Watari to Shikaga Along the Gonokawa River

 

After visiting the Hachiman shrine I carry on up the riverside road through what used to be called Watari but is now just considered Kawagoe.

It used to be a sizable settlement, having a village shrine and a couple of temples.

Now, at least half the properties are abandoned...

Across the river on the opposite bank is the former Mizunokuni Water Museum.

It has been closed now for several years, around the time that the rail line closed. Even though it is on the main road it never had many visitors and I am amazed is stayed open as long as it did. many of my older posts about it no longer have photos, but this one does.

Though we are about 25 kilometers from the mouth of the river, it is still fairly wide at this point.

There may well have been a trail along this section before the railway was built in the  1930"s, but the road, as narrow as it is, was only built at the same time as the train line. Traffic of any kind is very rare, usually a small post office or delivery van a couple of times a day... that it...

Sections of the bank are so narrow that tunnels were necessary.

I am amazed many of the roadside altars are regularly supplied with fresh flowers. As the few elderly inhabitants die off they too will become abandoned.

The next settlement of any size, with a new, concrete bridge across the river, a big shrine, a couple of temples, and the abandoned railway station, is Shikaga. Here I will take a  few kilometers detour  inland.

The previous post was on the Hachiman Shrine in Kawagoe.

Hirata Honjin Gardens, Mansion, & Museums

 

The Hirata Honjin Museum is located on a hillside overlooking the old town of Hirata near the shore of Lake Shinji.

A honjin was a property used as a guesthouse by feudal lords when they traveled within their domain and this one was the residence of the wealthy Honkisa family who made their fortune locally with sake brewing and trading cotton.

The buildings and most importantly the garden were dismantled and moved here from their original site about 2 kilometers away.

It is an Izumo-style garden, karensansui, with the arrangement of stepping stones that marks it as uniquely Izumo.

It is sometimes referred to as Gentan-style after Sawa Gentan, a gardener brought to Izumo by The famous daimyo Matsudaira Fumai who had a hand in designing many of the gardens in the Izumo and Matsue area.

Unfortunately, the garden cannot be entered, however, it can be enjoyed from the main room of the house.

Some say that the garden can be best appreciated in the rain when the wet stones shine....

However, visitors are allowed to enter the gardens that lead from the main house to the Yuyuan Teahouse.

The Yuyuan is a Shoin-style teahouse of 4.5 tatami.

It is not open to visitors, but can be rented.

It was reproduced using the original Edo period plans.

As well as the gardens, the whole house is open to visitors.

On display are artworks and artifacts from the family, including some samurai armour.

The traditional bathroom and toilets are also open.

There are also two large, modern, galleries that show temporary exhibitions, and sometimes more works from the family collection of prints and paintings.

These sometimes  have an entry fee, though I must stress that everything else is free.

And yet there is more......

Some large storehouses have been converted into a Folk Crafts Museum....

In many ways this place is similar to the Izumo Cultural Heritage Museum which also offers gardens, traditional architecture, and exhibitions with no entry fee. If anything The Hirata Honjin has the edge in terms of displays and gardens.

In the entrance hall you will see a big example of a local artform, Isshiki Kazari. I have briefly touched on this before, in this post.

In the old section of Hirata you will be able to see many more examples of isshiki kazari and also visit a wealthy merchant home and gardens, that while not as spectacular as the Hirata Honjin, is well worth a visit.

For those into gardens, less than 2 kilometers from Hirata Honjin is Kokokuji, a zen temple with a small but excellent garden. It and the Hirata Hoinjin garden always appear in the top gardens list of the American magazine Journal of Japanese Gardening. The top garden in that magazine is always the Adachi Museum Garden, also in Shimane.

The previous posts in this series on Izumo and Matsue were on Izumo Cultural Heritage Museum and Gardens.

Kannabiji Temple 11 on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage

 

Kannabiji is one of the oldest temples in the area I live. It was founded in 746 and it is said that Kobo Daishi later visited and converted it to Shingon.

It was located halfway up a mountain and was supported by the Ogasawara Clan who operated from the nearby Maruyama Castle. In 1872 the area suffered a big earthquake known as the Hamada Earthquake and it caused the spring at the temple to dry up, so the temple was forced to relocate to its current location.

When I visited in early May the azaleas and botanzakura were in full bloom. In the grounds is a very large weeping cherry and by the gate a huge gingko. These last two may have been in the old temple that stood here before Kannabiji was moved here.

I was visiting on day 6 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage, with Kannabiji being number 11. It is also temple 22 on the recently rediscovered Iwami Ginzan Kannon pilgrimage.

The honzon is a Kokuzo Boddhisattva, not a very well-known bodhisattva, but the one that was instrumental in the training of Kobo Daishi..

The Nio are quite cool, and by the side of the main building are a set of rakan statues, (last photo). I cant remember seeing the Kannon statue.

The priest lives nearby in a modern house, but a huge, traditional house sits to the left of the main hall.

The main altar bis quite colourful, with some excellent dragon paintings.

The storehouse is actually a small museum whose prize possession is the remains of a set of samurai armour that dates back to the Heian period and is believed to be the second or third oldest samurai armour in Japan. It is not much to look at but at the art museum in Sakurae Town is a full replica.

On this leg of my walk I walked the route "backwards" from my house upriver. The previous post was on the Zen temple in my village, Hikasaji.

A Sunrise Walk Down the Matsuura River

Monday, March 24th, 2014, and I take the first train out of Sasebo heading north.

The sun comes up as I am approaching Hizen Nagano from where I will continue on with day 72 of my walk along the Kyushu pilgrimage.

These very early morning walks are often one of the highlights of these walks I do.

Heading north along the Matsuura River, the valley is initially covered in a mist which somehow makes the light very bright. A white light rather than the warm yellow of sunrise light.

The Matsuura River starts in the mountains near Arita and heads roughly north until reaching the sea at Karatsu, my destination for the day.

Though there is a railway line running down the river valley, there are no big settlements, and nothing of note to visit until I reach Ochi, about two hours later.

Here I will have to head up a tributary of the main river to visit the first pilgrimage temple of the day.

The previous post was on my visit to Sasebo port the evening before.