Gonokawa Matsuri Parade

Last saturday was the Gonokawa Matsuri, the social event of the season in Gotsu. All the young females of the species were in their finest.....

The parade consisted of a long line of various civic groups and clubs and companies each in their own style of outfit performing the "dance"..... very few people actually seeme dto be enjoying it....

Kakinomoto Hitomaro, the famed 7th Century poet whose work is well represented in the Manyoshu. His wife, also a famous poet, was a local girl.....

The one group that made a lot of noise and actually seemed to be enjoying themselves were the High School Rugby team.....

And of course no parade would be complete without traditional Japanese hula dancers....

Kamagari Bridge

The Kamagari Bridge connects Shimokanagari Island with Kamagari (sometimes known as Kamikamagari) Island in the Akin Nada Island chain in the Inland Sea in Hiroshima.

It is a truss-style bridge with a span of 480 meters.

It was completed in 1979, which I believe makes it the first of the 8 bridges that now connect the Akinada Islands.

Onomichi Temple Walk. Tenneiji

The next temple on the Onomichi Temple Walk is Tenneiji

Founded in the middle of the 14th century as a Rinzai temple, it is now a Soto sect temple.

The pagoda behind the temple offers some great views over the town.

The original pagoda had 5 storeys.

Contemporary Sacred Music & Dance at Mononobe Shrine

On Wednesday I came back one day earlier than planned from my Kyushu Pilgrimage because I found out that my friend Hiroki Okano and friends were performing at a local shrine. Part of their own Izumo Pilgrimage, they brought a flame from the Hiroshima Peace Park. On the previous night they performed at Gakuenji, and I would have loved to have been there but there was no way of getting back in time.

Leading the improvised performance was Hiroki Okano on native-american cedar flute, keyboards, voice, & native drum. Hiroki has recorded with the well known  Navajo flute player R. Carlos Nakai, and even brought him over for a concert in a temple in Kyoto. One of his specialities is performing at sacred sites..... including Enryakuji on Hiezan. A full list of recent performances can be found here

On didgeridoo and kalimba was "Matsu" and the drummer was Kajiwara Tetsuya...... I'm fond of drum solos, so.....

Kajiwara was the drummer with The Blue Hearts, who, I am reliably informed, were one of the top Punk bands in Japan

On Taiko drums was Nobuhito Tomoka, and the dancer was Kunitomo Yuichiro. The dancer was excellent, but unfortunately my video cameras battery was flat.....

He is the son of Kunitomo Suga, generally regarded as the "mother of modern yosakoi dance". Since her death 2 years ago Yuichiro has taken over Sugaren, one of the top yoakoi dance groups in Japan.

Sanbe Dam

The second temple on the Iwami 33 Kannon pilgrimage (actually the first "extra" temple) is located on the mountainside above Sanbe Dam. Thats Mount Sanbe behind.

Seeing how aged the concrete is I was surprised to learn that the dam was not finished until 1996, although construction started in 1980.

The dam is a little over 54 meters high and 140 meters wide at its crest and is composed of 110,000 cubic meters of rock and concrete. Ostensibly the purpose of the dam is flood control and to supply water to Oda City, but its real purpose is to funnel money to construction companies.

The small reservoir has a capacity of 7,000,000 cubic meters of water.

More Umbrellas & Parasols

So, the rainy season is officially over, but there are still showers and thunderstorms to contend with, so umbrellas are still ubiquitous.

Of course umbrellas also double as parasols, and as such are very much in evidence when the sun is shining, mostly used by the females....

As I am busy walking around Kyushu at the moment I don't have time to write much

So, these photos will have to do......

Japanese Pond Turtles

Freshwater turtles can be found all over Japan, in castle moats, shrine and temple ponds, lakes, irrigation ditches, etc etc

I'm no naturalist, so am not sure exactly which species these are. They might be Japanese Pond Turtles ( mauremys japonica), or they may be Chinese Pond Turtles or a hybrid as the various species are able to interbreed.

They are reptiles, so need to spend time basking in the sun, which is when they are easiest to see...

This last photo shows one crossing a road early in the morning heading to a small river...

Tairyuji Ropeway

The Tairyuji Ropeway in Tokushima goes from the small town of Naka on the Naka River up to Tairyuji, the 21st temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage.

As you would expect there are some stunning views on the 10 minute journey

The journey between the two stations is 2.7 kilometers and difference in altitude is 422 meters.

Near the top one can see back to temple 20, Kakurinji.

Kyushu 108 Pilgrimage, Temple 2 Hannya-in

Hannya-in is the second temple on the Kyushu Pilgrimage I am walking. Its located in a hilly suburb of Fukuoka City.

Like all 108 of the temples on the pilgrimage it belongs to the Shingon sect. The honzon is an 11-faced Kannon, and in the main hall there are also a Yakushi Nyorai, a Fudo Myoo and a Kobo Daishi statue:

There was a small Inari shrine in the grounds, and this shrine with a carving of a snake eating its tail. Unfortunately the sign was illegible.

I would have asked the priest but he was busy with a ceremony. The nicest thing at the temple was the big Fudo Myo statue.

The origins of the temple lie with a tea-master of the Fukuoka domain who dies about 300 years ago.

Apparently it was moved to its current location because of the  construction for the shinkansen line.

Kanaya Tenmangu

Kanaya shrine is south of the river in Hagi and therefore a little off the main tourist track, but it was the premier shrine for the castle inhabitants at least. This big gate once held Nio, the Buddhist guardians that were removed in 1868 with the separation of Buddhas and Kami.

It was moved to this site in 1720, though I have been unable to find out exactly from where. Its location is just outside what was a major gate into the castle town. Whenever the daimyo had to travel to Edo for sankin kotai, the forced residence in Edo in alternate years, the entourage would stop first here and pray for a safe journey.

The main enshrined kami is Tenjin, the deified identity of Sugawara Michizane, and this is a branch shrine of Dazaifu Tenmangu.

Being patronized by the rulers, the shrine has lots of donated artworks..... which I will show in a later post...