Hata Shrine Nagahama

 

Hata Shrine in Nagahama, Kochi, is located right next door to Sekkeiji Temple, number 33 on the famed Shikoku Pilgrimage, and in fact is built on the site where the temple stood until it was destroyed in the anti-Buddhism campaigns of early Meiji.

Sekkeiji was the family temple of the Chosokabe Clan, and Motochika Chosokabe is buried there. He was the warlord who "unified" Shikoku under his control in the late 16th Century, and his name is familiar to most pilgrims because so many of the temples on the pilgrimage were burned down in his wars of conquest.

Hata Shrine was established in 1888 on the site of the destroyed temple to enshrine Motochika himself, and so in a sense is very much a political site, and as such seems sterile...... though maybe I am projecting. The name Hata was used as the Chosokabe claim descent from the famous Hata Clan of ancient Japan.

A small torii and path lead from the main shrine up on to the hilltop above where there is a small Nishinomiya Shrine dedicated to Ebisu. It is built on the site of what was Nagahama Castle, a very small castle that was the site of Motochika's first battle .

The previous post in this series documenting my walk along the Shikoku Pilgrimage was on the ferry that crosses Urado Bay on the route between Zenjibuji Temple, and Sekkeiji Temple.

Nabeshima Mansion Garden

 

The Nabeshima mansion was a high-ranking samurais residence and administrative outpost of the Nabeshima Clan who ruled what is now Saga during the Edo Period.

The mansion and surrounding district of samurai residences is located on the north side of the Shimbara Peninsula in Nagasaki.

The Nabeshima house and surrounding samurai district is a historical preservation district, though the Nabeshima mansion is the only property open to the public

When the mansion was built in the late 17th century it had a pond-type garden, but in the early 20th century the garden was renovated and the pond was removed and the garden turned into a dry, karesansui, stroll-type garden.

The steep slope is landscaped in quite, for my untrained eye, an unusual way.

The stepping stones also seem to be larger than usual....

I visited in mid-February so plums were in blossom, including a fine weeping plum shown in the first photo. I imagine that later when the azaleas are blooming would also be a good time to view the garden.

A path does lead up to the high ground where you can look down on the garden, mansion, and surrounding area and on clear days as far as Mount Unzen.

Remnants of the pond can still be seen.

The previous post in the series was on the Nabeshima Mansion itself and includes photos of the gardens in front of the property.

Oreki Temple 7 Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage

 

Oreki-ji is a small, Tendai temple in the mountains of the Kunisaki Peninsula, and is temple number 7 on the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage.

It is less than 3 kilometers from Mudo-ji, temple number 6, that I had visited a little earlier.

Like Mudo-ji, Oreki-ji is one of the Rokugo Manzan temples of the Kunisaki Peninsula that developed its own unique form of syncretic mountain religion more than a millenia earlier, and that makes the area so intriguing to visit nowadays.

Just inside the gate, next to a large Wishing Jizo statue, is a small hall with a second set of stone Nio guardians. Inside are 33 Kannon statues.

Like all 28 Rokugo Manzan temples, Oreki-ji is said to have been founded by the monk Ninmon in 718, though many historians consider him to be more a legendary figure.

It was moved to its current location in 1625. The temple declined during the Edo Period and eventually became abandoned by the mid 19th century, but was revived by monks from Futago-ji.

The hinzon is a Thousand-armed Kannon, originally held in the okunoin further up the mountainside, but moved here after a fire. The Okunoin is now a Rokusho Shrine, but I did not make the climb up to it.

There is also a fine, Heian Period statue of Fudo Myo. Originally located in its own building on the other side of the river, it is carved out of a single piece of cypress and is registered as a Prefectural Important Cultural Property.

There are many other statues inside the main hall, including an En no Gyoja flanked by  2 demon servants ( photo 5 )

Since I first started exploring the Kunisaki area many years ago it has become more popular but still most visitors only visit a half dozen major sites, but it is well worth spending more time here and exploring more deeply as it is filled with sights to see. The Kunisaki Hanto Minemichi Long Trail is a walking route with minimal support infrastructure, but it roughly follows the old Shugendo  pilgrimage route. This was the second day of my walk along it.

The previous post in this series was on the nearby Misosogi Shrine.

Nabeshima Mansion

 

The Nabeshima Mansion was a big property around which is the Kojirokuji Samurai District in Kumini on the coast of the Shimbara Peninsula.

It has one of the biggest Nagayamon I have ever seen. In essence a long gatehouse, they were often where guards and servants of big mansions lived.

The cluster of different connected buildings were built at different times between the Edo Period and the early twentieth century.

Looking at an old map shows that this area was part of three, small pieces of "territory" controlled by the Nabeshima domain, but geographically within the Shimbara Peninsula, controlled by Shimbara Domain, so the surrounding little samurai district and the Nabeshima mansion were kind of an outpost.

Maps of Japan at the time show all kinds of complicated "islands" of territories geographically within domains, but I have no idea how this came about in this instance.

When I visited the house was closed to the public for renovations, but I believe it is now open.

However, the property has some fine gardens and grounds including a cherry tree that brings visitors to photograph its early blossoms. I will cover the garden next...

The previous post was on the Preservation District the mansion is part of.

Okuizumo Tatara Sword Museum

 

In the remote Chugoku Mountains of Shimane is a museum featuring many Japanese swords, apparently quite a popular topic for many visitors to Japan, yet few, if any, swords were actually made in this area.

However, this is one of the most important areas for the main ingredient in a sword, iron. Japan had little in the way of iron ore deposits, and for centuries most iron was imported.

However, once the technique of smelting iron sand was introduced,  domestic iron and steel production flourished, and the Okuizumo area became a major exporter to other areas of Japan.

The museum showcases the history of the tatara forges that produced this iron. Perhaps the most intriguing is that the result of a tatara forge includes a small quantity of something called tamahagane, which is one of several types of metal that are vital to producing an authentic Japanese sword. Modern science and technology have been unable to find another way to make tamahagane.

Some days have demonstrations of working a small piece of iron in a modern forge, and members of the public are given the chance to try their hand. Also occasionally there are demonstrations of tamegishiri, sword testing, which I will show in the next post in this series.

Though having no interest in samurai swords I still found the museum intriguing, and, being so remote, is never crowded.

The previous post in this series on Okuizumo was on the sculpture of Yamata no Orochi in front of the museum. The ancient iron industry was so important to the area that there are numerous other tourist sites about it. Nearby is the Itohara Memorial Museum which I would recommend.

A few kilometers from the museum is a modern factory building that contains the only working tatara forge in Japan. It is the only source of tamahagane in Japan, so all, true Japanese swords made nowadays must buy from here. It is thought to be the inspiration for Irontown, a setting in the anime Princess Mononoke.

Kojiro-kuji Samurai District

 

Kunimi Town on the Ariake Sea coast in the northern part of the Shimbara Peninsula is home to a small, little-known, samurai district registered as a Historic Preservation District.

Samurai districts tended mostly to be adjacent to castles, but sometimes, like here, they were established as kind of fortified villages some distance from the castle town. In Kyushu, the ones at Kaseda and at Chiran were quite similar.

This one belonged to the Nabeshima Clan whose headquarters were quite a distance away in Saga. Here in Kujiro they established a jinya , a mansion, in the mid Edo Period near where a castle had stood until being demolished in the early Edo Period.

The Nabeshima mansion is an impressive property which I will cover in the next post. There was little in the way of interesting architecture other than the mansion.

What does remain, and what was deemed worthy of preserving, was the layout of the streets with their canals, stone walls, and hedges. Interestingly all the power cables in the area had been buried which helped in imaging how it looked centuries ago. There is a local history museum nearby where you can see displays connected to the area and pick up a map.

The previous post on this series on day 61 of my Kyushu Pilgrimage was on the two shrines at the castle site on the hill behind the samurai district.

Other than the two samurai districts mentioned above, on this pilgrimage, I also visited samurai districts in the castle town of Kitsuki and the castle town of Obi.