From Futagoji to the Ferry

 

After visiting Futagoji Temple and having climbed Mount Futago, I head off along the narrow mountain road that skirts around the central peaks of the Kunisaki peninsula and that will take me to the main road running north to the coast and the ferry home.

There is a barrier across the road saying it is closed. I ignore the signs and carry on. I usually do this. Usually, there will be a small landslide or some construction that blocks vehicles, but which is easily passable by someone on foot. This time was the exception. The road was completely blocked by a ten-meter-high wall of mud, rock, trees, and debris.

A solitary worker assures me that I can clamber over the debris pile, which I do, and am able to carry on. To go back and go around the mountains on the other side, the only other route would have been at least a 15k detour

The first sign of civilization once I reach the north side is a small shrine, home to one of the many fire festivals that take place on the peninsula.

The road now descends almost directly north and gradually the settlements become larger.

The sun sets and as I don't carry a watch or phone I ask an older gentleman out walking his dog what the time is. There is a ferry around 7 and the next one is not till around midnight, so I'm wondering whether I should up my pace or not. He tells me then asks where I am heading. He offers to give me a ride the few kilometers to the port and so he invites me into his nearby workshop where his son is working on the family business. They are a father-son team of sculptors.

He mentions a temple in Hamada near where I live and asks if I know it. Apparently, they did a statue for it. I have long since lost the meishi, business card, that he gave, so I can't tell you their name. I regret not staying longer and chatting.

This was the end of my 5 day walk exploring the Kunisaki peninsula on foot in the late autumn of 2012, and the trip had just heightened my curiosity about the area and I returned again in 2017 when I spent longer walking the first part of the Kyushu Fudo Myo pilgrimage.

Norito Shrine

 

Norito Shrine was established about 1,000 years ago when the area it is in was "developed", that is to say turned from semi-wilderness into settled agricultural land.

It is located in the Ainoura River Valley which at this point runs east to west and is in essence a suburb of Sasebo.

There is also an Inari shrine in the grounds.

Norito is an unusual name for a shrine as it is the word that refers to the ritual chants, often called prayers, that Shinto priests utter in ceremonies. prior to the Meiji era the shrine was known as Ikuhara Daimyojin.

The main kami enshrined here is Iwainushi, believed to be a version of Futsunushi, a martial deity connected to swords and Katori Shrine who was an emissary from Amaterasu to Okuninushi and is claimed as the ancestor of the Mononobe Clan and later the Nakatomi/Fujiwara.

I was heading up the valley on day 67 of my walk along the Kyushu pilgrimage after visiting Tozenji Temple.

Senganji Temple 9 on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage

 

Senganji Temple, number 9 on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage, sits on a steep hillside overlooking the small town of Kawamoto on the Gonokawa River.

It is a Soto Zen temple with a Jizo for a honzon, and was founded in 1576.

It was originally located in a valley to the west but was burned down, quite ossibly due to warfare.

On to of the mountain was a castle belonging to the Ogasawara Clan who ruled the area, with the agreement of the powerful Mori Clan.

Senganji and two powerful temples nearby, also both on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage, all had strong connections with the Ogasawara and were considered clan temples.

Senganji has been uninhabited and rarely visited for some time, and since I visited ten years ago I have seen photos showing a lot of deterioration and collapse in the buildings.

According to one source there were several residences at the temple until about 100 years ago.

The previous post was on the path up the mountainside to the temple which has many statues.

Senganji is also temple number 21 on the Iwami Ginzan Kannon pilgrimage, a recently rediscovered pilgrimage route.

The Climb to Senganji Temple

 

Kawamoto is the next town up the Gonokawa River from my village.

Halfway up the steep hillside across the river from downtown Kawamoto is a small temple, Senganji.

The temple becomes really visible in late Autumn when the trees around it turn orange, yellow, and red.

I have actually only made it up to the temple one time, after walking down from Iwami Ginzan on day 5 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage.

Senganji is temple number 9 on that pilgrimage.

There is no vehicular access to Senganji, only a footpath with more than 200 steps, which is, I think, a large reason the temple has been uninhabited for a long time.

There are numerous statues along the path, inlcuding a lot of Jizo but also some Kannon.

When I visited in the late afternoon in May, the shafts of sunlight illumnated many of the statues quite dramatically.

Tomorrow I will post photos from inside the temple and include what history I have been able to find out.

According to a recent photo I saw, the structure housing this collection of statues has  now completely collapsed.

The temple occuppies a narrow ledge in the steep hillside.

The previous post in this series on the Iwami kannon pilgrimage was Ido Shrine in Omori.

Tozenji Temple 74 on the Kyushu pilgrimage

 

Tozenji Temple, number 74 on the Shingon Kyushu pilgrimage, is in Nakazatacho, a rural community north of Sasebo in Nagasaki.

On the previous day's walk I visited temple 66, also called Tozenji, to the east of Sasebo.

The temple was established here in 968, but its origin can be said to lie almost three hundred years earlier in tye very early 8th century when the famous mink Gyoki visited the area and carved a statue of yakushi Nyorai.

That statue was enshrined on top of the mountain in what is now the temples Okunoin and the statue is the honzon of the temple.

I visited very early in the morning and there was no one about so I didn't go inside and see the statue.

The temple grounds are dominated by a huge Camphor tree.

Thought to be 600 years old, this ancient tree has a trunk circumference of 8 meters and is twenty meters high.

The previous post was about the first temple I visited on this, the 67th day of my walk, Korin-in.

Kochi Daijingu & Yosakoi Inari Shrine

 

Kochi Daijingu is located just outside the main gate of Kochi Castle, and within the grounds is Yosakoi Inari Shrine.

Kochi Daijingu, with its unique golden torii, is a branch of Ise Shrine, but I can not find much info on it beyond that it was established in 1873. The Inari shrine is far more popular and has more info.

There were a lot of chickens wandering around the grounds, something I have seen before at shrines, but not so very often....

The Inari Shrine was renamed Yosakoi Inari quite recently in honor of Kochi being the origin of the Yosakoi dance.

The shrine originally was in the property of the Yamauchi Clan, and was moved to Kochi when the clan sold their property in early Meiji. I believe it was originally in Kyoto as a few of the enshrined kami are specifically local Kyoto kami.

As a branch of Ise, the Daijingu enshrines Amaterasu. The chicken has been considered the messenger of Amaterasu in the same way that the fox is considered the messenger of Inari.

Consequently, there are no komainu at the shrine, just a pair of recently added chicken statues and the usual foxes.

The previous post from day 16 of my walk along the Shikoku Ohenro pilgrimage was Kochi Castle.