Inside Seirei at Nose Myokensan

Looking up from the center of the floor at the Seirei Hall of the Nichiren temple on top of Nose Myokensan.

The altar to the Bodisattva Myoken on the upper floor which is made of glass and is suspended from the roof. Designed by Shin Takamatsu.

Four figures, 2 female and 2 male, representing the Bodhisattvas of the 4 directions hang over the hall.

Only open to the public once a month, I was lucky enough to get permission to photograph inside, but I wish I had more time to spend in this amazing structure. Photos of the outside are in this previous post.

Looking directly up from below the glass floor.

Miyazaki Jingu

Miyazaki Jingu is a shrine set in large, wooded grounds a little north of central Miyazaki City.

It enshrines the mythical first emperor, Jimmu, and is very much a modern creation from the early years of Meiji when thegovernment was building the emperor-centered "State Shinto".

As such it is rather austere and somewhat sterile. In the grounds is the Miyazaki Gokoku Shrine, the regional branches of the infamous Yasukuni Shrine, also a modern invention. Like Yasukuni, there is a small museum here displaying military uniforms and paraphenalia.

There is also an Inari shrine. In the shrine forest is also the Prefectural Museum. Miyazaki Jingu is a popular spot for Shinto weddings, yet another modern invention

Seirei by Shin Takamatsu

I've posted photos of the works of Shimane born architect Shin Takamatsu quite a few times. I do like his work and there are a lot of them in my neighborhood, but I finally made a trip to the sacred  mountain of  Nose Myoken San to see a work that I have wanted to see for ages.

On top of the mountain is a Nichiren temple to Myoken, the Pole Star, and Takamatsu was asked to design a new worship hall which is named Seirei.

Its floorplan is in the shape of a star, and the materials are glass, metal, and wood. The wood was taken from trees on the mountaintop site.

It is open just one day a month, but I got permission to go inside so I will post photos of that next.....

Miyazaki Minka-en

In the grounds around Miyazaki Jingu Shrine is the Prefectural Museum of Natute & History, and in its grounds is the Minka-en, an open air museum of traditional farmouses.

The farmhouses have been dismantled from their original sites around the region and reassembled here. All of them are now thatched, and represent different styles and relative wealth.

They can all be entered and some artifacts are inside. best of all the museum of farmhouses is free to enter.

More details and more photos can be seen in a longer piece I wrote.....

Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 36 Shoryuji

Shoryuji, temple 36 of the Ohenro Pilgrimage, is fairly remote and one of the temples less-visited by tourists rather than pilgrims.

It is also one of the prettiest, noticeably with two pagodas.

Located at the tip of the long and narrow Yokonami Peninsula, there is now a bridge across the narrow, 400 meter wide opening into the Uranouchi Bay between the peninsula and mainland, but in earlier times a ferry crossing was necessary.

The temple was founded by Kobo Daishi in about 815 and is named after the temple he studied at in Tang China.

In 806, just before leaving China to return to Japan, he threw a Vajra towards Japan.

Called Tokko in Japanese, a vajra is a kind of ritual weapon known as a thunderbolt.

He wanted to find a site to establish a temple, and in 806 while travelling in this area he discovered the vajra lodged in a pine tree.

He received permission from Emperor Saga to found the temple.

The honzon is a stone Namikiri Fudo Myoo, said to be carved by Kobo Daishi himself.

Shoryuji prospered and grew and became one of the seven biggest temples in Tosa, the former name of Kochi.

It had four branch temples and six associate temples.

By the start of the Edo Period it had fallen into disrepair but was rebuilt by the second Tosa Daimyo, Yamauchi Tadayoshi in the mid 17th century.

It was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 1707 and was rebuilt by the end of the Edo Period.

A narrow road lined with statues ( photos 4 & 8) leads from the coast up the valley to the lower part of the temple with a Tahota style pagoda.

Behind it a three storey pagoda and steps leading up to the Nio gate with a fine pair of weathered Nio.

A small waterfall with Fudo statue is used for training.

At the main temple there is the main hall, Daishido, Yakushido, and a Hakusan Shrine.

600 meters further through the woods is the Okunoin.

The grounds of the temple are very pleasant especially in Autumn Colours, and has groves of bamboo.

There are also several landscaped areas and small gardens.

Usually not crowded, a great place to spend a few hours rather than just rush through.

The previous temple on the pilgrimage is number 35, Kiyotakiji.

I posted earlier about the walk from the previous temple to here, Kiyotakiji to Shoryuji.

The Weird & Wonderful Folk Statues of Takanabe Daishi

On a hill overlooking Takanabe on the Miyazaki coast are a strange collection of large and small statues. Some of them are Buddhist deities, and some are Kami.

They were the creation of a local man who was concerned about the spirits of the deceased in a series on ancient burial mounds nearby. He employed a sculptor to carve a set of statues, and then after having watched him at work he set about creating his own unique statues and devoted the rest of his life to it.

They are quite primitive and unsophisticated in their execution, but therein lies their charm. At times looking like Native American totem poles, at other like the Easter Island statues, but most of all they are child-like.

For more photos and a lot more information please check out this longer article I wrote

Drowned Buddhas

Tadaji, an old temple in the hills outside Hamada has a rather strange collection of wooden statues in their main hall.

They were fished out of the sea on the coast down below the temple, and had obviously spent some time in the water. More than likely they had been thrown into the sea, or a river, during the Haibutsu Kishaku, the "destroy Buddhism" campaign in the late 19th Century.

The campaign was officially rescinded, and many areas did not really go along with it, but some places went for it with a vengeance. The Oki Islands, for instance, destroyed every single Buddhist temple.

Experts say some of these statues probably date from the Kamakura Period and so are quite old. The current along the coast comes from the west so these statues were put in the water further west, down in Yamaguchi or somewhere near there......