Sorakuen Garden Kobe

 

As far as I can tell, Kobe only really has one Japanese garden of note, the Sorakuen.

Constructed during the end of the 19th century and the begining of the 20th, it was originally the mansion and garden of a wealthy businessman, Kodera, but was given to the city.in 1941.

The mansion and its buildings were all destroyed in a bombing raid in 1945, except the brick stable building which was built in 1907.

In 1963 the Former Hassan House was moved here from its original site in the  Kitano area.

Designed by Alexander Hansell, who also designed several other Western style residences in the Kitano district, it was built in 1902.

Unfortunately, it is rarely open to the public. The gas lamps in front are among the oldest in Japan.

Another structure moved into the garden is the Funaykata, the two-storey superstructure of a river barge built at the end of the 17th century and used for parties by the Himeji lord.

The hull has long since been lost, but it is registered as an Important Cultural Property.

The garden covers almost 20,000 sq meters and is primarily a pond-stroll type garden.

One of the best times to visit is in late April and early May when the azaleas are in bloom.

An unusual feature is the grove of cycads, not palms, but looking very similar.  There is also a huge camphor tree that has been here since long before the mansion and garden were constructed.

There is a modern reconstruction of a traditional teahouse, and looking out over the garden is a large, modern wedding and banquet facility called the Sorakuen which features a pricey  restaurant and cafe

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Kinki Fudo Myo Pilgrimage was on Nishinomiya Ebisu Shrine.

Mimasakachinju Shrine

 

Mimasakachinju Shrine is just across the road from Toko-ji temple and is almost certainly the guardian shrine that was relocated from the temple at the start of the Meiji period.

It is usual for separated shrines and temples to be adjacent to each other, and the temple records refers to a "guardian" shrine, which is the name of the shrine.

Also, all the structures, komainu, etc have dates from late Meiji period, and finally, the original shrine temple complex enshrined Kurokami Gongen, and the kami enshrined here are the exact same as at Kurokami Shrine.

The kami listed are Amaterasu, Izanami, Hayatama, Okuninushi, Kotosaka, Takeuchi, and Sugawara Michizane. In 1907 during the national campaign to close local shrines, 5 shrines were moved here....a Daijingu, a Gongensha, a Myojinsha, a Kotoshirasha, and a Tenjinsha.

This was my last stop of the days pilgrimage and I headed back to Sasebo for the night one last time. The previous post was Toko-ji Temple.

Kishu Railway. The Shortest Railway Line in Japan.

 

As I walked into the outskirts of Gobo City in Wakayama I came across some abandoned railway tracks. A few minutes later I arrived at Nishi Gobo Station of the Kishu Railway, the shortest railway line in Japan.

Actually, there is technically a slightly shorter line, somewhere up near Tokyo, but as it runs on tracks, trains, and drivers leased from another company, that doesn't seem to count to me.

The Kishu Railway runs 2.7 kilometers from Nishi Gobo Station to Gobo Station, with three stops in-between. The abandoned tracks I saw were from the 700 meter section from Nishi Gobo to Hidakagawa which closed in 1989.

The line opened in 1931 as the Gobo Rinko Railway and was never really successful. In 1973 it changed names after being bought by a real estate company who wanted the cachet of being able to call itself a railway company.

The railway owns three diesel carriages but only 2 are operational. There are no passing loops, so a single train shuttles back and forth about twenty times a day.

With at most about 200 passengers a day, and even with unmanned stations and "one-man cars", it cannot be making a profit, but it seems that recently a Chinese company became the majority shareholder. I visited on day 6 of my walk along the Kumano Kodo and Saigoku pilgrimage. The previous post was on Shioya Oji Shrine.

Sangenyama Toko-ji Temple 67 Kyushu pilgrimage

 

Tokoji, temple 67 on the Kyushu pilgrimage is located in the basin down below Mount Kurokami in the mountains between Arita and Takeo in Saga.

According to the temples history it was founded as a branch temple of number 69, Saikomitsuji, when it was founded by Kobo Daishi in the early 9th century upon his return from China.

It flourished as a shrine-temple complex for mountain ascetics.

It enshrined Kurokami Daigongen, gongen being Buddhist avatars of kami.

It was destroyed by fire but rebuilt in 1547 with a Yakushi Nyorai as honzon.

The temple is number 37 on the Kyushu Yakushi pilgrimage.

The temple received support from the local daimyo.

In 1868 Shugendo was outlawed, the guardian shrine was moved to another site, and the temple fell into disuse and disrepair.

It was revived sometime in the twentieth century.

There are many Mizuko Jizo in the grounds, and in the main hall is a small Kannoin statue said to be worshiped by Hidden Christians during the Edo period.

The previous post was on the nearby Mudo-in temple.

Aizen-ji Temple 32 Shodoshima pilgrimage

 

Aizenji is a substantial temple located near to a Michi no Eki where I stopped for a late  lunch on the third day of my walk along the Shodoshima 88 temple pilgrimage route. 

The temple was founded in the early 8th century by Gyoki. Several other temples on Shodoshima make this claim too, as do a large number of the 88 temples on Shikoku.

About a century later Kobo Daishi is said to have stopped here while waiting out a storm on his way to the capital.

In 1384 a monk named Seichi restored the temple and it has stood ever since.

The honzon is an Aizen Myoo, hence the temple name.

Aizen Myoo has some associations with sex, often nowadays meaning matchmaking. Interestingly in historical times he was invoked in several situations by men seeking gay lovers.

The notion of "matchmaking" deities has always existed in Japan, but nowadays seems to be a growing industry.

There were several statues of "cute" Jizo couples which to me look like a development of the "cute" dosojin statues in the Shinto tradition.

There is a nice rock garden on one steep slope and a nice Chinese Juniper tree.

The most curious thing for me was a kind of onigawara tile which looked like a cross between a tengu and a kappa... (last photo)

The previous post in this series on day three of my Shodoshima pilgrimage was on Shoboji and Seiganji temples.

Mudo-in Temple 68 Kyushu pilgrimage

Mudo-in, temple number 68 on the Kyushu 108 pilgrimage is a small rural temple to the southeast of Mount Kurokami near Takeo in Saga.

It claims some connection with the Shugendo center that was active on that mountain.

The temple was established in 1487.

The honzon is a standing Fudo. In the grounds are another small Fudo, and a Kurokami Eye Fudo, said to cure eye diseases.

It is also temple 26 on the Kyushu Fudo pilgrimage.

Unusually, for this pilgrimage, it was an inhabited temple with someone home.

The old priest showed me a photo of his brother, also a Buddhist priest, taken meeting the pope. According to my recent research, he is no longer the head priest at this temple but has been replaced by a much younger one. I strongly suspect he may be a son of the family.

Though it was late March, a single plum tree was sporting new blossoms. Another thing I noticed were the extremely worn small komainu.

The previous post in this series on day 71 of my Kyushu pilgrimage was the Ono Tenmangu Shrine just across the valley.