Tanjo-in Temple 62 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 

Tanjo means "birth" in Japanese, and Tanjo-in Temple in Kashima, Saga is built on the spot where Kakuban, known posthumously as Kogyo Daishi, was born in 1095.

The temple was founded in 1405 at the request of the Shogun Yoshimitsu. Nearby is Rengon-in, a temple connected to where Kakuban first studied the Dharma as a child.

At the end of the 16th century, the temple was destroyed during the Warring States Period. At the end of the 17th century, the local Daimyo of the Nabeshima clan tried unsuccessfully to revive the temple.

In 1913 a descendant of the Nabeshima and influential local people succeeded in getting the temple rebuilt. The grounds are quite large and planted with a wide variety of flowering shrubs and trees including Cherry, Wisteria, Azalea, etc.

The honzon is a Fudo Myoo and it has a statue of Kakuban in front. The Fudo came from Negoro-ji Temple in Wakayama which is where Kakuban died and has his tomb.

He is credited with being a reformer of Shingon and his disciple officially set up a "new" branch called Shingi. For a while he controlled Koyasan. He also was a cause of conflict which is why he left Koyasan for Negoro-ji.

The Kondo, built in 1929, enshrines a statue of Kakuban. Tanjo-ji has a reputation as a place to pray for safe childbirth.

It is number 62 on the 108 temple Shingon Kyushu Pilgrimage, and I visited on the 59th day of my walk. A few minutes earlier I had visited Rengon-in, number 63.

Wakimachi Historic Preservation District

 

Wakimachi is located on the north bank of the Yoshino River in the interior of Shikoku. It is now part of Mima City in Tokushima, the modern name for what was Sanuki Province.

This part of Shikoku became renowned for producing the highest quality indigo in Japan and the trade in indigo made many merchants rich.

Wakimachi established itself as the main trading centre of the area and the old main street of the town was lined with residences and stores of the wealthiest of the merchants.

Enough of the traditional architecture remains so that it is registered as a traditional architecture preservation district, and unlike many such districts, all the above grounds power lines have been buried to give the visitor a more authentic experience.

One of the architectural features that is commonly mentioned in the literature about Wakimachi is udatsu, which are the extensions protruding out from the side of the houses above the ground floor.

Made of plastered earth, their function is to stop fire from spreading from one structure to the next, a kind of firebreak. Udatsu can be seen in many traditional buildings, but here in Wakimachi the merchants competed with each other to build more and more elaborate and grand udatsu as a kind of ostentatious one-upmanship.

Some of the historic buildings on the street are private homes, and some are empty. There are a few gift shops and cafes, and one, the former Yoshida Family Residence, is open to the public as a local history museum.

Built in 1792, the 5 buildings that make up this former indigo merchants property display a slice of historic life and background information on the indigo trade. A ticket to the Yoshida House includes entry to the nearby wooden theatre Odeonza.

The nearest train station to Wakimachi is Anabuki Station, several miles away on the other side of the river, so Wakimachi is not so easy to get to, consequently, it is in no danger of being overcrowded or over-commercialized like some of the more well-known preservation districts.

As mentioned, a historic theatre is located at one end of the street, and a short walk away is a delightful, restored farmhouse worth a visit.

A few miles upstream is the historic Teramachi district with some nice temples that I will cover in the next post in this series documenting the third day of my walk along the Shikoku Fudo Myo Pilgrimage.

The previous Preservation District I covered was the Joto District of Tsuyama.

Rengon-in Temple 63 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 

Number 63 on the 108 temple Kyushu Pilgrimage is Rengon-in located in Kashima on the Ariake Sea in Saga.

It was originally founded in the late 8th Century and later became part of a large monastic complex named Kongosho-in that had a connection with Kakuban, an important priest in Shingon who was born nearby.

Kongosho-in was a powerful temple with many sub-temples but it was destroyed during the Warring States Period of the 16th Century. Only Rengon-in survived and is believed to currently occupy the site  of the Kondo of Kongosho-in.

The Treasure House contains three statues from the Heian Period that are registered as National Important Cultural Properties, one level below National Treasure. The two Yakushi and one Amida statues are prized as rare examples of Jocho-style sculptures.

Jocho was a sculptor of the late Heian Period who popularized the technique of making sculptures out of several pieces of wood. This enabled more assistants to work. He also standardized proportions, again making production more efficient. His style was dominant for more than a century, though not so many pieces remain.

When I visited the temple was thatched but a few years ago it was completely rebuilt and now looks like any other small temple. I visited in the early morning of my 59th day walking the Kyushu Pilgrimage.

The previous post was an overview of day 58.

Kinosaki Onsen

 

Kinosaki Onsen is a very popular hot spring resort located near the Sea of Japan Coast in the north of Hyogo;

Part of its popularity lies, I think, with the fact that it is only a couple of hours by express train from Kyoto and Osaka, and is, therefore, relatively easy to access.

For about a kilometer the banks of the river in the narrow valley are lined with Ryokan, traditional guesthouses, and while these all have their own hot-spring baths fed by the same hot water, there are seven public baths of different sizes throughout the town.

Visiting these seven public baths is suggested as the main cultural activity of the town. Putting on traditional yukata and wearing geta, the noisy wooden clogs, you walk around in the daytime and evening from bath to bath watching all the other visitors doing the same.

Of course, along with sitting in hot water, eating local delicacies is another of the cultural traditions associated with hot springs. In Kinosaki, being close to the sea, seafood is plentiful and in winter Snow Crabs are very evident.(photo 4). Local beef is also touted as a delicay.

Photo 2, above, is a display at the town train station featuring geta from each of the ryokan in the town.  Photo 10, below, shows Mandara-yu, one of the 7 public baths.

If eating and bathing is not quite enough for you, then Kinosaki does have some other attractions worth a visit that I will cover in future posts. In the meantime, here is something that I haven't seen covered in any of the numerous online guides to Kinosaki, a delightful karesansui garden

The previous post in the series exploring Toyooka in Hyogo was the Takuan Temple in Izushi.

Yuminato Harbour to Tomogaura Port

 

After leaving Yuminato I need to cross the Yusato River before I can continue u the coast. The first bridge is a little upstream and after crossing I need to head further upstream towards Yusato as the next section of the coast is rocky headlands and narrow inlets with no settlements or roads. Though it is October, Morning Glories are still in flower.

The river flows down from the mountains that contained all the silver ore that made it one of the richest mines on the planet and why the area is now a World Heritage Site. Up ahead I see the village of Yusato with the new expressway, the main San-in Rail Line, and Route 9, the main road from Kyoto all crossing the river in about the same place.

I stop in at the local village shrine, a fairly standard Hachiman Shrine with nothing notable or unusual, and just as I reach the edge of Yusato I take a narrow road up into the mountains. Only wide enough for a single small vehicle, I love these roads as there is never any traffic and its like having a  wide, paved hiking trail and there is only forest, no buildings, no other sign of humans.

After 15 minutes walk the road drops down into the tiny settlement of Kitahata which has a huge compound that i would call a manor house, that has always struck me as incongruous with its location. Obviously belonging to a wealthy and powerful family, its remote  location has always puzzled me. Though this is not the actual old Ginzan Kaido, the road that connected the Silver Mine with the nearby port of Tomogaura, it is very close to that road and so I'm sure it must be connected.

Kitahata has a small beach that is protected by thousands of tons of concrete that is reminiscent of Normandy beaches in 1944. Though it is an unpopular idea to many, one cannot help but think that Japan is at war with nature, though it is couched in the vocabulary of defense.

Climbing out of Kitahata along the narrow road that runs alongside the railway, a sign points to a trail that leads into Tomogaura. This is the old Ginzan Kaido and from it I look down on the little settlement that runs down to the World Heritage Port.

The previous post in this series documenting my walk along the Sea of Japan coast was Yuminato Harbour.

Tenno-in Temple 36 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Tenno-in, number 36 on the 88 temple Sasaguri Pilgrimage, like its counterpart on Shikoku, Shoryuji Trmple, enshrines Fudo Myoo.

Specifically, the honzon is a Namikiri Fudo, a "wave^cutting" Fudo. According to the legend, on his return journey from China in 806,  the boat Kobo Daishi was in was in danger of being sunk by stormy seas but was saved by prayers to Fudo.

The main Fudo statue in the main hall is "hidden" but, as with most of these Sasaguri temples, numerous Fudo statues can be found around the grounds.

Tenno-in is a sub-temple of Nomiyama Kannonji, a large complex of temples and sub temples including Gokurakuojoin and an unrelated temple Mizuko Monjuin, located high in the mountains to the north of Sasaguri.

Tenno-in has some large buildings, including a guesthouse. It is said that the main hall is the largest main hall of all 88 temples on the pilgrimage. It was built in 1973. The origunal Tenno-in was at Koyasan but had been demolished and inactive since the late 19th century.

Tenno-in has a large Hydrangea Garden and the grounds are planted with lots of Japanese Maple so is ablaze with color in the autumn. It also has a small zen garden and teahouse.

From here the pilgrimage route heads down the mountains following a different route than the one taken on the ascent. The previous post in this series was Gokurakuojoin Temple.