Ikui Shrine

Ikui Shrine is a small shrine in Katsuura Town between temples 19 and 20 of the Shikoku Pilgrimage.

Ikui is another way of reading Ebisu, and this is the kami enshrined here, rather Kotoshironushi, the official identity of Ebisu since the Meiji Period.

The shrine is listed in the Engi Shiki, a court document from the early tenth Century that, among other things, lists 2,861 shrines across Japan that received annual offerings from the Imperial Court.

This website has details of all the shrines in the Engi Shiki, unfortunately only in Japanese.

Star Sand Beach

There are two Hoshizuna (star sand) beaches in the Yaeyama Islands, one on Taketomi, and this one on the north coast of Iriomote.

No crowds, no deckchairs, no ice creams.....

Warm water..... in midwinter the water temperature drops to 20 degrees celsius...

The star sand is actually the skeleton, about 1mm across, of an organism...

The View from Mount Nosoko

At 282 meters Mount Nosoko is not the highest mountain on Ishigaki Island, but its distinctive shape offers 360 degree views from its summit.

To the north the Hirakubo Peninsula.

Down below, coral reefs and turquoise seas...

Locally the mountain is known as Nosoko Mape after a young woman named mape who climbed to the top so she could see the island where her lover lived but was so despondent that another higher mountain blocked her view that she turned to stone...

To the south the east coast of Ishigaki...

After coming down we went to Nosoko Beach..... a woman was digging for some kind of small clam/shellfish, and after she left we had the whole beach to ourselves....

Ishigaki Sea Salt

Japanese Umbrellas

On vacation down in Okinawa right now but its grey and cloudy and rainy so instead of white sand and turquoise water you get umbrellas.....

These were at Nachi Taisha down in Kumano, Wakayama.

This one was used to protect the taiko during the mikoshi procession at a shrine matsuri in Nakatsu.

Of course regular "western" type umbrellas are more common....

The classic red..... in Tomonoura...

Western style, but used by priests at Hongu Taisha....

Kushida Shrine

Kushida Shrine

Kushida Shrine is the most important shrine in Hakata. Founded in 757 when Hakata was the main port for official international travel and commerce. Being an urban shrine it is quite compact but there is a lot to see.

On display is a "float" from the hakata Gion Yamakasi Matsuri, one of the great festivals of Japan. 10 meters high these floats are no longer used because of overhead power lines, but during the first 2 weeks of July ten of them are put on display around Hakata.

Inside the main hall are half a dozen or so big tengu masks with particularly long noses. there are also soem nice carvings in the building itself.

The main kami is Ohatanushi, I believe the ancestral kami of one of the priestly lineages from Ise. Amataerasu and Susano are also enshrined.

There are dozens of smaller shrines in the grounds, among them Inari, Matsuo, Suwa, Konpira, Awashima, Tenmagu, and Ebisu.

There is a huge Camphor tree, said to be 1,000 years old, and 2 stone anchors which is claimed came from the invading Mongol fleet but which are in fact from Chinese merchant ships.

Ohanami

Time for the obligatory cherry blossom pictures......

I don't have to go far for Ohanami..... after we moved into our house we planted a cherry sapling in front of our front door and its now a decent size....

Actually I much prefer the Yamazakura, the wild cherry trees that grow on the mountainsides..... as I understand it these were the trees that historically were viewed.....

The species that now dominates the cities are a fairly modern hybrid and have been planted since the Meiji period. It has pure white blossoms and only blooms for a much shorter period. This species was also aggresively planted in the countries colonized by Japan and adopted as a symbol for the cannon fodder who were supposed to sacrifice their short lives for the glory of Japan and the Emperor.

 I much prefer the other species that have some color in them

Kasuga Shrine, Hagi

The Kasuga Shrine in Hagi is located on the southern edge of the old samurai district and is one of the approximately 3000  branches of the famous Kasuga Taisha in Nara which is the family shrine of the Fujiwara Family, arguably the most powerful family in Japan for many centuries.

Though most common nowadays, stone komainu were a later feature and were preceded by wooden ones inside the shrine building or later in the zuijinmon.

By the side of the shrine building is an old chinowa, a ring used for purification. usually in the spring a new one will be made and erected in front of the shrine and parishioners will pass through it.

The main kami enshrined here are the same 4 as Kasuga Taisha, Amenokoyane, Takemikazuchi, Futsunushi, both of whom took part in kuniyuzuri, and Himegami, which seems to be a generic name for consorts of male kami. According to Izumo records only Futsunushi came to Izumo for the kuniyuzuri.

The signboard also lists another kami that I had not heard of before:- Iwatsutsuno-o, who, like Takemikazuchi was formed from the blood left on the sword Izanagi used to slay the fire god with.

There were some secondary shrines in the grounds but the signboard gave no details....

Nakatsu Castle

Nakatsu Castle is the main feature of the design on Nakatsu Citys draincover in Oita, Kyushu.

Considered on of the 3 great "water castles" that used river and sea as part of its defences. The other two being Imabari and Takamatsu.

The original was built in 1588 and was burned down in 1877 during the Seinan War, commonly called the Satsuma Rebellion.

The current concrete keep was built in 1964. No-one knew what the original keep looked like so it was modelled instead on Hagi castles keep.

Once the biggest planetarium in the world

When it opened in 1994 this was the biggest planetariun in the world.

With a diameter of 30 meters this 300-seat planetarium can project up to 25,000 stars.

However, a couple of years ago it lost the title to a bigger one constructed in Nagoya.

Still impressive, surrounded by a reflective pool of water, this one is part of the Ehime Science Museum complex designed by Kisho Kurokawa and is located in Niihama.

Shikoku 88 Temple 20 Kakurinji

Statues of cranes are in the Nio gate and at other spots around the temple as cranes feature in the founding legend of the temple and Kakurinji means Crane Forest temple.

Located at 550 meters above sea level it is a fine example of a mountain top temple and unlike most other temples in Tokushima on the pilgrimage it has never burnt down. Unfortunately I was there during monsoon rains at the start of a typhoon and so wasnt able to explore the temple as much as I would have liked.

According to the legend Kukai had a dream while in the area that told him that in earlier times there had been a buddhist worship site here so he climbed the mountain to restore it. He found a tiny statue of Jizo being guarded by a pair of cranes and so carved a larger wooden statue of Jizo and placed the miniature one inside it.

Later kukais nephew completed the temple buildings. Over the centuries Kakurinji received support and protection from many powerful figures including Minamoto Yoritomo, Hachisuka Iemasa, and Hachisuka Muneteru.

The main hall supposedly dates back to 1604 but most of the other buildings are more recent, mostly from the 19th Century.