Akashi Kaikyo Bridge

Higashiura is a town at the northern end of Awaji Island and its manhole cover depicts the nearby Akashi kaikyo Bridge which connects Awaji to the mainland.

It is a suspension bridge that has the longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world and it opened in 1998.

The central span is 1,991 meters, but was originally planned to be 1,990 but during construction in 1995 the area was hit by the Kobe Earthquake and the two bridge towers moved 1 meter apart.

The bridge is 3,911 meters long in total.

Vacation 2011 Day 18 Essouira

My room in the hotel we stayed at in the medina of Essouira was on the roof so it was not far to go to watch sunrise......

These posts on my vacation in Morocco are not popular with most of my readers, but I found Morocco to be very photogenic and I like the photsos I took, so.......

I ancient times Essouira was settled by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans. In more recent times the Portugese established a presence here for a while but the Essouira of today was built by an Arab ruler though he did use all the latest techniques of fortress construction from Europe and many nationalities contributed their expertise. The watchtower at the harbour where I took this photo was designed by someone from Genoa.

Essouira is a major harbour on the Atlantic coast of Morocco and so there is lots of fishing...... and of course fresh fish....

I believe these blue boats are for inshore sardine fishing....

I really liked essouira..... much more laid back than Marrakesh...... not unusual to hear reggae pumping out from many of the stores in the Medina...

Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art part 2

The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe is usually pictured from the sea front, but the entrance is at the back of ther building on the road and while it is less dramatic it is also interesting.

Photos of thye front can be found here

It was designed by tadao Ando and opened in 2002.

The museums collection is of modern art, both japanese and foreign, with special emphasis on sculpture and prints.

Shikoku 88 Temple 14 Jorakuji

Jorakuji, the 14th temple on the Shikoku pilgrimage is unusual in several respects. The first being that whereas many temples have carefully manicured gardens and large flat areas of raked gravel, Jorakuji is built on an uneven rocky outcropping with nary a flat spot anywhere.

The second unusual feature is the main deity which is Miroku Bosatsu, known as the "Future Buddha" and who is believed will become a buddha in the future to save all people. It is the only temple on the pilgrimage with this as the main deity.

Meaning "temple of everlasting peace" Jorakuji belongs to the Shingon sect and legend has it was founded by Kukai.

It is believed that diabetes can be cured by praying here and drinking tea made from the leaves of the Yew tree that grows here.

There is also a legend of a woman who carried her crippled husband 5 times around the pilgrimage and on the sixth circuit he was healed here so it is also popular for disabled people.

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.