Hasami Shrine

 

Hasami Shrine is located in its namesake, Hasami, so is probably considered the ujigami of the area.

It is located adjacent to Tozenji Temple where I was heading to, which suggests that in the past the shrine and temple were the same institution.

The shrine records say that it was established about 650 years ago, but the temple claims a much older history.

The kami enshrined here are listed as Amaterasu and Susano. A little unusual as they would often be found as a triad with Tsukiyomi, but not here.

The previous post was on Sumiyoshi Shrine in Haiki.

Japan Sea Coast Maji to Nima

 

From Maji, the village that has Kotogahama Beach, to Nima, the next settlement up the coast, there is no coastal road and so the road rises to cross over the headland.

Looking back down the coast I can see the coastline I have walked along for the past three days, with the tall chimneys at Gotsu, my starting point, just visible.

The narrow road through the forest is uninhabited for about 2k until the road drops down to the Shiono River.

This is the main river of Nima, but is not very big and starts nearby in the mountains around Iwami Ginzan.

I walk up to the mouth of the river to see the views before backtracking and heading into Nima Port

The previous post in this series on the Japan Sea Coast was on Kotogahama Beach.

Sumiyoshi Shrine Haiki

 

This Sumiyoshi Shrine is close to the edge of the water in Haiki near Sasebo, Nagasaki.

About 2 kilometers away, a bit inland, is another Sumiyoshi Shrine that is said to be the origin of this one. A mikoshi is carried between the two shrines during festivals.

It is not a particularly big shrine but seems to be very popular in the area.

Sumiyoshi shrines enshrine the Sumiyoshi Sanjin, the three kami of Sokotsutsu no o no mikoto, Nakatsutsu no o no mikoto, and Uwatsutsu no o no mikoto. Three "brothers" noted for their protection of seafarers.

The main Sumiyoshi Shrine is in Osaka, but it was originally a north Kyushu cult taken to central jaan by Jingu who is also enshrined in Sumiyoshi Shrines now.

The oldest shrine to the Sumiyoshi Sanjin can be found in nearby Hakata in Fukuoka, and also on the Iki Islands which suggests a connection to travel between the Korean peninsula and northern Kyushu, which also explains the Jingu commection.

I was visiting not long after sunrise on Saturday, March 8th, 2014 at the start of my 66th day walking around Kyushu.

The previous post was on the nearby Haiki Strait.

Fudo Myo at Jimyoin Betsuin Temple

 

Regular readers will easily recognize this as a statue of Fudo Myo, far and away the most numerous deity statue featured in my blog.

All these shots come from the Jimyoin Betsuin Temple in the mountains near Sasaguri, Fukuoka.

Along the 88 temple miniature Henro pilgrimage in the area, but not one of the temples of the pilgrimage.

Fudo is the honzon, or main deity of this temple.

I have never come across so many Fudo statues in such a concentrated area anywhere else in Japan as along this pilgrimage.

We visited on our way down the mountain towards the end of our first day walking the pilgrimage

The previous post was on the Jimyoin Temple itself and some of its many other statues.

Haiki Strait

 

This may look like a wide river, but in fact, it is a strait, a narrow sea channel that connects Omura Bay with Sasebo Bay and the open ocean. There are two straits, and yesterday I crossed the Hario Strait on my walk to here.

Haiki Strait is about 11 kilometers long and with an average width of 125 meters, at one point it narrows to just 10 meters.

With a depth of only 4 meters in places and with some low bridges, ships of any size cannot use the strait, but small fishing boats can.

I visited just after sunrise on day 66 of my first walk around Kyushu. The previous post in the series was my diary for day 65.

Crossing the Yodo River

 

As day 2 of my walk along the Kinki Fudo Myo pilgrimage winds down it was time to head west after visiting the cluster of temples in central Osaka.

I crossed the Yodo River on the bridge that carries Route 2, a non-descript low, concrete bridge, one of 70 that crosses the Yodo.

At this point the river is about 600 meters wide. It starts 70 kilometers away inLlake Biwa and there it is called the Seta River. When it crosses into Kyoto it becomes the Uji River, and south of Kyoto it is joined by the Katsura and Kizu rivers and changes its name to Yodo.

Before the advent of the railways in the modern period it was the main transportation artery between Osaka and the capital in Kyoto.

Looking back, the high-rise landscape of downtown Osaka dominates.

The previous post in the series was on the Yasaka Shrine on the East bank.