Hisatsu Line

After leaving Kosenji Temple I face a dilemma in choosing my route. The next temple is almost directly north of where I am, but that is across a mountain range in a completely different drainage. For three days I have been following the Sendai River, and from here the river heads north up to its source high in the same mountains. An obviously logical choice is to take that route.

It would mean a 35 kilometer hike along a moutain/forest road with no settlements or vending machines so I would need to stock up on food and liquids. It would also mean climbing to a tad less than 1,000 meters above sea level. Its the end of November and down here in the valley it froze last night so at 1,000 meters it will be very cold. Not undoable, and an attractive option. My worry is that on the steep slopes on the northern side there may well be lots of snow and ice. The dirt road closes in Winter and may already be closed.

I cautiously decide to backtrack and go over the mountains at a lower point. There is an expressway paralleled by a main road but I really don't want to deal with so much traffic..... especially as there is a good chance that the sidewalk will be non-existent in places. I decide to take the train!!!

The Hisatsu Line is a delightful train line that runs from Yoshimatsu over the mountains to Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto with some great views of the Kirishima Mountains. Its one of the tourist trains with floor to ceiling windows and wooden interiors. On the way up the train stops several times to reverse and negotiate a set of switchbacks. Several time the train stops for passengers to enjoy the views.

On the other side of the pass the line does a 360 degree loop before negotiating another set of swirchbacks. Here I get off and look for a place to sleep out before carrying on down the mountain on foot the next morning

Hokai-in Temple number 5 on the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

On th third day of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage I headed north from downtown Okayama City andf soon arrived at themple number 5, Hokai-in, sometimes called Henshoji.

The Nio gate was impressive in size and contained a pair of wonderful nio. I could not find dates for the gate or the nio. The main hall of the temple dates to the mid 19th Century.

The temple now belongs to the Shingon sect and was founded in 729. The honzon is a small statue of Kannon supposedly carved by Shotoku Taishi and is registered as an Important Cultural Property.

It is locted an top of a small hill looking over cetral Okayama.

Diverse statuary at Kosenji Temple

Kosenji Temple in Ebino, Miyazaki has a wide range of statues on display inside and out. Flanking the large Fudo MyoO statue were a pair of very stylized Tanuki statues, the one on the left being obviously male.Not sure of their relationship with Fudo though.

There were several "child-like" Jizo. Known as guardian of deceased children, many have this child-like appearance, but seems to me to be more a part of the general "kawaii" culture that is such a large part of contemporary Japanese culture....

There was a fairly standard statue of Kannon, a deity which has many forms. One forms sees young children around her, but here there were frogs.

The frog is called kaeru in japanese, which is also the same word for "return", so commonly frog statues are a kind of good luck charm for returning safely from a journey etc....

Fudo Myo at Kosenji Temple

While putting this post together I noticed a curious thing. The Fudo MyoO statues has one eye wide open and one half closed. I had never noticed that before. I looked through some other photos of Fudo statues and most of them have two wide-open eyes, but a few have one eye haf closed. Not sure of the significance, though more research is needed. If ay reader knows, please say in the comments.

This rather fine arrangement of statues centered on Fudo was in the grounds of Konsenji temple in Ebino Miyazaki, number 42 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage, a Shingon pilgrimage and so with quite a few statues of Fudo around.

As well as this large one, there were a couple of smaller Fudo statues in the grounds.

Kosenji Temple number 42 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage

Hachimanyama Kosenji Temple is at the eastern end of the Ebino Valley in the higjlands around the Kirishima Montains in Miyazaki. It is number 42 on the 108 Shingon temple pilgrimage on Kyushu.

It is a fairly modern temple founded in the early Taisho era, so is about 100 years old. I'm no expert, but it seems that the Gingko trees were a little older than that.

It has an unusual hnzon, a statue of Dainchi riding a cow, though I didn't get to see it. Also unusual for the Kyushu pilgrimage is an actual Daishi-do.

There was quite a bit of interesting statuary which I will post on later, and also one building had quite a few masks on display, severa; of which were from the Iwami Kagura tradition.

Keishu-en Garden

Keishu-en

Keishi-en is a fairly modern Japanese garden attached to Yoko Museum, a small gallery specializing in Chinese ceramics and art. The garden uses Mifuneyama as "borrowed scenery" behind the garden. It was designed by Kinsaku Nakane whose most well known garden is the one at Adachi Museum in Shimane.

There is a large pond filled with koi, behind which is a karesansui garden with many azalea bushes which bloom in the late spring. Unusually the upper part of the garden is a tea plantation with rows of tea plants following the contours.

The path around the garden passes over a bridge by a small waterfall and also leads to a teahouse where you can get traditional tea and sweets.

Most visitors to the area visit the Mifuneyama Rakuen Garden which is very close by and also uses Mifuneyama as a backdrop, but Keishu-en is well worth a visit, especially if you appreciate the work of  Kinsaku Nakane

Buy dokudami tea from Japan

Torinji Temple the Oldest Wooden Building in Okinawa

Torinji

Torinji Temple belongs to the Rinzai Zen sect and was established on Ishigaki Island and built in 1613, the same time as neighboring Gongendo Shrine. Like Gongendo Shrine it was built by the Satsuma Clan who had invaded the islands.

It is said that the building is the oldest wooden building in all the Okinawan Islands. In the gate are two Nio statues that are also credited with being the oldest wooden statues in all Okinawa.

Buddhism was introduced into Okinawa from China in the 13th century, but unlike in Japan, where it had been introduced from Korea in the 6th Century, it was never used to politically unify the country.

It would seem that both the shrine and temple were established by the Satsuma samurai for themselves as Zen was the sect of choice for many samurai. Behind the small main hall is the remains of a small garden.

Purchase a selection of ema from GoodsFromJapan

Along the Ebino Valley

My third day walking up the Sendai River was the 39th day of my walk around the Kyushu Pilgrimage. This would turn out to be the halfway point as iy ended up taking 78 days to complete the pilgrimage, but of course I didn't know that at the time.

There was a mist and the ground was covered in frost as I set out. The mist was not so thick and the bright sun made it quite dazzling as I headed up the river towards the next pilgrimage temple.

On my right were the Kirishima Mountains, and on the lefy another range of mountains whose name I did not now. Later today I would cross over them to a different watershed, the Kuma River.

A main road and an expressway followed the river, but I stayed on the rural roads that primarily passed through agricultural lands...... hoping to find more tanokami, but primarily avoiding the noise and traffic.....

Kote-e of Kitsuki

Kote-e is a kind of Japanese art we would call plaster relief. a kote is a kind of narrow trowel used by plasterers, and e means picture or painting, so the literal translation would be "trowel picture".

The art developed in Edo and spread throughout the country, though in some places it is more common. Oita is one such place, and the merchant district of the castle town of Kitsuki has numerous examples.

The designs of the kote-e primarily used symbols to either ward off misfortune or attract good fortune. The kanji for water, used to ward off the danger of fire, is very common nationwide.

Being merchant properties, many of the kote-e in Kitsuki invoke good fortune and the accumulation of wealth. Daikoku and Ebisu, two of the 7 Lucky Gods, are therefore common.

Tanokami of Kiyomachi Onsen part 2

Kiyomachi Onsen

Kiyomachi Onsen is a hot spring resort town and typically the accomodations are quite pricey, certainly more than I could pay. However I did find a really cheap place.3.000 yen for a tatami room with access to a kitchen in a small, old, run down building that a local onsen used. The baths were in a couple of small old building next door. There were absolutely no tourists, the place was used purely by locals, kind of like a sento.

My hosts were very friendly and told me I was the first foreigner who had ever stayed there. I explained that I was walking the Kyushu pilgrimage and that also I had an interest in the Tanokami. He promptly told me to get in his car and then drove me a few minutes away where there was a large collection of Tanokami statues that had been brought in from the surrounding communities.

When we got back I took a bath in my own private onsen bathroom. It may be a cliche, but my experience has been that the further you get away from the main tourist sites and the cities, the more friendly and helpful people become....

Of course its not as convenient or simple, but well worth the effort....