A Brief Guide to Kurume

I must admit I had never heard of Kurume and knew nothing about it when I visited in the latter stages of my first walk around Kyushu, however, I ended up spending a bit of time there as a base for several legs of the pilgrimage.

It is located on the banks of the Chikugo River which runs through the large Tsukushi Plain of northern Kyushu. It was a castle town, important I believe as a crossroads of several major transportation routes through Kyushu.

There seems to be little of the old left standing. Kurume did get bombed a little at the end of the war, but most destruction has been at the hands of construction companies and developers. The top photo shows a view looking down on Kurume from Kora Shrine, a mountaintop shrine that has an old approach,.

Not sure what the store in the second photo was selling, but the frontage impressed me.The third picture is a Science Museum, and the 4th is an Art Museum that had a fine garden in its grounds.

Near the Science Museum was another park that included a small Chinese-style garden. Other notable gardens include the riverside one featuring plum trees at the monastery of Bairinji, and Henshoin, a modern creation to honour a samurai political hero.

There were several more shrines in the town, and plenty more temples, but probably the main tourist attraction is a little outside the town. The Giant Kannon statue, one of the biggest in the world, is at a branch of the Naritasan Temple.

Toyogahashi Bangai 8 on the Shikoku Ohenro

 

Eitokuji is a small temple between temples 43 and 44. immediately adjacent to a bridge, Toyogahashi.

It is the eighth bangai site on the pilgrimage. I have never read a convincing explanation why there are 88 temples on the pilgrimage. 88 is not a significant number in Buddhism. However, when you add twenty extra temples, known as bangai, you end up with 108 which is a significant number in Buddhism.

Some of the bangai temples entail a diversion from the main route, and most pilgrims don't visit them. However, some, like Toyogahashi, are directly on the main route, and so most pilgrims stop.

Underneath the bidge is a big altar, with the focus being a statues of Kobo Daishi asleep. The statue was wrapped in a new, thick, duvet when I was there.

According to the legend, Kobo Daishi could not find lodgings for the night and so had to spend the night under the bridge. From this legend come the tradition that pilgrims do not hit the floor when crossing bridges as Kobo Daishi may be sleeping underneath.

The temple has a small tsuyado, so that is where I spent the night.

Nakano Park Kurume

 

Nakano ark in Kurume, Fukuoka, is home to the Kurume City Aer Museum, the Shojiro Ishibashi Memorial Museum, and the main library.

The area behind the Art Museum has a large pond with bridges and koi.

A large section is landscaped as a traditional Japanese garden and includes a small waterfall.

When I visited in mid-winter it was the most enjoyable of the gardens in Kurume,...

Though at other times of the year I suspect the garden at Bairinji Temple, and the nearby Henshoin Garden would be more attractive.

Yakumo Honjin Museum

 

Yakumo Honjin is a large, Edo-period residence formerly owned by the Kowata Family that also functioned as a honjin, a guesthouse for the Daimyo while he was traveling. It has aso been epanded with the addition of various high-ranking samurai residences that were dismantled and moved from Matsue.

I previously posted  more info and a series of photos of the interiors. This time I will show you some of the displays of artworks and artifacts that were owned by the family.

There was the obligatory suit of samurai armour, but no swords. There was a palanqui, pictured above, and a series of lanterns.

Much of the art in traditonal Japanese residences was in the form of painted folding screens and painted sliding doors, some examples of which you can see in the previous post, but I was intrigued by this object. Not sure what it is, but seems to be a crane ridden by I presume a Daoist "immortal".

There were quite a few examples of hanging scroll paintings.

However, the most interesting displays for me were the collection of old masks. The first is either a tengu or Sarutahiko. The second one of the "strong men" heroes, and the third a Kitsune, fox.

Yakumo Hoinjin is located in Shinji about halfway between Izumo and Matsue, on the south shore of Lake Shinji.

Henshoin Garden

 

At one end of Teramachi in Kurume is a largish garden called Henshoin. Henshoin still exists , but the garden is a modern creation built adjacent to the temple.

It is a stroll^type garden with a large pond with a bridge. It was designed and built in the 1960's. It also ahs a small tea room which had been brought from Kyoto.

The garden was built to memorialize an Edo-Period samurai called Takayama Hikokuro whose grave is here.

He is said to have influenced Yoshida Shoin, one of the architects of the Meiji Restoration, and was considered an example of an imperial loyalist in the patriotic education of the 1930's. There is a famous statue of him at sanjo bridge in Kyoto.

In the dead of winter when I visited  the garden was not so colourful but I suspect it looks better in spring and autumn.

Kumadaniji Temple Niomon

 

The Niomon at Kumadanoji Temple, number 8 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, is said to be the largest Niomon of all the 88 temples on the pilgrimage.

It was built in 1687 and stands 12.3 meters tall and 9 meters wide, and is an Important Cultural Property.. This was mu second visit to Kumadaniji, and the approach to the gate is famous for its cherry blossoms, though I have not visited at that time.

I am guessing that the pair of Nio statues also date from the time of the Niomons construction. Other buildings within the temple date from a few years later, so rebuilding the Niomon seems to have been a priority.

I was walking the Shikoku Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, so I revisited the first set of temples. and for the first day and a half my route followed the Shikoku Ohenro pilgrimage

Kurume Temple Town

 

Like most of the former castle towns of the Edo Period, Kurume in Fukuoka is home to a street named Teramach.

Teramachi literally means "temple town" and is/was a district of Buddhist temples occupying adjacent plots of land, now a street with nothing but temples on either side.

The Lords of the domains would have family temples that were not usually in the Teramachi, and some older temples continued to occupy their original sites.

Some of the temples in Teramachi were newly founded, and some were moved from other locations. Most of the different sects are usually represented.

There is rarely any significant temples in teramachi, and as they are located in what are now modern cities,  they are often rebuilt in concrete.

However, they sometimes have nice, though small, grounds, so here are a few shots from Teramachi in Kurume.

Tenryuji Sogenchi Garden in Autumn

 

Though I usually try to post about less familiar sights in Japan, sometimes I go to the very popular places, especia;y when I have overseas visitors who want to see cliche Japan.

Sp here are some photos from one of the most photographed sites in Japan, the garden at Tenryuji Temple in Arashiyama, Kyoto.

If you like your zen moment to be shared with thousands of like-minded people, then Kyoto is the place to go;;;;

Tenryiji Temple is one of the World heritage sites in Kyoto.

The Sogenchi Garden is apparenty little changed from when it was created in the mid 14th cetury by Muso Soseki, the monk who founded the temple.

There are numerous gardens within the temples grounds, but the Sogenchi garden is the biggest and most well known.

Based around a large pond, the garden uses the "borrowed scenery" of the mountains behind.