City, the artificial island in Hakata bay.

A series of connected forms, organically shaped, seem to emerge from the ground.

The structures are concrete and steel covered in glass and in places vegetation.

The spaces inside and under the structures contain plants of the area.

Grin Grin was designed by Toyo Ito who is often referred to as a visionary architect. Much is made of Grin Grin's supposed "eco" qualities, but as it is on an artificial island whose construction destroyed bio-diverse wetlands, I find it hard to see.

walkways snake up and over the structures.

entrance into the greenhouses is only 100 yen.

It was a few years ago when I visited, and maybe the growth of the vegetation has improved its appearance....

Vacation 2011 Day 5 Marrakesh

Up with the dawn on the roof of Hotel Ali to watch Marrakesh wake up. The restaurant with arched windows in the left of the photo was blown up by a bomb a week after we left Marrakesh.

Headed off to explore. In the old town you cannot go far without seeing storks and their nests on the high points of the city wall. Must be mating season.

And then to the ruins of the El Badi Palace. Built in the sixteenth Century it was reportedly magnificent with masses of marble and gold. Most of the palace was "recycled" by a later ruler to build his palace in Meknes.

Then we headed off to find the Saadian Tombs.... down the maze of alleys that is Marrakesh

The alleys got narrower....

Marrakesh grows out of the desert, and the color of the desert permeates everything.

The Saadian Tombs were built in the seventeenth century to entomb members of the Saadi family. The entrances to the tombs were sealed off and not discovered until 1917. Thanks to the remarkable decoration, in cedar, stucco, and marble, the tombs are a major attraction for tourists....