More Mitarai

Mitarai, a small port on Osaki Shimozima Island in the Inland Sea is a truly delightful step back in time. Much of the small town is an Historic Preservation District containing Edo period buildings and narrow lanes. Hopefully the character of the town will not be lost now that it is possible to reach it easily by car from the mainland. I will post some more on specific location sites in the town but for now a few more general shots.

This gentleman used to be a boatbuilder but now his boats are miniature replicas.

There are quite a few of these districts throughout Japan that are still far enough off the main tourist routes that they can be enjoyed quietly.

The product that brought prosperity to the port was sex. More on that later.

A small shop had this pair of masks on display, though they appear to me to be Namahage, which are not local but from the north of Japan.

Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage temple 28 Jyoso-ji

The Nio gate to Jyoso-ji is some distance from the temple itself, though the temple complex was much larger in earlier times. It is said that the temple was founded by Gyoki, which would make it early 8th Century.

It is also said that Gyoki carved the Nio, and while they are fairly old I am certain that is a rather fanciful legend.

Located in the mountains behind Sada Shrine, the temple was the Okunoin (inner sanctuary) of that shrine. It now belongs to the Shingon sect.

In front of the main hall is a 450 year old plum tree, but it had long since past its blooming when I visited in June.

The main hall has some fine dragon carvings above the entrance.

Misode Tenmangu

Misode Tenmangu in Onomichi is built on the spot where Sugawara Michizane stopped and rested in 901 while on his way to exile in Kyushu. The locals apparently were kind to him and in return he cut off one sleeve of his kimono and painted a picture of himself on it.

That piece of fabric is the goshintai of the shrine. There is an Inari shrine in the grounds, and several others but I was unable to find out which.

As well as students hoping to do well in exams, quite a lot of movie buffs visit the shrine as it was featured in a well known movie and featured in a famous anime.

The 54 steps leading up to the shrine are interesting. They are 5 meters wide and each one is carved out of a single piece of stone.

Sada Shrine

Sada Shrine, located north of Matsue, was once the most important shrine in the Izumo region. Enshrined in the central honden are 5 kami, the main one being Sadano Okami, along with Izanagi and Izanami, and the pair Hayatamano and Kotosakano. Izanagi and Izanami are well known, and in Izumo, Hayatamano and Kotosakano, 2 kami associated with the "divorce" of Izanagi and Izanami are also fairly common. Little is known of the main kami though except he is known as the protector of the Shimane Peninsula. He was born in a nearby sea cave called kaganokukedo and some posts on that can be found here.

The right (north) honden enshrines the Imperial kami: Amaterasu, and her grandson Ninigi. The left honden enshrines Susano, and something called Hisetsu Yonchu, which I think means "hidden four poles", about which I can find no information.

Sada Shrine is one of the many shrines where the mass kami of Japan arrive in November during kamiarizuki, though it is widely reported that they all go to Izumo Taisha.

Sada Shrine is also home to the UNESCO registered Sada Shin Noh. a form of Noh-influenced kagura that is believed to have influenced satokagura nationwide.

When I first explored this area many years ago I found it interesting to klearn that the earliest known yayoi site in Izumo was found in this valley indicating perhaps that this is where the proto-Japanese first settled in the region which would explain Sada shrines importance.

Takada Hachimangu

Being a mask maker myself, one of the things I am always hoping to find in my explorations of shrines are masks, so I was absolutely delighted to discover these masks in Takada Hachimangu.

Located in a small mountain settlement at the base of Mount Sanbe, the highest mountains in Iwami, the hachimangu is a fairly standard village shrine.

About a hundred years ago the government closed down half the shrines in the country, so probably there were more shrines in this village that had their kami moved here, but there was no sign so I was unable to find out. As a Hachimangu it enshrines primarily Hachiman.

Like many shrines in remote areas it was not locked so I was able to look inside.

The masks were a revelation because they were in a style I am not familiar with. Though in Iwami they are not in Iwami kagura style. As I explored more shrines later in the day I found many more examples of this style.

Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Temple 27 Senko-ji

The Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage is obviously still quite populkar judging by the number of Osamefuda left on thye doors of the Kannon-do.

Actually the Kannon-do is named Chofuku-ji and the main hall next door is called Senko-ji, suggesting that the Kannon-do was a separate temple relocated to this site.

It is a Soto Zen temple, and the main deity is a Thousand-Armed Kannon.

Hitsu Shrine

Usually when I am walking a pilgrimage I have studied the maps and have a pretty good idea of what shrines I will be passing, but Hitsu Shrine was a surprise as it was not marked on the maps, though it most obviously is a shrine.

The main kami is Futsunushi, a martial kami connected with swords. here in Izumo it is most strongly connected to the Mononobe Clan, though it was taken over by the Nakatomi-Fujiwara when they wiped out the Mononobe. In Izumo it was Futsunushi who arranged the handover of Japan to the Yamato in the Kuniyuzuri myth.

Within the grounds was a Wakamiya Shrine, though it did not indicate which kami was enshrined in it, possibly hachiman. There was also a small Inari Shrine.

Behind the main shrine was a Kojin altar with the rope serpent wrapped around a tree.

Japanese Ducks

There are many species of ducks in Japan, but I believe these are Kamo, the common mallard.

They were and are eaten, and their arrival in the Autumn was used as a seasonal marker in poetry.

There has recently been a renewed interest in the use of domesticated ducks in rice agriculture. Traditionally they were used to control weeds and insects in the paddies as well as adding fertilizer.

All these were photographed in Chofu, Yamaguchi.

Terutoko Shrine

Terutoko Shrine is located in the middle of a small, low, wooded hill in the suburbs of Matsue northeast of the castle.

It is listed in the Izumno Fudoki, meaning that it existed a millenia before Matsue and its castle were built. Then it was known as Arawahi-sha.

Later it was known as Teratoko Shrine, and the kami was Teratoko Myojin.

In the Meiji Period its name was changed from Teratoko to Terutoko, thereby removing the reference to temple in its name. The kami was renamed Amaterasu, a common occurrence during the creation of the new imperial-centered state religion. many kami were renamed to bring them under the umbrella of imperial lineage.

2021 Update

A recent look on googlemaps shows that the path I took through woodland and bamboo to reach thye shrine has now gone. Clearcut and ade into a park The slopes either side of the shrine have also been clearcut in preparation of development.

Hachiman Shrine, Yuki

These two demon masks were located behind the main building of the Hachiman Shrine in Yuki, a fishing village on the south coast of Tokushima. The spot is named Oni no Koshikake, "Demons Seat".

Apparently several local people saw an  Oni sitting at this spot. Interestingly this is not a story from long ago, as it happened on September 15th, 2002.

Being a Hachiman Shrine, the main kami is Ojin, his mother, Jingu, and either his father Chuai, or his "wife" Himegami.

There was a small Ebisu shrine in the grounds, not surprising at it is a fishing village.

Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Day 12 Matsue to Mount Asahi to Lake Shinji

I had been hoping to walk this pilgrimage in 12 days but it looked like it would be 13. My route today would be northwest out of Matsue towards Sada Jinja.

From there head west into the mountains to visit a couple of mountain temples. In all there will be 5 temples today, the most in one day for any day of the pilgrimage.

From Mount Asahi it will be downhill to the shore of lake Shinji and then along the coast past the English Garden.

Back through Shinji Onsen to Matsue.