Iwaishima Kanmai matsuri 2012

Went to one of my favorite matsuris 2 weekends ago, the Kanmai matsuri on the tiny island of Iwaishima in the Inland Sea off the yamaguchi coast. This young lady was one of the group of sanshin players waiting on the quayside to greet the flotilla of boats....

The two long rowboats returned to harbor after going around to the other side of the island to greet and escort the boats oming from Kyushu carrying the priests. The matsuri dates back to the ninth century and commemorates the time the islanders gave shelter to a boat from Kyushu carrying their kami back from the Kyoto area.

I guess there was less than a thousand visitors to the matsuri..... which meant the islands population had tripled for the day. The lone policeman didnt seem to have anything to do. The atmosphere was relaxed, friendly, and good-natured.

The islanders had made it a little more commercial this year. There were T shirts, books, and postcards on sale to raise funds to pay the fine slapped on the islanders for their acts of civil disobedience in interfereing with the workers attempting to survey for the planned nuclear power station a few kilometers away on Kaminoseki.

The matsuri takes place every four years and for the next three days after the marine procession kagura will be performed in a temporary shrine. For such an old, interesting, and fun matsuri why so few visitors? because there is no Shinkansen station nearby.....

Karinomiya Shrine

The second temple on the Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage is close to the first so on my way I took a short cut through the back roads to visit a shrine I had not yet been to.  Fairly unpreposing, karinomiya (or kaminomiya) shrine looks like many other small village shrines, but is in fact quite unique. It is a sessha of Izumo Taisha and two names are listed as enshrined kami, Susano and Yaoyorozu. Yaoyorozu literally means 8 million kami, and is the word used to collectively describe all the kami of shinto, and they inhabit this shrine once a year during kamiarizuki, the time when all the kami meet up in Izumo. They hold a conference here in the early days of kamiarizuki. Why Susano is listed seperately is a mystery, though an interesting one. This area of Izumo is certainly Susano country, and records conveniently ignored by most say that Susano is the original kami of Izumo taisha.

Across the road is a massha of the shrine, named "lower" shrine. It enshrines Amaterasu. If this shrine was established in fairly modern times I would not be in the least surprised.

Flowers of Shikoku

A long time ago a regular reader asked for more flower pictures, so.......

I dont often take pictures of flowers, but while on the Shikoku Pilgrimage I did try to keep a record of what I saw....

All these photos were taken in the middle of August, 2011, in the Yoshino River valley on the first two days of my pilgrimage.

Other than the first photo which is obviously a lotus blossom, I dont know what any of the others are called :)

Abandoned Mikoshi

Mikoshi are sacred palanquins or portable shrines used for transporting kami most often seen during matsuris when the kami are paraded around the local community once a year.

It is believed their origin lies in when the great kami Hachiman was carried by palanquin from Usa in Kyushu to Todaiji in Nara in the middle of the eighth century.

When not being used the Mikoshi are normally kept in a special storeroom though it is not uncommon for them to be put on display at New Year when many visitors come to the shrine.

In the heavily depopulated rural areas of Japan many shrines are now virtually unused and the mikoshi are no longer used. These photos were taken in a small shrine in the mountains of yamaguchi Prefecture.

Joren-an

Joren-an is the third and final "chapel"/shrine on the trail up to temple 12 Shosanji.

The huge cedar and statue of Kobo Daishi mark the spot where legend says Kukai spent the night on his ascent of the mountain.

It looked pretty dilapidated and there was no-one around, but I was there out of the main pilgrim season so maybe it is manned in season.

It is at 745 meters above sea level but unfortunately the trail drops down to the valley before starting up the final climb to Shosanji.

A Garden of Phalli: more Mara Kannon

This is the third and final post on Mara Kannon. The first post showed the thousands of small, votive phalli left at the shrine. The second, like this post, showed the larger, more individual votive phallic sculptures left there.

The larger ones are made out of wood, stone, and steel.

Most of the phalli are left with prayers for fertility, but other reasons exist..... to cure diseases of the genitals, for improved sexual "performance" etc etc.

Mara Kannon Shrine is located in Tawarayama, a small onsen village in the mountains of northern Yamaguchi Prefecture. There are infrequent buses from Nagato City.

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.