Sefa Utaki

Sefa Utaki is a World heritage Site on the southern coast of the main Okinawan Island. It was the most important sacred site for the royal family of the Ryukyus.

There are a series of shrines but no buildings are left. The path up the hillside passes through the verdant sub-tropical forest and by limestone cliffs.

At the highest point is Sanguii, a narrow cleft in the rock that leads to the most important altar. From here you can look down on Kudaka Island, the site where myth says the gods landed bringing grain and where the Okinawan people were created.

It's possible to get to Sefa Utaki by bus, though they are not frequent. It is worth it if only to get out into nature.

Ishigaki Sea Salt

Iishi Shrine

Iishi Shrine is the shrine that Jyufukuji was built as a Jinguji for. It is a very ancient and important shrine being listed in both the Izumo Fudoki and the Engi Shiki. The main kami is Iishitsuhenomikoto, otherwise known as Amenohinatori or Takehiratori.

The white fence behind the shrine surrounds a large rock, the goshintai of the shrine, and it was onto this rock that the kami descended. The rock itself is considered the honden. According to records from ancient Izumo, Takehiratori was the son of Amenohohi who was the first emissary sent by Amaterasu to convince Izumo to cede their land to the Yamato. According to the Yamato version of events in the Kojiki, Amenohohi sided with Okuninushi and did not get back in touch with the High Plain of Heaven, so they sent Takemikazuchi to convince Okuninushi. In the Izumo version however, Amenohohi did sent a message back and his son, Takehiratori descended and arranged the transfer of land, known as Kuniyuzuri.

The Nihon Shoki also says that Takehinatori came with divine treasures that were placed in the Izumo Grand Shrine which suggests that the records of Gakuenji that state Izumo Taisha enshrined Susano originally may have some credence. Both Amenohohi and Takehiratori are considered ancestors of priestly lineage that functioned as head priests of Izumo taisha as well as governors of Izumo.

There is a smaller secondary shrine within the grounds, Takuasha, that enshrines Kibitsuhiko.

What is also unusual about Iishi Shrine is that there are no komainu or shimenawa, in fact no "decoration" at all.

Iwasaki Shrine, Usa.

In November of 2012 I went for a 5 day walk around and over the Kunisaki Peninsula, one of my favorite areas in Japan. I had been wanting to walk an old Shugendo pilgrimage route, but at that time had not yet found a reliable map of the route, however I did know that it started from Usa Jingu and headed east towards the peninsula and that is the route I followed.

Several hours into the walk I was approaching Usa Station and came upon Iwasaki Shrine. There was no information board at the shrine but I have been able to dig up a little info.

It was founded in 723 and the list of main kami is headed by Ojin and Jingu, and yet curiously its not called a hachimangu.

There are a lot of secondary shrines in the grounds, including Kibune, Konpira, Sugawara, Inari, and Izumo.
























When I have finished all the posts on this walk I will post a chronological list, but for now all posts with kunisaki fall will suffice

Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Temple 12, Jyufukuji

Located in a remote valley, temple 12, Jyufukuji, has no firm date for its founding, though it was a Jinguji so that suggests the Heian Period.

Jinguji were temples built next to shrines, and Jyufukuji was built to administer to Iishi Shrine, which I have not yet been to but intend to. Iishi Shrine is listed in the Izumo Fudoki, so dates back to ancient times and is unusual in that it has no honden, rather behind the shrine is a large rock which functions as the honden.

Originally a Tendai temple, in 1570 the local daimyo, of the Mori clan, converted it to Soto Zen

It is now some distance from the Iishi shrine, so I suspect it was moved to its present location in early Meiji when most jinguji were destroyed or moved.

A night on Teshima

At the end of the first day of my walk across the Aki Nada Islands I crossed the bridge from Kami Kamagari over to Teshima.

Teshima is very small with just one settlement on the opposite side of the island that I reached just as the sun had gone down.

I had a room booked at a small minshuku. When I booked by phone they wanted to make sure I had the right Teshima, as there is a much more famous one further east in the Inland Sea near Naoshima and Shodoshima.

The next morning I took the bridge over to Osaki Shimozima and from its shore could see the whole of Teshima in one view.

Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Day 5

Friday, May 18th, 2012, the fifth day of my Izumo 33 Kannon pilgrimage was yet another glorious spring day. Now I am off the relatively main road and my route will take me east through the inner Izumo area.

There is virtually no traffic, save the occasional postman on his moped or a farmer in his kei truck.

There won't be any villages until I come down into a river valley. Only scattered farms. This the the kind of country I love walking the most in Japan.

The paddies here are planted a week or two later than down in the lowlands....

Onomichi Temple Walk, Myosenji

After visiting Ushitora Shrine, it was still too early for the first cable car/ropeway  up the mountainside so I carried on exploring temples. Nearby was Myosenji.

It has quite an impressive approach and gate.

With its raked gravel garden one might think it was a zen temple, but in fact it belongs to the Nichiren sect and was founded in 1354.

The only interesting piece of information I have been able to find out about Myosenji is that behind the main hall is a Kiyomasa Kato-do, a memorial hall to the famous warlord who was known to be a big supporter of the Nichiren sect.

Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Temple 11, Entsuji

Entsuji, the 11th temple on the Izumo 33 Kannon pilgrimage, like the previous temple,  Zenjoji,  was also a mountaintop temple with great views.

Also like the previous temple it was reputed to be founded by Gyoki in the early 8th Century, though it was another monk in the tenth Century who built it up into a larger temple. It is now of the Tendai sect.

It must must have been a pretty big complex in the heyday of Mori and Matsudaira rule of the area as it was reputed to receive the third largest amount of donations, after Izumo Taisha and Gakuenji.

Now all thats left is the priests house, a storehouse, the Kannon Hall, and a small Inari shrine.

Torii Tunnels

Lines of red torii placed so close together they form a tunnel are a common sight throughout Japan. The most famous and most photographed are at the Fushimi Inari Shrine near Kyoto, but smaller versions can be found all over at shrines and temples.

They are usually made of wood, occasionally steel, but more often nowadays plastic pipe is being used. Each torii will have been paid for by a donation, and the name of the donor is usually written on each, similar to how some shrines will have lines of more expensive stone lanterns.

The top photo is from the Inari Shrine in the grounds of Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki. The second photo is at Tadaji Temple in Hamada. The third is a small Inari hokora near Kokura Castle.

The photo above is an Inari shrine in the grounds of the Hitomaro Shrine in Masuda.

If the Inari shrine is on a hillside, like at Fushimi, then the torii tunnels will switchback up the hillside like the photo above taken at the Taikodani Inari Shrine in Tsuwano.

Japanese Cormorant

The Japanese Cormorant, Phalacrocorax capillatus,  known as Umui in Japanese, is also known as Temmincks Cormorant.

It can be found from Taiwan, across Korea and Japan, and as far north as Eastern Russia.

It has been domesticated by the Japanese to use in fishing. Known as Ukai, it can still be seen at many places across Japan.

The only piece of poetry I remember from my schooldays begins.... "the Common Cormorant, or Shag, lays eggs inside a paper bag. The reason you will see, no doubt, is to keep the lightning out...."