Decorative Manholes from Fukuoka, North Kyushu

 

Giravanz is the local soccer team in Kitakyushu that lay at the stadium in Kokura. Their mascot is a seagull named Wavy.

Matsu Beach is on a long sweeping bay in Okagaki Town in the Onga District. It is known for a long cycle path through the pines that grow along the beach.

Tagawa was a former coal-mining town whose two remaining brick chimneys are symbols of the town.

These last two were  both found in Kokura, though I have seen them popping up all over Japan, manholes depicting characters from Pokemon. I know almost nothing about Pokemon, though I believe these manholes are connected to Pokemn-Go, a smartphone game.

The previous post in the series was Saga Manholes.

Hizen Hamashuku Former Samurai Residence

 

Hidden among the maze of small alleys around Sakagura Street in Hizen Hamasuku, Kashima, is a well-preserved example of a former samurai home that is open to the public.

It is quite a substantial 2-storeyed structure with a thatched roof and is believed to have been built in the early 19th century.

It differs from most of the other samurai residences I have posted on, like the one in Matsue, or the one in Izushi, in that it is not within a samurai quarter of a castle town, but rather is set among residences of farmers.

Evidence from the interior arrangements suggests that this samurai family was engaged in silkworm production and farming, activities officially "beneath" those of the samurai class.

There was a certain amount of "class" turmoil by the 19th century as many impoverished samurai gave up their statues to become farmers or even merchants, and many rich merchants and farmers being given trappings of samurai statues like family names and permission to wear swords.

The thatched roof of this property is U-shaped, a local style known as Kudo-Zukuri. Like with many such sites in Japan off the main tourist track, entry is free.

The previous post was on the nearby Hizen Hamashuku Sakagura Street Preservation District.

Oki Islands Horses & Cattle

 

One of the unusual sights encountered on the remote Oki Islands off the north coast of Shimane, are horses and cattle roaming free.

Japan has a livestock industry, with plenty of pork, beef, chicken, etc being raised, however, most of it is indoors, some small scale, some truly industrial.

Several times while driving around Nishinomiya Island we had to rake suddenly because of cattle in the roads.

All these shots were taken in the NW corner of the island in the grassy highlands above the Kuniga Coast.

I believe that Hokkaido is quite different from the rest of Japan and its agriculture is more akin to American style so more livestock can be seen grazing at pasture.

I quite like it and it reminded me a little of the ponies on Dartmoor. There is no doubt in my mind that "free range" livestock is tastier.

The previous post in this series exploring the delightful Oki Islands was the Yurahime "squid" Shrine.

Hizen Hamashuku Sakagura Street Preservation District

 

Along the banks of the Hama River in the southern part of what is now Kashima City in Saga Prefecture in Kyushu, Hizen Hamashuku was a town that grew up along the Tara Kaido, a branch of the Nagasaki Kaido.

The area around a 600-meter-long section of the old road is named Sakagura Street and is now a registered preservation district of traditional architecture.

Among the traditional stores and homes are three surviving sake breweries from among the thirteen that originally dominated the area.

Touring the traditional sake breweries and sampling the many varieties still produced here is now the many attraction that draws tourists from far and wide.

In combination with 3 other sake breweries in Kashima, including one near the famous Yutoku Inari Shrine, major sake festivals are held in the Spring and Autumn.

I am not a big fan of sake, so for me the area was of more interest because of the traditional architecture.

Other than the sake breweries there are souvenir shops, cafes, and eateries,

Sakagura Street is just a few minutes walk from Hizenham JR Station.

Just off the main street is an old, thatched, former samurai residence that I will cover next post.

The previous post in this series chronicling day 59 of my Kyushu walk was the nearby Yutoku Inari Shrine.

Museum Of Modern Art Wakayama

 

The Mueum of Modern Art in Wakayama City is located across from the ruins of Wakayama Castle in the downtown area.

It is in front of, and connected to, the Wakayama Prefectural Museum, and both were designed by Kisho Kurokawa.

In fact I preferred the Prefectural Museum both for its architecture and for its exhibitions.

I couldnt get any sense of what the architecture was about and the exhibitions were not articularly appealing.

The msueum has a collection of more than 10,000 artworks, mostly Japanese, and mostly Wakayama-based artists, though its print collection is considered quite good. It has a few pieces by non-Japanese artists, Stella, Rothko, and even a Picasso, though none of them are their best works.

The previous post in this series on Wakayama was the aforementioned Prefectural Museum.

Yutoku Inari Shrine Part 2 Up Above

 

This is the second half of a piece on the famous Yutoku Inari Shrine in Kashima Saga. The first part, Yutoku Inari Shrine Part 1 Down Below,  looked at the shrine and its buildings at ground level.

The main hall of the shrine is on top of an 18-meter-high platform extending out from the hillside. Steps lead up but there is also a recently installed elevator.

Like the Romon and Kaguraden down below, the main hall is unusually decorative and colorful.

On the hillside across the river is Yutoku Inari Park, sometimes called the Outer Garden. In mid-February, it's not very colorful but in the Spring and Autumn, it is. From the park, there are numerous observatories to view the shrine

Above the main hall is the Okunoin, the inner shrine, and leading up to it are several paths lined with the corridors of red torii, a  typical feature of Inari shrines.

Each torii is usually, but not always, donated by a business, and their name is painted on it. Inari is a very popular kami for businesses with many private shrines erected on business premises.

Inari is, by one method of counting, the most popular shrine in Japan, though it did not become so popular until the Edo Period.

There is no mention of Inari in the ancient texts, though in Meiji the government established it within the imperial pantheon by deciding that it was, in fact, Ukanomitama, though in reality, like most deities in Japan, Inari has a multitude of identities, origins, and forms.

On the way to the inner shrine you pass numerous smaller shrines and altars, all to different manifestations of Inari.

The original Inari Shrine, and now the head shrine for all Inari shrines, is Fushimi Inari in the south of Kyoto, founded by the mysterious Hata Clan.

Yutoku Inari was established by the wife of one of the Nabeshima lords, rulers of the Kashima area.

Yutoku Inari was considered the family shrine of the Nabeshima, and nearby is the family temple of the Nabeshima, Fumyoji, and while Yutoku Inari is very popular, Fumyoji is almost derelict.