Shunkoji Temple Kyushu

Shunkoji Temple Kyushu

Shunko-ji is one of a group of three temples adjacent to each other and all known individually as Tsubakidera, or Camelia Temple. They are located in the Kunisaki area of Oita in Kyushu.

Shunkoji, on the left in the top picture, seems to be the original, and there seems to be some antagonism between it and the other two.

All three temples are built on the site that it is said Kobo Daishi visited after coming back from China and then visiting nearby Usa Jingu.

The temple was founded around 320 years ago by the 11th priest of nearby Tennenji Temple. The 10th priest had visited Shikoku and on his return had founded a local 88 temple pilgrimage, the Bungo Ohenro. Curiously the temple across the road is a member of that pilgrimage, and Shunkoji is not.

Shinkoji does have quite a large statue of Kobo Daishi on high ground within the temple grounds. Underneath the statue is a spring said to have been created by Kobo Daishi.

In my previous post, I showed a few of the Fudo statues in Shunkoji and the Kaiun Fudo shrine at the start of the entrance road.

Later I will do a much longer post on the other two temples.

Kaiun Fudo Myo & Shunkoji Temple Fudo Myo

Kaiun Fudo Myo & Shunkoji Temple Fudo Myo

Heading down the valley after visiting Mudo-ji Temple in the Kunisaki area of Oita, Kyushu, I stopped at a small roadside shrine with a large Fudo Myo-o statue.

This was Kaiun Fudo Myoo, a Fudo known for changing your fortune and luck to good. My guess is it is a fairly modern statue.

A narrow road leads up a small side valley to a cluster of three temples, one being Shunkoji Temple.

Shunkoji Temple also had numerous Fudo statues.

Though I was walking the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, Shunkoji was not a part of the actual pilgrimage, though the whole area of  Kunisaki is an ancient Yamabushi site, so Fudo statues are plentiful.

Shunkoji lays claim to a connection with Kobo Daishi, so in the next post I will explore that connection and the temple.

Shinsoji Temple Yokota

Shinsoji Temple Yokota

Shinsoji Temple sits on a hillside looking over the town of Yokota on the banks of the Hi River in the Okuizumo region of Shimane.

It does not seem to be a famous temple, and I can actually find almost nothing about it, except we can guess and infer some things.

The buildings and structures have been rebuilt in relatively recent times, and they are substantial, so we can infer that it is a relatively rich temple.

It lies above Igitake Shrine, one of the many shrines in the area connected to the myths of Susano and the Orochi serpent, but between the shrine and the temple is a very large cemetery. There is a good chance that is where the wealth is derived from.

It may also be that the temple looked after and operated the shrine. In historical times there were actually very few Shinto priests, with most shrines being operated by Buddhist priests.

A few things that are known are that the temple belongs to the Soto Zen sect, and the honzon is an Amida.

Yasakaji Temple 47 Shikoku Pilgrimage

Yasakaji Temple 47 Shikoku Pilgrimage

Yasakiji Temple, number 47 on the 88 temple Shikoku pilgrimage, is located at the base of the foothills to the south of Matsuyama City and is just a short walk from the previous temple, Joruriji Temple.

Said to have been founded in 701, it is unusual in that the founder is said to be En no Ozuni, sometimes known as En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of Shugendo. Most of the temples claiming origins before Kobo Daishi tend to claim Gyoki as their founder.

Many historians believe that the Shikoku ohenro was created by numerous smaller Shugendo pilgrimage routes being connected together.

Yasakaji is also often connected to Emon Saburo, the legendary "first" pilgrim who walked around Shikoku numerous times attempting to catch up with Kobo Daishi.

Not far from Yasakaji is Monjuin, a temple believed to be Saburo's family temple, and now one of the 20 extra "bangai" temples, so I will do a fuller account of the Emon Saburo story when I cover Monjuin in the next post in the series....

Connecting the main hall and the Daishido are two passages covered in murals, the way of heaven, and the way of hell.

These last three shots depict scenes from various Buddhist "hells".

Saga Shrine & Matsubara Shrine

Saga Shrine & Matsubara Shrine

With lines of people waiting for their first shrine visit of the year, hatsumode, 5 full days already into the year, it is an indication of how popular Saga Shrine is with local inhabitants. It is also the main venue for Shinto-style weddings, car-blessings etc.

many miko, shrine maidens, were also in evidence. Mostly students hired for the new year period, the shrine's busiest, and most profitable, time of the year, major festivals may also see the hiring of temporary miko.

Saga Shrine is located just north of the moat of the old castle. The shrine is relatively new, founded in the Meiji period and enshrining the last two daimyo of the former Saga Domain, Nabeshima Naomasa and his sone Naohiro. A lot of the last generation of daimyo got themselves enshrined as gods, especially those daimyos who were pro-imperialist like the daimyos of Choshu, Satsuma, and Saga.

Immediately adjacent to Saga Shrine, and in reality not at all separate, is the older Matsubara Shrine, founded a century earlier, and enshrining the ancestors of the Nabeshima and their earlier generations.

Within Matsubara Shrine are many sub-shrines and other points of interest, but on this trip, it was so crowded and I just literally walked through. A few years ago while walking the Kyushu Fudo  Myo  pilgrimage I stopped in and explored more deeply, so will post much more later.

This was the end of my 56yj day walking the Kyushu pilgrimage, and I estimated that I had already walked more than 1500 kilometers, several hundred more than the whole of the Shikoku Ohenro, and I still had more of Saga, all of Nagasaki, and then back into Fukuoka before I would finish. Tomorrow I would head back home and return to Saga in February to continue on....

Ryuzoji Hachimangu Shrine

Ryuzoji Hachimangu Shrine

Ryuzoji Hachiman Shrine is a small urban shrine located in downtown Saga. It was originally located near the original castle, but when the castle was greatly expanded in the mid 17th century, it was moved to the current site. The torii is in the Hizen style, and as far as I know this is the only style of torii based on region rather than cult.

It was founded by the Ryuzoji Clan who controlled the area before the Nabeshima Clan, who were vassals of the Ryuzoji, were given control. In the middle of the approach are a couple of red torii which lead to an Ebisu statue

The Ebisu cult is very strong in the area..... along the Nagasaki kaido, which runs through Saga, are hundreds of roadside Ebisu statues. A few days earlier along a branch of the Nagasaki kaido, the Hita kaido, there are also Ebisu statues. This one is very unusual in that Ebisu is holding a child. It is called Kosodate Ebisu. It was made in 2007. Most of the Ebisu statues around Saga have their own names and associations with different benefits.

The shrine was founded as a branch of the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura. Hachiman was originally a Kyushu cult based in Usa in what is now Oita. Earlier on this day I had visited Chiriku Hachimangu, a large shrine that had been established as a direct branch of the Usa Hachiman while it was just a local cult.  With the construction of Todaiji and the Great Buddha in Nara, Hachiman was taken up to the home provinces and eventually became a national cult following the establishment of Iwashimizu Hachimangu south of Kyoto. I believe most Hachiman shrines now in existence are branches of Iwashimizu. Later however, the Minamoto Clan adopted Hachiman as their patron deity and established Tsurugaoka Hachiman, and subsequently, Hachiman was adopted by the samurai.

Within the grounds of Ryuzoji Hachiman is another shrine, Kusunoki Shrine, established in 1851 by the Nabeshima. Enshrined here is Kusunoki Masashige, a 14th century samurai known for fighting for the Imperial Court in Yoshino, the so-called Southern Court, who were in opposition with the Shogun-supported Emperor in Kyoto, the "Northern Court".

The shrine is the site of a meeting at this time wherein Saga joined with Tosa, Choshu, and Satsuma in an alliance against the shogunate and for the Emperor which led to the Meiji Restoration. What is not clear to me is whether the shrine or the meeting came first.

Ichimura Memorial Gymnasium

Ichimura Memorial Gymnasium

At the northern end of what was the grounds of Saga Castle is yet another Modernist public building, the Ichimura Memorial Gymnasium.

It was built in 1963 and designed by Junzo Sakakura (1901-1969).

After graduating he joined the studio of Le Corbusier in Paris where he eventually came to head the studio. He assisted Le Corbusier in his only Japanese project, the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.

Not visible from the ground is the rather elegant roof of the gymnasium, a saddle shape formed by two parabolic curves.

What is clearly visible is the aging concrete surface, something that so many concrete structures in Japan suffer from and that will only get worse as time marches on.

Saga Prefectural Museum

Saga Prefectural Museum

Located within the moats of the former Saga Castle, and adjacent to the reconstructed Castle Palace, is the Saga Prefectural Museum.

It opened in 1970 and in 1983 the Prefectural Art Museum was opened next door and is connected by a passageway.

It was designed by architects Teichi Takahashi and Shoya Uchida, two architects that I not heard of before. At the time I'm sure it was classed as a "Modernist" design, though now it is more likely called Brutalist.

The displays cover archeology & History, Geology and the Natural Sciences, and folklore. Many items dug up from the Yoshinogari site are on display. Entry is free except for special exhibitions.

Outside the museum is the Tadao Koga Sculpture Forest.