Benkei mask

I have finally got round to finishing some new masks. This one is of Benkei, the archetypal sohei (warrior monk) and famed sidekick of Yoshitsune. The dance he appears in is Tsuzuki Dannoura, which is based on a story in the Heike Monogatari. Popular in kabuki, it is an uncommon dance in the Iwami kagura repertoire, and it has been quite a few years since I have seen it performed.

Benkei is always depicted wearing a cowl and this signifies his status as a sohei.

More posts on Benkei can be found here

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More of my masks can be found here.

Kanzui matsuri 3

The third dance at Kanzui's annual all-night matsuri was the first theatrical piece of the evening, Yumi Hachiman. The dance is very common and most matsuris will perform it. the first part of the dance sees Hachiman introduce himself and strut his stuff....

Hachiman, also read as Yahata, was originally a kami from northern Kyushu but grew in influence and became associated with the legendary Emperor Ojin. Eventually adopted as the tutelary deity of samurai he is known as the god of war. Hachiman shrines are now very common, and by one method of calulating are the most common shrines in Japan.

The second part of the dance sees the demon make his entrance, strut his stuff, and then hachiman and he begin their combat.

There are two versions of the demons identity, the first simply has him as a demon from a foreign country plaguing the local villagers in north Kyushu. The second has him as a demon from the lower levels of Buddhist hell. As much of the buddhist content was purged from Iwami Kagura in the late 19th century, It would suggest that tghis version is older.

Not surprisingly, the demon is defeated by Hachiman using a bow and arrows, weapons especially associated with Ojin.

The young junior-highschool boy dancing hachiman did a good job. In larger kagura groups hachiman has an aide.

Art of Manidera

I have often heard it said that if you've been to one temple, you've been to them all, but as time goes on I have found quite the opposite to be true, every temple (and indeed shrine) is quite unique.

 

One of the intriguing aspects of temples for me is the art. The statues, carvings, paintings, and sometimes even masks.

 

japanese buddhism includes a massive array of a sometimes bewildering number of buddhas, deities, and other figures. Sometimes a single piece of art can be quite exquisite, but for me it is more interesting searching for and finding original expressions of the same figure or buddha,

 

here are just a few of the artpieces at Manidera, a mountain temple near Tottori City.

 

Two previous posts on Manidera can be found here

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On the henro trail

Sorry for the scarcity of posts recently. have been down in Shikoku on the henro trail.

Normal service will resume shortly

Oasahiko Shrine

A more than 15 meters tall torii marks the beginning of the 800 meter long approach road to Oasahiko Shrine. The road itself is lined with dozens of stone lanterns.

 

The exact date of the shrines founding is unkown, but it is listed in the Engishiki of the early tenth century, and the shrine grew in importance during the next millenium.

In the middle of the main shrines compound is a huge Camphor tree believed to be over 1,000 years old.

 

The main kami enshrined here are Oasahiko no Okami and Sarutahiko. Oasahiko is the enshrined name of Ame no Tomi, an ancestor of the Imbe clan who was sent by the mythical Emperor Jimmu to find land suitable for hemp cultivation.

Hemp was a very important plant in Japan until Shogun Macarthur outlawed it during the occupation.

Hemp is not mentioned at all at the shrine, and in fact the importance of hemp in Japan has been almost completely removed from history.

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Cosplay

Well, this is something you probably thought you would never see on this blog, and it is something that surprises me too. Cosplay!

Last week I went up to Enchoen, a huge Chinese garden in Tottori, and when I walked in I was surprised to see lots of kids dressed up in cosplay. Apparently I had stumbled in to the 11th Annual Pan-Asian Cosplay Competition.

There were kids from China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, and of course Japan. They all had tons of high-end camera equipment and spent their time posing and shooting....

I dont read manga nor watch anime, so I have absolutely no idea who any of these characters are...

Typical Japanese Landscape 30

Probably my favorite landscape views of Japan are from on high looking down on mist filled valleys.

All these shots are from dawn a couple of weeks ago up on Mt Hiba and Mt Eboshi, at around 1200 meters in the Chugoku Mountains stradding the border of Hiroshima and Shimane.

Someone wrote me and suggested I give more detailed info on the locations of my posts, so I have started to add google maps at the bottom of the posts. Is this helpful?

In actual fact, as is the case with much of life, the best Japan has to offer is not easily accessible.

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Onbashi. The biggest natural bridge in Japan

Tojo Town is a small town in the mountains of NE Hiroshima Prefecture. Its draincover depicts maple leaves and the Taishaku River flowing through Onbashi, the biggest natural bridge in japan.

Onbashi is 90 meters wide, stands 40 meters high, and is 18 meters thick. It is composed mostly of limestone as it is in a karst.

It is believed to be the third biggest natural bridge in the world, though I suspect there are different ways of measuring bigness.

Onbashi means "male bridge", and its female counterpart, Menbashi is further downstream though it is now under the surface of Shinryu Lake, a reservoir created when the gorge was dammed in 1924

Being a karst, there are other natural bridges and a multitude of caves in the area.

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Kamo Culture Hall

This is one of the more bizarre buildings I have come across in rural japan, its the Kamo Culture Hall in the small town of Kamo, now part of Unnan Town up in Izumo.

Kamo has a population of about 6,000, and yet has this huge concert hall and conference center. many smaller towns and villages in Shimane have such facilities. Maybe we in Shimane are an especially cultured people, or maybe before the bubble burst japan poured insane amounts of money into useless construction.

There is an element of fantasy in the design, and it also seems to be a mishmash of influences. I must admit that on first viewing from a distance I though it might have been a nuclear power station or some sort of industrial complex.

It was built in 1994 and the architect is Toyokazu Watanabe, not someone I have heard of before, but seems fairly well known for his "Breast House" in Kyoto.

Kamo is in the area of Izumo where the Yamata no Orochi myth is set, and according to the architect this was an influence on his design....

Konsenji Temple 3 Shikoku Pilgrimage

Konsenji Temple 3 Shikoku Pilgrimage

The third temple on the pilgrimage route, only a few kilometers from the second, is in Itano Town and its name means Golden Spring Temple.

 

It belongs to the Shingon sect, and the main deity is Shaka Nyorai, the historical Buddha known as Sakyamuni in English.

Legend has it that the temple was founded by Gyogi, and also that he carved the main sculpture.

 

Legend has it that later when Kobo Daishi visited he struck his staff into the ground and sacred, healing water gushed forth. This same story occurs often throughout Japan.

 

The temple was burned down, like so many others, by Chosokabe in the late 16th Century and was rebuilt later.

There is a large rock in the grounds known as the Benkei Stone, that legend says was lifted by Benkei as a show of strength when he and Yoshitsune stopped here.

 

Konsenji has a fine Niomon Gate with Nio, a lovely lotus pond,  a fine Pagoda, and my favorite statue, a Kurikara, the sword of Fudo Myo with entwined serpent.