South from Saiki: Day 17 of my walk around the Kyushu Pilgrimage

heading south out of Saiki, my next stop would be Nobeoka, and I had a couple of choices of route. Probably the prettiest would be the coast road, but I opted for the inland route over the mountains, pretty much following the rail line, as it would save me 20k. I left at sunrise.

The route went upstream one of the tributaries of the Banjo River. There was nothing of note along the route that I planned to visit.

I stopped in at a couple of interesting looking temples, and quite a lot of shrines.

Pointing to some kind of forest park, this giant Stag Beetle was a curious sight. It was still the height of the cherry blossom season. By sunset I had gone over the pass and was on my way down the Kitagawa River which would take me all the way to Nobeoka.

Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 35 Kiyotaki-ji

At the end of my 17th day of walking I arrived at Kiyotakiji, the 35th temple of the pilgrimage, located on a mountainside overlooking Takaoka in Tosa City.

It's not so high, but with a steep approach. There were some fine Nio in the gate halfway up the final flight of stone steps. According to legend the temple was founded by Gyogi in 723 and he carved the honzon, a statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha, which is a National Treasure.

Kobo Daishi visited here later and, in a ubiquitous legend created a spring with his staff, though here it became a waterfall which leads to the temples name which means "Clean Waterfall Temple".

The priests here were very kind, giving me permission to spend the night in the Tsuyado, free accomodations, quite a substantial one. They also asked if I needed any food, which I didn't. It was nice to be able to explore the grounds after dark.

Tokosan Dainichi-ji

Tokosan Dainichi-ji is an urban temple in the old castle town of Saiki on the coast of southern Oita in Kyushu. I visited it on my 16th  day of walking along the Kyushu 108 temple pilgrimage which is composed of only Shingon temples.

It was founded in the very early 17th Century and was connected to the ruling family of the castle. It was never a big domain. The honzon is , not surpringly, Dainichi, the Great Sun Buddha.

I believe this is a statue of Binzaru, though it is in much better condition than many Binzaru statues which are normally rubbed by petitioners for healing purposes.

I believe this chubby figure is a Kannon, though back in those days I was not paying as much attention to the names of many of the statues I encountered,,,,,

This is probably a shrine to Dakiniten, the deity that played a large part in the formation of the popular kami Inari.

Minimal Geometric Abstract 3

Another photographic interlude of some of my favorite photos. Diagonal, shadow, and rust.... can't go wrong with that combination.

Architecture is an obvious choice of subject for the kind of imagery I am attracted to. Japanese tile roofs are a goldmine of pattern.....

Yin and Yang, positive and negative,..... not sure why but I seem to have a knack for seeing such things ....

curves and shadows......light and pattern....... of course sunsets, flowers, landscapes and such are beautiful, but we are surrounded by beauty in the man-made and natural world.....

Reflection, another subject that can't fail to produce....... my photography (and hence my "eye",... even my self) is very very simple.....

BTW I now have a large format photo printer so if anyone is interested in purchasing prints please let me know.... :)

Midsummer Kagura

Back in June we took some friends to a nightime outdoor kagura festival, the first time in a long time that I had watched some kagura.

I was delighted to see a dance , Iwagami, that I don't remember having seen before. It was performed by a group from Misumi, and so was Masuda-style with a couple of masks that I had also not seen before.

Some of the special effects were also new to me and so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The demons also had a mask change which also pleased me.

There were about 6 dances in total and they were all enjoyable. The event was free, which also pleases me. I recently saw some adverts for some Iwami Kagura performances in Tokyo, and the tickets started at 5,000 yen. Suckers!

Onigawara of Shikoku part 2

Onigawara, "DemonTiles", are the , usually ceramic, tiles decorated with the face of a demon usually found on the roofs of temples, and sometimes shrines and private dwellings.

Meant to protect the building by warding off evil, my own fascination with them is in their diversity, so I seek them out whenon my travels and am always looking for unique ones.

All of these I encountered while walking the Shikoku Pilgrimage known as Ohenro. The first photo is from Fujiidera, the 11th temple on the pilgrimage.

The second photo is from Jurakuji, temple 14, and the third is from a small Chinese style chapel nearby.

The 4th is from Kokubunji, temple, number 15, and the final photo is from Kongochoji, temple 26.

Saiki Reflections

In the early evening I was heading to my minshuku and crossed the river. The strong light and fairly calm surface produced some quite nice reflections.

That's all. No more words, just pics. The final photo is cherry blossoms.....

Kanmon Bridge

The Kanmom Straits, one of the entrances into the Seto Inland Sea, separate Honshu and Kyushu, and at its narrowest is only about 800 meters wide.

The Kanmon Bridge was one of the biggest suspension bridges in the world when it opened in 1973 to carry road traffic across the straits from Shimonoseki to Kitakyushu.

The central span is just over 1,000 meters. Prior to its construction there was a road tunnel beneath the water, as well as a tunnel for trains and even a pedestrian tunnel.

Ferries still connect the two sides as they have for centuries.

Saiki Castle

Saiki Castle

Saiki, on the coast of southern Oita Prefecture was a castle town in the Edo Period. Built in 1606 by Mori Takamasa, Tsuruya Castle, now known as Saiki Castle, was built on top of  Mount Hachiman.

Most of the castle burnt down in a fire just 11 years later, and was not rebuilt as Mori relocated his headquarters to the base of the mountain, where the main gate of the castle, built in 1637, is the only structure still standing.

After quite a climb up the mountain you can still see a lot of the original stonework . It was not a big castle but had a three storey keep.

It is worth the climb for the expansive views down on the town, across to Shikoku, and across the banjo River.

Kabosu Juice From Oita Prefecture

Sasaguri Pilgrimage Honmyoin

Though it is numbered 33 in the 88 temples of the pilgrimage, Honmyoin is often the first temple visited as it is located close to Sasaguri Station.

The honzon is Yakushi Nyorai, the "Medicine Buddha", and there is some connection with temple 33 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage which also venerates Yakushi, though it is a Zen temple and this one is Tendai.

There was lots of statuary considering how small the temple is. Not sure who this is but I like its lack of sophistication.

There were several Fudo Myo's, an indication of how popular statues of him are on the pilgrimage. There is often a priest on duty and it is possible to buy stamp books and other supplies here.