Kikuya Residence

The Kikuyas were a rich merchant family who helped build and run the old castle town of Hagi. Their residence was built in 1602 and is one of the oldest and best preserved example of Edo Period merchant architecture in Japan.

The interiors of the buildings are filled with displays, including an office area. In many ways the Kikuya residence was built way above their station as merchants were the lowest of the 4 classes with only various "non-persons" below them, but as the Edo period went on they became richer and richer and the highest class, the samurai, became poorer and poorer.

The kitchens and domestic areas are also open and filled with artifacts.

Previously I posted on the gardens surrounding the residence, but next up is the neighboring park-like garden that contains a more modern mansion residence

Sohachiman Shrine

Located in Nakanuki, near Sone in Minamikokura, Sohachiman shrine is quite a popular shrine in the area and is known particularly for prayers for a long life and also for enmusubi, finding a partner.

As a Hachiman shrine the main kami enshrined here is listed as Homuda Wake, the name of Emperor Ojin, but unlike most other hachiman shrines it does not list his mother, or father, or wife. It does however enshrine the three Munakata goddesses, Takirihime (Tagorihime), Ichikishimahime, and Takitsuhime.

However the main focus for visitors to the shrine is a massive boulder, split in two, called Suzuiwa, which enshrines the goddess Iwanagahime, one of two daughters of Oyamatsumi offered to Ninigi, the grandson of Amaterasu and mythical ancestor of the imperial line.

Ninigi rejected here because she was not as pretty as her sister, and in response she vowed that from now on the lives of the emperors as well as all other humans would be as brief as the blossoming of the cherry blossoms. This is why she is prayed to for longevity. The fact that the rock is split into two parts, one male the other female, is the reason people come here to pray for enmusubi.

A Walk Around Dogo Day 1

By the end of the first day of my walk I had reached a small campsite in a beautiful little cove. I had been wanting to walk around Dogo, the largest of the Oki Islands, for a long time and last May I finally made it. Not a long walk, only 75 kilometers, and it took just three days.

The day started with some bullfighting, or rather bull sumo, a tradition of the Oki islands and still very popular on Dogo.

Then I headed east until I hit the coast, stopping in at shrines along the way looking for Kojin, the serpents made of straw....

On the way up the east coast I stopped in at Sasaki-ke, a traditional residence of a well to do family,

Then up the coast as far as the Jodogaura coast, one of the many areas of special geologic interest around the coastline. I had the campsite to myself.

Shodoshima.... more words, more photos

Last Christmas and new Year I spent 10 days on Shodoshima, primarily walking the 88 temple pilgrimage route. I really enjpyed the island and pilgrimage, and I have started to post about it here on this blog, but I have already posted lots of articles and photos over at Japanvisitor.com, so here are the links.
First a general article about the pilgrimage

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/shodoshima-pilgrimage

then 4 articles on the amazing cave temples found there

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-temples-shrines/shodoshima-temples
http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-temples-shrines/shodoshima-temples-2
http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-temples-shrines/shodoshima-temples-3
http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-temples-shrines/shodoshima-temples-4


finally a series of diary blogs from the pilgrimage

http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/02/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-1.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/02/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-1-afternoon.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/03/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-2-morning.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/03/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-2-afternoon.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/04/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-3-mito.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/04/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-3-mito_6.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/04/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-4.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/04/walk-around-shodoshima-day-4-part-ii.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/04/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-5-tonosho.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/05/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-5-around.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/05/a-walk-around-shodoshima-to-great-kannon.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/06/a-walk-around-shodoshima-to-great.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/06/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-7-north.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/08/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-7-part-ii.html
http://japanvisitor.blogspot.jp/2016/08/a-walk-around-shodoshima-day-8-final.html

Kyushu Pilgrimage Temple 91 Shinko-ji

Located almost right under an expressway that runs from Moji towards Kanda, there is not much to Shinkoji, temple 91 of the 108 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage, just a couple of nondescript almost ramshackle buildings.

In the 13th Century a wandering monk saw a purple cloud over the mountain and decided to build something here. Later the Ochi Clan made headquarters here during a military campaign and then later built the temple and used it as a family temple.

In 1862 it was burned down during some sort of military action by samurai from Choshu, but I have been unable to ascertain under exactly what circumstances.

Not a grand temple, but there was some nice eclectic statuary.....

Fudarakusan-ji Temple,,, dying to get to heaven

Fudarakusan is a Tendai temple located on the coast in Nachi at the southern end of Wakayama. According to legend is was founded by an Indian monk in the 4th century, hundreds of years before the official introduction of Buddhism into Japan.

It is one of two temples that are part of the Kumano Kodo World heritage Sites and is most famous for Fudaraku Tokai..... journeying to Paradise. Fudaraku is the Japanese version of Mount Potalaka, the Pure land of Kannon that lay off the southern tip of India.

Monks would be sealed within rudderless and oarless boats and set adrift with food and water for 30 days on their journey to reach paradise. They were not always sealed in as there are reports of monks jumping overboard and drowning after being towed out to sea and released. Another favorite tactic seems to have been pulling a plug in the hull so the boats quickly sank.

It seems obvious that the vast majority would have died, though there is a case of one monk who managed to drift and come ashore in what is now Okinawa to continue with his life. The tourist literature states that in later times the monks would be set adrift once they had passed away naturally.

Kyushu Pilgrimage Temple 92 Fudo-in

I can find very little information about Fudo-inm temple 92 of the 108 temples on the Kyushu pilgrimage, other than the honzon is Fudo Myo-O and the temple was founded in the 13th Century.

There were several stone Fudos in the grounds, and all the structures were concrete and fairly modern.

What was most obvious were the hundreds and hundreds of large pet bottles each containing a candle. Obviously part of some new year ceremony or celebration.

Horikoshi

Just after dawn I crossed the isthmus into the fishing village of Horikoshi. In the middle of the island the mountains were still draped in clouds.

On the waterfront a small hokora, wayside shrine, with a recent offering of sake.

Like many fishing villages the houses had their backs turned to the sea. No windows looking out that way, just an expanse of dark, weathered wood with occasional doorways.

Up the hillside at the edge of the community I found what I was looking for, Horikoshi-an, temple number 5 on the Shodshima pilgrimage, a simple hermitage located right next to the village shrine.

From here the pilgrimage path heads up into the higher parts of the small peninsula down towards the next temple.

Rural Industrial Interlude

After crossing the pass from Moji I started downhill towards the first pilgrimage temple of the day when I passed a ubiquitous sight in rural Japan, a small quarry.

It's hard to comprehend just how much concrete is poured in Japan. There are some truly massive limestone quarries that produce the cement, but the second ingredient in concrete - aggregrate- , crushed rock, is found everywhere.

Also ubiquitous in even the most remote rural areas are storage areas filled with scaffolding and forms for concrete.

This quarry did offer some nice shots however.

Fuku Shrine, Shizutani

Around lunchtime on the first day of my walk along the Chugoku Pilgrimage I was approaching Shizutani and stopped in at Fuku Shrine. Like many shrines in the area, Bizen, the komainu were ceramic, known as Bizenware.

Apparently, about a year after I was here the pair of komainu were stolen, but reappeared two months later, though a little damaged.

Unusually for a rural shrine, it was not founded until 1688. many town shrines were founded then as towns were primarily a product of the Edo period. As Shizutani School is only a short distance away, and it was founded in 1670, it may be related.

Also, considering its location, the choice of main kami is unusual, Okuninushi. It is quite some distance from the old road that ran between Izumo and the capital.

Tonoe Shrine Moji

Tonoe Shrine sems to be the major shrine of Moji in Kitakyushu, but it is overshadowd by an elevated expressway under which you must pass to reach the shrine.

Within the grounds though now considered separate, is a small temple that legend says was funded by Kobo Daishi in 806.

The three main kami enshrined here are Amenominakanushi, considered by the Kojiki to be the first kami to exist, but barely mentioned in the Nihongi, it is believed that in ancient times there were no shrines to him. The other two are Izanagi and Izanami.

Being early in the new year there was a big area covcered with a canopy filled to overflowing with last years ofuda and other ritual paraphenalia bought at the shrine last new year. They will all be ceremonialy burned in a few days,