Hayashi Kumano Shrine. The First Kumano Shrine?

 

This was a completely unexpected site I visited while heading down towards the next pilgrimage temple, Rendaiji. From the first torii up to the main shrine buildings was quite a distance and around the shrine was a lot of open space.

I now believe this area was until around 1868 filled with many Buddhist structures, the three-storey pagoda remaining.

The arrangement of the shrine was also unusual, with a long line of 13 hondens in 4 structures.

Originally called Kumano Junisha Gongen, and renamed Kumano Shrine in 1868, the junisha refers to the 12 kami enshrined in the line of hondens, the 12 kumano kami plus a local protective kami.

According to the founding legend, in 699 the famed mystic and legendary founder of Shugendo was exiled to Izu. A group of 5 of his disciples carried the spirit of what is now Hongu Taisha shrine in Kumano and eventually, in 701, decided upon this spot to found a new shrine. This is why the shrine now claims to be the very first "Kumano" shrine.

The five disciples also founded 5 temples in the area and this became a major shugendo centre with two other sites in the area for a Shin Kumano.

The shrine temple complex went through cycles of destruction like most major religious centres and the oldest remaining structure is the one called Second Hall. It was rebuilt in 1492 and is a National Important Cultural Property.

The remaining structures date back to a rebuild by the Okayama  Daimyo Ikeda Mitsumasa in 1647.

The  kami are listed as Izanami, Izanagi, Amaterasu, Ninigi, Amenoshihomimi, Hikohohodemi, Ugayafukiaeizu, Haniyamahime, Kagutsuchi, Wakamusubi, and Mizuhanome.

Among the secondary shrines in the grounds are Susanoo and Ichikishima.

In 1868 the shrine was separated from all the temple structures and renamed Kumano Shrine.

In 1872 Shugendo was outlawed until 1945.

The previous post was on the remaining temples in the complex and the three-storey pagoda.

Akashi Castle

 

Akashi castle is an Edo Period castle built to protect the approaches to Osaka from the west.

Most of the Tozama Lords, the daimyo that had fought against the Tokugawa and were therefore still considered a possible threat, lived in the west, and so the Tokugawa placed allies in strategic positions around the country.

At the entrance to what is now a huge park in front of the castle is a statue of Ikujiro Nakabe, a local politician from the Meiji era who had nothing to do with the castle. The statue was erected in 1928 but was subsequently melted down for weapons during WWII and then remade later. As well as being involved in national politics he also founded fishing companies and whaling companies that operated in the Antarctic.

The castle was constructed between 1615 and 1617 and took about a year to build. Thanks to the One Domain One Castle decree of 1615 many castles were dismantled and come of the materials and structures were recycled in the construction of Akashi Castle

It was quite a large castle with a total of twenty yagura, towers, and 27 gates.

Within the park are several gardens that are now named the Musashi Gardens after the famed samurai swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. He was involved in the design of the castle and the surrounding area, and several gardens in nearby temples are attributed to him, but these gardens in the park were named after him after a very successful TV drama series on Musashi.

A base for a Tenshu, keep, was  constructed but no keep was built.

The main structures were 4 3-storey towers on each corner of the inner bailey.

The castle was built by Ogasawara Tadazane, but the Ogasawara were transferred to the Kokura Domain in 1632.

A succession of Fudai Daimyo, vassals of the Tokugawara before Sekigahara, or relatives of the Tokugawa, were given the Akashi Domain after the Ogasawara.

The castle was mostly demolished in 1874, but the two corner turrets on the south remained and are now Important Cultural Properties.

A large park and sports facilities now occupy most of the site. The stadium is built over what was probably a garden by Miyamoto Musashi.

Many events and festivals take place in the park.

It is a popular spot both for Cherry Blossom and Autumn Leaves viewing.

It is free to enter and a ten alk from JR Akashi Station.

Goryu Sonryuin Temple

 

Heading south towards Rendaiji Temple and Yuga Shrine I was surprised by this big torii and major approach to what was called Kumano Shrine, however the right hand side of the approach was filled with a variety of temple buildings that stretched about 400 meters.

There was an area with many Mizuko Jizo, very much a postwar thing, but apparently there were originally five temples here.

It was very much a shugendo site that included the Kumano Shrine and of the five, Sonyuin seems to have been the main temple.

According to the story, when En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of Shugendo, was exiled to Izu by the government, 5 of his disciples wandered around various areas carrying the divided spirits of the Kumano Sanzan shrines and in 701 after divine revelations set up the shrine here.

Each of the five founded a temple but Sonryuin became the main temple. Later in the 8th century the emperor gave all the land in the surrounding district to the shrine complex and around this time Yuga Shrine and Rendaiji Temple to the south were established so the area became a "new" Kumano Sanzan.

Fortunes deteriorated after the Heian Period but one of the sons of Emperor Gotoba, who had been exiled to the Oki Islands, was exiled here and revived the temples until they again fell into disrepair in the 14th century, all except Sonryuin.

In the 15th century during the Onin War the whole shrine temple complex was almost completely destroyed but revived during the Edo Period.

The three-storey pagoda was built in 1820 and now is within the grounds of the Kumano Shrine.

In 1868 when the Buddhas and Kami were separated the shrine and temple separated, and a few years later when Shugendo was outlawed the temple joined the Tendai sect. In 1945 it once again reverted to Shugendo, with a connection to Tendai Shugendo.

The previous post was on the Susanoo Shrine  few kilometers north.

Iyo Kokubunji Temple 59 Shikoku Pilgrimage

 

After visiting Senyuji, temple 58 of the pilgrimage, the route comes back down from the mountains towards the sea and temple 59, Kokubunji, among the rice paddies outside Imabari City.

It is one of the "Nation Protecting" temples established in every province in the early 8th century usually adjacent to the government administrative centres established under the new Ritsuryo system.

The other three Kokubunji on Shikoku are also part of the pilgrimage, number 15, Awa Kokubunji, number 29, Tosa Kokubunji, and number 80, Sanuki Kokubunji.

It was officially established in 741, and it was certainly built by 756. Founded by Gyoki, as so many of the pilgrimage temples are, the honzon is a Yakushi, Medicine Buddha, said to have been carved by Gyoki himself.

Worth looking for when visiting is the lovely "topless" Benzaiten statue in the Benten Shrine. Also noticeable is the Hand-Shaking Daishi statue below.

The temple was destroyed by war on numerous occasions, in 939 during a rebellion by Fujiwara Sumitomo, in 1184 during the Genpei War, in 1364 during the Northern Court-Southern Court warfare, and like so many of the pilgrimage temples, by Chosokabe Motochika in the late 16th century. A fire in 1689 once again destroyed most of the temple. It is said the hoinzon and other btresures survived each time.

The current main hall was rebuilt in 1789. Kobo Daishi is said to have spent some time here and donatede paintings pf the Five Wisdom Kings. It is a Shingon temple now.

The current site is believed to have been where the government offices were originally. The original site of the temple was about 150 meters  away. Immediately adjacent to the temple is a Kasuga Shrine which was part of the same complex until the sepeartion of Buddhas and Kami in 1868.

The previous temple was number 58, Senyuji.