Shisa of Taketomi

Taketomi Island is a small island of only 5 square kilometers with about 300 inhabitants in the Yaeyama Islands, now part of Okinawa Prefecture.

It's known mostly as a tourist destination for its traditional Ryukyuan village with stone walls, tile roofs, and water buffalo carts.

The shisa on Taketomi were funkier and more whimsical than those on the main island of Okinawa, reflecting a folksier culture.

Kunisaki Peninsula Walk Day 2

I woke before the sun on November 25th, 2012, the second day of my walk around the Kunisaki Peninula. It promnised to be a glorious day.

I had slept out on the bank of the reservoir behind Namiishi Dam and my route was east towards the sun. By the end of the day I planned on being in the small port town of Kunisaki on the coast where I had a room booked,

The first few hours were uphill until I passed close by the road leading up to Futagosan, the mountain and temple that are geographically and spiritually the heart of the peninsula.

There was virtually no traffic though the road was wide. Now the rest of the day would be downhill, passing Gyonyu Dam and its reservoir.

Wakaebisuya, Top Brothel in Mitarai

Wakaebisuya was one of the four major brothels in the port of Mitarai on Osaki Shimojima Island in the Inland Sea. At its peak there were about 100 prostitutes working in it.

About twenty percent of the population of Mitarai were prostitutes and though the "floating world" is often romanticised and glamorized they were indentured women and girls, some as young as thirteen, sold in to servitude.

This was one of the pricier brothels. for travellers, merchants, etc. Along the waterfront were many smaller brothels that serviced the sailors, often onboard the boats in the harbour.

Wakaebisuya is part of the historic buildings preservation district in the town and is well worth a visit.

Kyushu Pilgrimage Temple 13 Hozenji

The final pilgrimage temple of my third day walking around Kyushu was Hozenji, like the previous two earlier in the afternoon located in Iizuka.

It's a very small, urban temple. The honzon is an 11 headed, thousand armed Kannon, but it is only shown once a year.

It was a very small, urban temple, with not a lot to see othere than a couple of onigawara.

A Full Moon Evening in Iizuka

Iizuka grew up as a post station on the Nagasaki Kaido, which as well as carrying the traffic of daimyo entourages heading to Edo, would have also been busy with traffic relating to the Dutch trade in Nagasaki. Many domains had offices in Nagasaki for this purpose.

From the Meiji Period on it flourished because it was the middle of one of, if not the, most important coalfields in Japan, being at the confluence of several rivers that carried the coal north to the steel works of north Kyushu.

Since the coal industry closed down the local economy nosedived.... many of the stores in the arcade were shuttered......

After checking into my hotel at the end of the third day of my Kyushu Pilgrimage I headed off to find something to eat and was treated to a wonderful sunset and moonrise....

Mukaijima

After spending the morning exploring Onomichi's temple walk it was time to head off on my walk from Honshu to Shikokju along the Shimanami Kaido.

The easiest and most convenient way is to take one of the small ferries that cross the narrow channel seperating Onomichi from Mukaijima. There is a bridge but it is out of the downtown area and is very busy with traffic so cyclists on the Shimanami kaido are recommended to take the ferry.

There is not a lot to see along the way for the first few kilometers until you reach the west side of the island where the town ends and the nice coastline and views begin. Muakaijima is connected to the small island of Iwashijima by bridge.

From then on the views are great as you walk down the west coast of the island to the first big bridge to crossm the Innoshima Suspension Bridge.

Kaho Gekijo Theatre, Iizuka

Built in 1931 to replace several earlier versions that had been destroyed by fire and typhoon, this Kabuki theater was modeled on the Nakaza Theater in Osaka, and still holds kabuki performances and other plays and concerts.

For a provincial theater it is quite large, seating up to 1200 people. It claims to have the largest revolving stage in Japan, moved manually by 12 men. Visitors can explore the understage area as well as props room and other exhibitions.

There was once a total of 48 theaters serving this area known as Chikugo, but this is the only one remaining. Though Iizuka grew from being a post station on the Nagasaki Kaido, it flourished as the center of a massive coal industry starting in the Meiji period.

The coal industry was closed down, not because the coal ran out, but because the government mandarins chose to focus on cheap middle eastern oil, cheaper coal imports,  and then cheap nuclear for the country's power.

The Grand Tour London Olympics Orbit

The Orbit is the iconic observation tower built for the 2012 London Olympics.

It is considered to be the biggest sculpture in Britain and is 114 meters high.

It was designed by artist Anish Kapoor, and from the observation deck there are expansive views over the Olympic Park and onto London.

Constructed out of 600 prefabricated "nodes" and held together with 35,000 bolts. In a bid to attract visitors post-Olympics, you can absail down the tower, and soon what is billed as the tallest and longest tunnel slide will be opened.

Critical reception has been largely negative, but I kind of like it, simple guy that I am, I'm easily impressed by spectacle.

Wakamitsu Inari Shrine

Wakamitsu Inari Shrine is located right next to Nose Hachimangu in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture.

This is one of the most unusual fox statues I've seen,



I couldn't find a date for its establishment, though it is known that the cult of Inari became very popular in the Edo Period. Depending on how you define "shrine" either Inari, or the neighboring Hachiman are considered to be the most common shrines in Japan.

Interestingly, neither Hachiman nor Inari are mentioned in the Kojiki or Nihonshoki, and both have origins connected to the continent and also to Buddhism, but are now firmly identified with "native shinto".

Iwami Mandala Kannon Pilgrimage Temple 3 Fukujoji

Located just outside  Mononobe Shrine, Fukujoji, number three on the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage is just a small rural temple, however it has a large Kannon statue in the grounds.

It's a Pure Land sect temple, and the honzon is an Amida Buddha.

The Kannon statue was not erected and paid for by the temple per se, rather it was the parish womens group. There had been a lot of difficult and stillborn births in the area so the Kannon was for the local women to pray for safe and healthy childbirth.

Noso Hachimangu

Noso Hachimangu is the main shrine of Iizuka in Fukuoka. When I visited it was a few days before the new year and so the place was busy with people preparing for the busiest time of the year for most shrines.

The first record of the shrine, formerly known as Noso-Gu, is 1359, though legend has it that Jingu stopped here after returning from the Korean Peninsula.

There are some nice Tengu, Komainu, Zuijin etc.

As befitting a towns major shrine there are numerous subordinate shrines within the grounds, including several Ebisu shrines, a Gionsha, Tenmangu, Daijingu, Shiga, and a Sumiyoshi shrine.

The biggest secondary shrine is a Wakamitsu Inari, which will get its own post...