Okayama Castle

Okayama Castle was constructed between 1573 to 1597 by the Ukita Clan. They were on the wrong side of the Battle of Sekigahara and so the castle passed briefly to the Kobayakawa Clan before coming under the control of the Ikeda Clan who held it until the abolition of the domains in 1869.

The castle's nickname was  Crow Castle because of its black exterior. The famous Himeji Castle not far away was likewise nicknamed "White Egret Castle".

The Asahi River was utilized as a moat on two sides of the castle.

Some of the roof decorations are gilded, but for its first few years all the roof tiles were  gilded earning it the nickname Golden Crow Castle.

This last photo is taken from Korakuen Garden which was built by the Ikeda.

Samurai Gardens of Chiran

At the start of day 35 of my first walk around the island of Kyushu I wandered around the former samurai district in Chiran, a small town  in the south of Kagoshima. Seven of the former samurai residences are open to the public, but none of the buildings can be entered. However they all have delightful gardens.

Most of the gardens are relatively small and usually incorporate the distant mountains as "borrowed scenery". The first photo is the garden at the Saigo Keiichiro residence. This second photo is at the Hirayama Ryoichi residence. Its garden is unusual in that it has no stone arrangements, and is primarily pruned hedges, including azalea. This type of garden was an Edo period innovation and is usually attributed to Kobori Enshu.

Obviously, all these residences belonged to fairly high ranking samurai. The above garden belonged to Sata Mifune. 6 of the 7 gardens are karesansui, dry gardens with no water.

This one belonged to Sata Tamiko, and the bottom photo belonged to Mori Shigemitsu. It is the only garden with a water feature, and I believe he was the most senior samurai of the district

Gongendo Shrine Ishigaki

Gongendo Shrine is a Shinto shrine on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture. It is claimed that Okinawa is part of Japan, and it is also claimed that "Shinto" is the indigenous religion of Japan that dates back thousands of years into the mists of prehistory.

Gongendo Shrine was established in 1614, though it was destroyed by a tsunami in 1771 and rebuilt in 1786. and as far as I am able to discover was the first Shinto shrine on the island.

The Ryukyu Kingdom was established on the main island of what is now called Okinawa in the 15th Century and later took control of Ishigaki. In 1609 the Japanese Satsuma Clan invaded the Ryukyus and established military domination. Gongendo Shrine was built in 1614.

Like most Japanese shrines of that time Shinto architecture and ornaments and such were heavily Buddhist, and so it is here at Gongendo, though the Chinese influence is evident. Gongendo Shrine is immediately adjacent to Torinji Buddhist temple which I will cover in my next Okinawa post

Ishigaki Sea Salt

Chiran Peace Museum

Hundreds of stone lanterns line the main road that leads towards the Chiran Peace Museum in Chiran, southern Kagoshima. Chiran was an airbase operating during WWII that was home to one of the "Special Attack Squadrons", known as kamikaze in English.

All the displays are to do with the kamikaze operations and it is heavily focussed on the pilots themselves. It is very much a place to memorialize them and revere them.

The grounds of the museum also includes a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple, both of which revere the dead pilots. Photography was not allowed inside the museum.

I was quite uncomfortable during my visit as there was a heavily nationalistic element to the place, and in my humble opinion nationalism is not connected with peace. Individuals sacrificing their lives for the state is an increasingly popular ideology, especially for the sociopaths who comprise the state.

There seems to be no mention of the indoctrination that caused the sacrifice of the pilots in an unwinnable war, nor that such tactics likely influenced the decision to drop the nuclear bombs.

Many of the "peace" museums in Japan focus almost exclusively on Japanese victims. A few that didn't have in recent years had their funding removed.

Kitsuki Castle the Smallest Castle in Japan

Kitsuki Castle

Claimed to be the smallest castle in Japan, Kitsuki castle is located in northern Kyushu in the town of Kitsuki in Oita.

The keep is a mere three storeys, but the castle does occupy a strategic position on a headland overlooking the river and sea.

A castle was built here in the late 14th Century by Kitsuki Yorinao, though it must be said that the Japanese definition of castle would in many cases be called s small fortification in English.

I like Kitsuki. There is an excellent, well-preserved samurai district near the castle which I will post on later. The current keep is a modern reconstruction though they have made an effort to keep signs of modern times out of the grounds.

Kabosu Juice From Oita Prefecture

Daikokuji Temple 97 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage

Situated on top of Mount Kunimiyama above the town of Makurazaki in the far southeast of Kagoshima is Daikokuji Temple, number 97 on the Shingon Kyushu Pilgrimage of 108 temples.

I got here on day 34 of my walk, and was met at the gate by several youngish people with shaved heads. In fact there were quite a few young people walking around the temple grounds and it seemed far more active than any others I had been to.

The most intriguing things were the statues. More than 100 of them, including 88 representing the Shikoku pilgrimage. Most of them were large, brightly colored, and obviously not made by professional sculptors.

Though it is a Shingon temple it also had a Zen dojo. There were also lots of photos of many foreign visitors and guests. The view down and across to Kaimondake was also nice. An unusual and particularly friendly place.

Sunrise from Osakikamijima Island

It was cloudy when I woke up on the third day of my walk along the Aki Nada island chain in the Inland Sea in Hiroshima, but it was still a delightful sunrise.

I had slept out at 425 meters above sea level, the highest point of the island.

It is pure coincidence that I am posting so many sunrise and sunset pics recently.

I occasionally do topical posts, but mostly I am sequentially going through my folders of photos from my walks around Japan, and posting chronologically from them.

Kanmai Masks at Hirakiki Shrine

One of the things I am always on the lookout for in my wanderings in the back country of Japan, are masks. Being a mask-maker myself, though admittedly somewhat lapsed, I look for the unusual and diverse that can inform my own masks.....

At Hirakiki Shrine in the far south of Kagoshima Prefecture I hit paydirt. They had 24 old wooden masks on display. In a back room I also saw a collection of newer masks that the priest let me in to view, but today here are some of the old ones.

I wish I had talked with the priest more, but what I have been able to find out is that the masks were worn for Kanmai, which translates as "god dance"... they don't use the word kagura. There used to be a lot more dances performed, but some still are, in October.

Traditions in this part of Japan were usually somewhat different from mainstream Japan.

I'm sorry I didn't ask about the names of the masks....

Need to get back there and do some research..... one of these days.....

Buy Handmade Masks From Japan

Sunset from Michika Island

Michikajima, Michika Island, is a tiny, uninhabited island in the Seto Inland Sea. It is located between Hakata Island and Oshima Island and is part of Ehime.

It is on the Shimanami Kaido that connects Shikoku with Honshu. It connects to Hakata Island by the Hakata Bridge, and to Oshima Island by the Hakata-Oshima Bridge which can be seen in some of these photos. There is a small campsite on the island but is only accessible for cyclists, pedestrians, or moped/scooter riders.

I spent the night there at the end of my second day walking along the Shimanami Kaido, and I had the island completely to myself.

I know many of you are in lockdown right now, and I hope you are all staying safe and well. There will come a time when we can all go out and visit such places again.....

Kaimondake the Fuji of Satsuma

Mount Kaimon is often called the Fuji of Satsuma, for obvious reasons. It dominated my view for the whole of day 33 of my walk around Kyushu. This first photo was taken at sunset.

This second photo was taken mid morning from Nishi Oyama Station, claimed to be the southernmost train station in Japan and a popular spot for selfies.

Kaimondake is 924 meters high and almost perfectly conical. It is classified as dormant, but last erupted in the late 9th Century.

There is a trail to the top and reportedly the views are great, but I could not afford the time and so walked past.