Sand Sculptures at Aquas

Following the success of last years exhibition of sand sculptures on the beach in front of Aquas it has been done again though this time under cover and in the grounds of Aquas itself. There was a big one of Kakinomoto Hitomaro and his wife Yosami. Surrounded by penguins and Beluga whales, the main attractions at Aquas.

It was nice to see a representation of them that did not descend to "kawaii" manga style.

The other big tableau was of Susano and Yamata no Orochi

There were several smaller sculptures done by teams from local companies. My favorite was this hanya mask.

Masks of Shikoku

During my Shikoku Pilgrimage I actually visited far more shrines than I did temples. One of the things I was hoping to see at the shrines were masks but I was disappointed that compared to shrines in my area or in Kyushu for example there were actually very few masks. These first ones I posted before in the post on Ichibacho Hachimangu, and they remain the strangest looking masks Ive seen in Japan.

On Day 4 at a shrine in Tokushima City I found this Sarutahiko mask.

After my typhoon adventure in the mountains of Tokushima I was invited into a shrine matsuri near temple 22 Byodoji. One of the village men modelled one of the small Sarutahiko masks they had.

On the next day I reached the Tokushima coast at Yuki and found this pair of Oni at a shrine there.

2 weeks later after having walked all the way through Kochi I came across this fine pair of Tengu masks.

Izumo 33 Kannon Temple 1 Hasedera

The first temple on the Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage is Chokoku-ji, located not far from the beach in Taisha Town. Ive posted on this temple a couple of times before, here, and here.

It is the oldest temple in Taisha, and used to be located about 1k further up in the mountains but was moved to its present location in 1651 following a flood.

It is one of the few temples on the pilgrimage that has a resident priest. It belongs to the Shingon sect. Legend has it that the statue of Kannon was found washed up on the beach by a fisherman,... a not uncommon legend..

I started the pilgrimage in April so it was nice to see some cherry blossoms....

Mara Kannon

Last week I posted photos of the ceramic votive phalli at Mara Kannon Shrine in Yamaguchi. Here are some of the other more individualastic and larger votive phalli at the shrine. Some are carved in stone, some wood, and some steel.

As promised here is the rather gruesome story of the origins of this shrine. It was founded back in the mid 16th Century, a time known as the "Warring States Period" as samurai clans all over the country were fighting each other to gain control of territory. In this part of what is now Yamaguchi two of these clans were the Ochi and the Sue.

In September 1551 in nearby Taineiji, Yoshitaka Ochi was facing imminent defeat and chose the "honorable" solution of committing suicide. Two days later his oldest son was captured and killed. His youngest son, dressed as a girl, fled to the mountains and hid out.

Next spring he was discovered near Tawarayama and killed. As was the custom his head was cut off to be taken back to the victorious leader, and for some unknown reason they also cut off his penis. Some time later the local people constructed the shrine to pray for soul.

Ryusui-an

On the long climb up to Shosanji, temple 12, on the Shikoku pilgrimage there are three sites associated with Kukai, the second being Ryusui-an.

According to the legend, when Kukai was climbing the mountain back in the early ninth Century he stopped here and by tapping the ground with his staff caused a spring to start flowing. According to many legends associated with kukai he did this many, many times all over Shikoku.

There used to be a shokubo, temple lodgings, here but it has long since closed down. There is a really cool looking tree though.

Toyonaka Inari at Taineiji

Taineiji is an old Zen temple in the mountains a little south of Nagato on the north Yamaguchi coast. We drove past the temple but stopped just after when we saw a vermillion bridge crossing the stream and decided to explore...

What we found was a branch temple of Toyonaka Inari, the second of the three great Inari Shrines of Japan, though in reality a temple up in Aichi. The branch temple was established here at Taineiji about 50 years ago,

It enshrines Dakiniten, a "buddhist" correlate of Inari, though it is unclear how much Inari is in Dakiniten or how much Dakiniten is in Inari. Originally a Hindu goddess Dakini became associated with the fox and she is often depicted riding a white fox.

Dakiniten was a powerful deity during the medieval period and this seems to be when the associations with kitsune grew.

Spent a long time chatting with one of the monks at the temple. He had spent a year at a monastery in Ireland and bemoaned the fact that while in Ireland he was treated with respect as a priest but that in japan he received much less respect.

Orochi Manholes

Known as the Land of Myth, Izumo has many myths recorded in the earliest chronicles, and probably the most well known is the story of Susano slaying the Yamata no Orochi, a fearsome dragon with 8 heads and 8 tails.

There are many different explanations of what exactly this great serpent was, but the most common one is that it refers to the 8 tributaries that drain the Okuizumo area and combine to form the Hi River.

The route of the Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage passes through the watershed of the Hi River for about 100k, so its not surprising that the towns in the area incorporate the Orochi in their manhole designs.

The first one I found near Hinobori, The second In Kisuki also features the local bridge. The third from Mitoya includes Susano and the princess Inada who he saves from the Orochi. The fourth, from Yokota is in the heart of the myth country. Near here is where Inada and her family lived. The final photo is the main design found in Izumo City itself.

Vacation 2011 Day 17 to Essouira

We left Marrakesh in the early afternoon and headed 200k almost directly west until we hit the Atlantic and Essouira. It was my first time here and I was very impressed. Instead of the red of marrakesh, here everything was white.

Like in Marrakesh, fresh squeezed orange juice was abundant and cheap.

Essouira is one of the best anchorages on the Moroccan Atlantic coast.... Phoenician, Carthaginians and Romans all had settlements here in ancient times. The harbor is filled with funky wooden fishing boats of all sizes.

Essouira is now a very popular tourist resort so the narrow, traffic-free alleys were filled with art and craft shops.

The huge stone wall of the Portugese fort still surrounds the old town

The old town has a main plaza but mostly consists of a maze of narrow alleys and lanes...

Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art revisited

The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art sits on the waterfront in Kobe and was constructed in 2002 as part of the cities post-earthquake revitalization.

Earlier I posted on one of the features of the architecture, the spiral staircase

The museum primarily consists of 3 glass structures each with an overhanging roof. The 3 structures are set on a base of white granite with steps that lead down to the waterfront.

The museum was designed by Tadao Ando and has more than a passing resemblance to his Fort Worth Museum he built a little later.

Shikoku 88 Temple 13, Dainichiji

Temple 13 has the same name as temple 4, Dainichiji. It is the first of the 88 temples located in Tokushima City.

The main deity is kannon, and there is a nice statue of her in the grounds. Legend has it that Kukai had a vision of the Dainichi Nyorai while doing a goma ritual nearby and then founded the temple.

Originally part of a shrine-temple complex it was originally named Ichinomiyaji after the shrine which is just across the road, Ichinomniya. The temple and shrine were officially separated after shinbutsu bunri and the temple buildings date from the late Meiji period.

There is a nice statue of Kurikara, a dragon wrapped around a sword. Associated with Fudo Myo, kurikara statues are often found at ascetic sites, waterfalls etc. The most common association of Kurika and Fudo Myo is in a legend that has Fudo transforming into a dragon to consume the sword which was a manifestation of a heretic.