Karatsu Castle

 

Karatsu Castle is situated on a spit of land on the west bank of the Matsuura River as it reaches the sea.

I arrived in Karatsu by walking down the Matsuura River and approaching the castle it became clear how the builders had used the river mouth and sea as a moat to offer protection.

Karatsu castle was built by Terasawa Hirotaka between 1602 and 1609. He used a lot of the construction materials from Nagoya castle about 20k away which was built by Hideyoshi as his base  for invading Korea.

Teraswa had his domain taken by the shogunate, partly it seems for not suppressing the Shimbara Rebellion. A series of different clans had the domain until the mid 18th century when the Ogasawara took over and held it until domains were abolished in 1871.

Interestingly, it is considered almost certain that the castle never had a tenshu, or keep. A base for one had been built but there is no evidence one was actually constructed.

The current keep, was built in the style of keeps of the period, and along with  most of the yagura were reconstructed in 1966.

Sections of the outer bailey can be found southwest of the main castle. After settling into my hotel I went to the beach to the West of the castle for some other fine views.

The previous post was on Kakurinji Temple, a few kilometers down the river.

Kiyama Temple a remnant of Shinbutsu

 

Kiyama Temple is located at more than 400 meters above sea level on a mountain in the northern part of Okayama prefecture.

With a large torii at the entrance one might be forgiven for thinking that it was a shrine, and not a temple, but it is an example of what was very common in the old days, a religious site with elements of both Buddhism and Shinto, Shinbutsu.

In 1868 the government decreed that Kami and Buddhas were to be separated, a process akin to unscrambling eggs. This was done for ideological and political reasons, to create a "national" religion.

Here on Kiyama, the site used to be called Kiyama-Gu, but in 1868 it became Kiyama Temple and down below a new site, Kiyama Shrine was constructed. I covered Kiyama Shrine in a post with 24 photos earlier.

The founding legend says that Kobo Daishi himself was in the area in 815. An old woodcutter guided him to the mountain and suggested it was a good spot for a temple.

Kobo Daishi recognized the man as a manifestation of Yakushi Nyorai and founded the temple here with  a Yakushi Nyorai statue.

I visited in early August after climbing up from Kiyama Shrine, and there was not another single person, visitor or staff, around the whole time I was there. Kiyama Temple is temple number 4 on the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, and this was late on my fifth day of walking it.

The entrance is across a big lotus pond with a Benzaiten Shrine in the middle of it, photo 3. 

Benzaiten is another deity that is problematic if you want to think in terms of a distinction between Buddhism and Shinto. Originally a Hindu deity, introduced into Japan by esoteric Buddhism, she later became a kami in Shinto.

The main gate, photo 4, here called Furomon, is said to be the oldest structure at the site, though I can't find an exact date for it.

The main hall also has a big torii in front of it. As well as Yakushi Nyorai, it also enshrined the two guardian deities, Gozu Tenno, and Inari.

Gozu Tenno was the deity of Gion-sha, the origin of the famous Gion Matsuri and now called Yasaka Shrine. Some sources suggest he was originally from India by way of Tibet and China, but most suggest a Korean origin for this deity.

Long equated with Susano, in 1868 the "kami" previously known as Gozu Tenno officially became Susano.

Inari as also a problem for those who think in terms of a pure, Indigenous "shinto".

There is no mention of Inari in the Kojiki and Nihongi, the texts seen as fundamental to "native" shinto. Inari is now equated with Ukanomitama, the post-1868 identity. rior to that Inari was often equated with Dakiniten, a Buddhist deity with Indian origins.

There are actually numerous secondary, small shrines to different Inari within the grounds of Kiyama Temple.

There is also a Koshin-do, a shrine to the Koshin deity, Daoist in origin, and very popular in pre-modern Japan, the Koshin cult brought us the Three Wise Monkeys, and the Sarubobo dolls.

Pictured above, the Kannon-do with its carved reliefs looks like a shinto honden, because that is what is was until 1868. It held the shintai that were moved to the new Kiyama shrine further down he mountain.

Pictured above, the Daishi-do was originally the main hall of the temple.

As well as Kobo Daishi it also enshrines Fudo Myo and Aizen Myo

So, a very complex mix of deities at this site, indicating a much richer and more diverse religious history than a simplistic shinto-buddhist duality.

There are some other large structures within the grounds, including a large guesthouse and storehouse, yet, as I mentioned before, not a soul around.

The previous post in this series of day 5 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was Kiyama Shrine down below.

Yoshiwarayama Kakurinji Temple 80 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 

Kakurinji is located on a low hilltop on the bank of the Matsuura River not far from its mouth where it enters the sea.

I approached it from the rear and so was able to enter using a small footpath rather than the longer main road.

It is a fairly new temple, being founded in 1947 and the main hall dating back to 1954.

A Bokefuji Kannon statue is prominent. Bokefuji is a new Japanese version of Kannon that has become increasingly popular. Depicted with an old couple at its feet, Bokefuji Kannon is prayed to for those wishing to not suffer dementia and Alzheimers.

In fact Kakurinji is now one of the temples on a new pilgrimage, a Kyushu  Kannon pilgrimage to prevent dementia.

It is the 80th temple on the Kyushu 108 pilgrimage but also on the standard Kyushu Kannon Pilgrimage.

The temple is known locally as Koyasu-san or Koyasu Kannon due to its connection with Koyasu Daishi, a legend from Koenji, temple 61 on the Shikoku Ohenro.

At the gate of Koenji Temple Kobo Daishi met a woman having a difficult birth and his prayers enabled a safe birth. The Koyasu Daishi faith spread and led to the formation of thousands of Koyasu co-fraternities across Japan in the early 20th century.

The Karatsu Koyasu-ko was the group that brought Kakurinji into existence and so has a reputation as a temple to pray for safe and successful births.

There were a lot of Fudo Myo statues in the ground.....

The honzon of the temple is a Yakushi Nyorai and also a Koyasu Daishi.

The mountain name, Yoshiwarayama, comes from a wealthy local family, the Yoshiwara, who donated the land for the temple.

The previous post in this series was on the Udono Cliff Carvings upstream.

A Walk in Rural Kochi

 

Late November, and on day 17 of my walk around Shikoku on the Ohenro pilgrimage I have left the Wakamiya Hachimangu shrine connected to the great Shikoku warlord Chosokabe Motochika and am heading across country to Tanemaji Temple 34.

This, for me, was the essence of the pilgrimage. The pilgrimage temples supply a structure and a route, but for me it is the space between the temples, the unknown expanses of mostly rural Japan that most visitors miss. I was seeking out the shrines and histories that don't make it into the tourist brochures.

I had been doing this for years, initially exploring the area around my home, gradually going further and further afield until I knew all the back roads and what could be found. I got into a pattern of studying maps and finding all the shrines and then working out a walking route that would take me to them all.

The impetus was to learn, to try to understand all the whys, why were things the way they were. To learn about the natural environment and its ecology and how that influenced the people, and to learn the political and religious history and how that shaped the place to be in the form it is now.

The Shikoku Ohenro was my first time on a "Buddhist" pilgrimage. I figured that dressed in pilgrims garb on a well established walking route I was less likely to be stopped by the cops, something that happened far too often to me and had a depressing effect on me.

The first photo is a small, local shrine, a Kamado Shrine. There were numerous kamado shrines in the area, indicating what I was not sure. The head shrine is in Dazaifu in northern Kyushu and was established after Japan's unsuccessful invasion of the Korean peninsula in the late 7th century.

photo 2 is a heron, a fairly common bird around rivers and rice paddies. Photo 3 is a small man-made pond, vital for irrigation for rice paddies before the modern world that nowadays uses a lot of electrical pumping.

 

Photo 4 is a small park of some kind, and photo 5 a gourd water bottle hanging on a farm outbuilding. A far cry from the ubiquitous plastic water bottles of now.

Phots 6, 7, and 8, are another small, local shrine, Mori Shrine. One of the things that fascinates me is the diversity of such things as the komainu guardian statues, which nowadays are tending more and more to a homogenous, "national" style, but which historically were quite varied.

photo 8 is the Kodono River I had to cross, and the finalthree photos are of an unusual memorial below a small local shrine. It seems to be dedicated to the ascension of Hirohito in 1926 when the era name changed from Taisho to Showa. Architecturally it is curious as it looks like some kind of tomb.

The previous post in this series looking at what is between the temples on the Ohenro was Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine.