Kotohira-gu, Izumo bunsha

After visiting Rendaiji, the sixth temple on the Izumo 33 Kannon pilgrimage I headed to the nearest train station in Naoe to head home, stopping in at the Konpira Shrine in the middle of the village.

Its now called a Kotohira-gu, which was the new name given to the kami Konpira in the Meiji era to disassociate it from its Buddhist identity. The main Konpira Shrine on Shikoku was one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations of the Edo period with millions of pilgrims travelling to Shikoku and often bringing back the "spirit" of the kami to enshrine in their local villages. This one in Naoe however was not established until 1880.

At the same time as renaming the kami it was given new identities more suitable for the national shinto that was in the process of being created. Hirata Atsutane had a hand in establishing the "true" identity of Kotohira as a manifestation of Okuninushi (Omononushi) and also the 12th Century Emperor Sutoku.

There are several smaller shrines in the grounds including a Harae-do, a Manasa shrine, a Hachiman shrine and this Inari Shrine.

Noma Hachimangu

Coming down the hill after visiting Hanya-in, the second temple on the Kyushu 108 temple pilgrimage, I took shelter from the drizzle in a small, local Hachiman shrine.

There was no signboard so I could find out little of its history, except that it is a branch of the Usa Hachimangu. two thirds of all the Hachiman shrines in Japan are branches of Iwashimizu Hachimangu near Kyoto, itself a branch of Usa Hachimangu. As such it enshrines Ojin, his mother, Jingu, and his wife Tamayorihime.

There was a secondary shrine to Tenjin in the grounds, and lots of nice trees :)

Hanging from the ceiling was a "zodiac" painting depicting the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, a common artwork in both shrines and temples.

A fairly typical small village shrine now in the middle of a large city.

Yukawa Residence, Hagi

 

The Yukawa were a low ranking samurai family who lived along the Aiba Canal in Hagi. They were the keepers of the canal which is probably why their residence was larger than normal for people of their rank.

 

It only costs 100 yen to get in and look around and there are not so many visitors so it can be enjoyed quietly. Around the house are several stone water basins, tsukubai.

What is unusual about these samurai houses along the Aiba  are the hatoba, the covered inlets that allow for direct access to the flowing water for the kitchen and bathroom...

Well worth 100 yen and an hour of your time...

Rendai-ji. Temple 6 of the Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

Rendai-ji, the sixth temple of the Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage is located on a hilltop at 100 meters. The final approach is up 160 stone steps.

From the temple there are fine views down on Hikawa with Hirata off in the distance.

Its a Shingon temple, and has a Daishi-do as well as the main hall. There is a priests house but it looks to have been uninhabited for a while.

There was not much in the way of artwork, statues etc but I did like this small set of small, old, wooden statues. According to a sign its possible to walk a mountain path over towards temple number 7 but I decide to head back down the mountain and walk back to the nearest station and head home. Thats enough for this first 2-day leg of the pilgrimage.

More Avian manholes

It turns out that birds are quite a common design element in Japanese manhole designs.
Previous posts showing some can be found here. and here.

This first one is from the small island of Teshima in the Akinada Sea off of Hiroshima, and the bird is a cormorant.

This one is from Musashi Town, now a part of Kunisaki City in Oita. It depicts a pair of Mejiro, Japanese White-Eyes. For a photo of real Mejiro see this post

Sanko Town, now a part of Nakatsu City in Oita has a pair of Japanese Bush warblers, Uguisu, in Japanese. Strangely the town bird is the Mejiro.

Nago Town on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa features a pair of Ryukyu Mejiro.

Ishigaki City on the same island features an Akashobin, Ruddy Kingfisher in English. Common throughout east and southeast Asia it is quite rare in Japan.

Sokinoya Shrine

Sokinoya Jinja

Sokinoya Shrine is listed in the Engi Shiki so it is at least 1,000 years old. It's located at the base of the hills south of Naoe in Hikawa.

Halfway up the steps is the store room holding the rather elegant mikoshi and other valuable equipment.

The main kami enshrined is Kihisakamitakahiko, and there is absolutely no information on him except that this area was once called Kihisa so he was probably the leader of the area. This rock in front of the shrine is reputed to be where he stood and prayed in the direction of Izumo Taisha across the plain below.

Visible behind the rock is a small shrine to Sarutahiko. It was moved here from its original site at a large rock outcropping further up the mountain. There is also a Kumano Shrine in the grounds.

For me, the most interesting secondary shrine in the rounds is the Karakuniidateho shrine. Karakuni means "from Korea", and there are numerous Karakuni shrines around Izumo and Iwami that enshrine Susano and his son Isotake that are manifestations of the legend/myth that Susano and his son arrived here from the Korean peninsula.

Ryoma Sakamoto Memorial Museum

Ryoma Sakamoto was one of the most famous and popular figures from the time leading up to the Meiji Restoration. He was from Tosa, now known as Kochi, and his memorial museum is located in Katsurahama to the south of Kochi City.

The museum is built on the hilltop overlooking the beach and ocean and projects out quite dramatically.

The museum was opened in 1991 on November 15th, the anniversary of both his birth and death, and the architects were Workstation, the company name of two architects, Hiroshi Takahashi and Akiko Takahashi, and it was their first project together.

The museum is open from 9 to 5 all year round and entrance is 400 yen for adults.

Take a bus bound for Katsurahama from Kochi

Skittish Egret

There are quite a few species of Egret (sagi in Japanese) in Japan, but I am not sure which one this is.

There are common, especially in rice paddies and rivers.

They are far more skittish than their cousins the Grey Heron, and if you stop to take a photo even from a distance they will fly off.

So I was really surprised to find one on the road while I was walking in the foothills of Izumo, but it did quickly fly off.

Other posts on Egrets, and the Sagi Mai, incorrectly translated as the Heron Dance can be found here.

Shikoku 88, Temple 22, Byodoji

Temple 22 of the Shikoku 88 temple Pilgrimage is Byodo-ji, located near the coast in Anan City, Tokushima.

Its name means "temple of equality" and it belongs to the Shingon Sect. The main deity is the healing buddha, yakushi Nyorai.

According to legend it was founded by Kobo Daishi who also carved the statue of Yakushi. He also dug a well that produced milky white water which is believed to have healing qualities, especially for eye ailments.

I was hoping to pick up some of the water, which is of course available for a small price, but unfortunately the water was not usable as the recent typhoon had contaminated the well with run-off.

Kumu Shrine & Shusai Hachimangu

There are two shrines occupying the same site here, located just east of Izumo City across the river in Hikawa.

The older shrine is Kumu Shrine, though in the Engi Shiki it is called Humuno Shrine. It has been in existence since at least the 7th Century as it is listed in the Izumo Fudoki. It was moved to its present site in the middle of the Edo Period. It enshrines Susano.

The bigger shrine is Shusai Hachimangu and it is not known exactly when it was founded. Unusually it lists Susano and Homuda Wake as the main kamis, Humuda Wake being the name of the emperor who was known posthumously as Ojin

Within the grounds are an Inari Shrine, a Wakamiya, a Miho, and Aragami.