Recent Manhole Art

 

Japan is quite famous for the variety of brightly colored and diverse designs of its manhole and drain covers. I used to regularly post on the hundreds of designs I have encountered in western Japan, but those posts have never been popular with my readers. However, on my recent post-pandemic excursions I have come across some new ones......this first one depicts Ganryuji Falls, a picturesque waterfall not far from me

Just got back from a trip to Hiroshima, and noticed a new design that commemorats the Saigoku Kaido, the Edo period highway that ran through Hiroshima on its way from Kyoto to Shimonoseki, and that is almost identical to the Sanindo, the ancient imperial highway.

Yoshinogari is a huge archeological site with reconstructed buildings near Saga. Touted as the home of the legendary Himiko, "queen of japan",  in all probability it wasn't.

Also in northern Kyushu is the city of Tagawa, and one of their designs feature the cities official flower, the azalea.

However, while historical and natural features and sites are common, increasingly manhole cover design is shifting to manga, anima, and computer game-derived designs, no doubt with "sponsorship" from said companies.

These two designs are from Saga and feature Zombie Land Saga, an anime about an "idol" group of schoolgirl zombies formed to promote and regenerate Saga. The designs feature zombie schoolgirls with Saga icons, the top one being a statue of Naomasa Nabeshima, Daimyo of Saga, and the lower one featuring the famous Saga International Balloon Festival

Another series of designs in Saga features characters from the computer game Romancing SaGa. As far as I can figure there is no connection with Saga itself, rather than the name.

Yura, a coastal village in Tottori , is the hometown of the author of the Detective Conan  originally a manga character but also now anime. Tottortori airport has been renamed Conan Airport, and some trains have been repainted inside and out featuring Conan characters

However, all over Japan are appearing manhole covers featuring pokemon. There are hundreds of them, each one unique. This one is in Kaike Onsen, a seaside hot spring resort in western Tottori. I must admit I know nothing about pokemon except it is very popular. I believe these manholes are a feature of the pokemon go smartphone game

A few other posts with colorful designs can be found here....

Gotsu Honmachi

Gotsu Honmachi

Gotsu Honmachi is the original town of Gotsu. In the latter half of the 20th century, embankments on the banks of the river mouth were constructed and seawalls erected, so the town spread to where it is now located.

Sheltered in a narrow valley and protected by a hill, the original town was on the Sanindo, the imperial highway that ran from Kyoto. At the top of the valley, a section of stone paving marks the original Sanindo route.

With its sheltered location, Gotsu became a Kitamaebune port, the next one west of Yunotsu, and some evidence of this merchant history still remains in what could be called the historical district.

The old clinic and doctors' house is one of the most well-known buildings in the old town, mainly because of its ochre-colored roof tiles rather than the traditional black or red.

I've seen a photo from 1917 that shows a bridge across the river at this point, probably the first Gotsu bridge, that must have replaced a ferry. The port was so important that it was incorporated into Iwami Ginzan, and controlled directly by the shogunate, whereas the rest of the land on this side of the river was Hamada domain.

Built in the Meiji period, the original Gotsu post office was a pseudo-western structure.

Built in 1926, the original Gotsu Town Hall..... used as such until 1962

Green Tea

Dragon Guardians of Yakumo Shrine

Japan Guide

Rather than Komainu, Lion-Dogs, Yakumo Shrine in downtown Izumo City is guarded by a pair of what appear to be dragons.

Yakumo Shrine is a branch of Susa Shrine, dedicated to Susano and with many branches across Japan. This one was established in the Meiji period and is locaed between the main train station and city hall.

The shrine did have standard komainu guardian statues, but they were replaced quite recently with the current ones. Though appearing to be dragons, the sword held in the tail of one suggests they're meant to be Orochi, the 8-headed serpent of Susano fame...

To fill out this post here are some more shots from the area around the shrine....

Horinji Revisited

Horinji

Horinji is temple number 9 on the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage and is unusually situated within a walled compound among rice paddies.

Originally located about 4k north of its current position, it was destroyed by the warlord Chosokabe towards the end of the 16th century and rebuilt in its current location a few decades later.

Unusually the honzon is a reclining Buddha, the only reclining Buddha honzon on the pilgrimage, and it is only shown to the public every 5 years.

The current buildings date from the early Meiji period following a fire that destroyed everything except the belfry in 1859

This was my second visit to Horinji, the first when I walked the 88 temple pilgrimage, and this time when I was walking the Shikoku Fudo Myoo pilgrimage.

The route coincided with the ohenro route for the first day and a half, but after Horinji I headed west upstream towards the next Fudo temple.

Green Tea

Izushi Samurai Mansion

 

Called Izushi Karo yashiki on the tourist maps, this is the only remaining samurai residence in the former castle town of Izushi in northern Hyogo.

Located close to where the castle stood, the area where the highest-ranked samurai resided, it is now open as a museum displaying artifacts connected to the ruling clan of Izushi.

Though it looks like a single storey structure, it actually has a low second floor, a much remarked upon feature in the explanations about the house.

It is located next to the town tourist information office, and close to the castle ruins and the main street, so gets a lot of visitors.

It very much looks and feels like a museum rather than a residence, and architecturally it is nothing noteworthy, but its worth a visit for the displays....

From Kamano Beach into Yunotsu

 

To get from Kamano Beach in Fukumitsu to Yunotsu there is no coast road and so I have to head over a small group of hills. It's only about 2k and doesnt rise very much. No cars pass me. I delight in these little roads that are really more like 3 meter wide asphalt hiking paths with vehicles passing a few times a day.

The road comes into the narrow inlet that Yunotsu lies at the head of through a side-inlet lined with small fishing boats.

Across on the other side of the channel is the official fishing port with ice machine and offices. Behind it is the narrow valley that is home to the historical hot spring resort that Yunotsu is named after and now a World Heritage site connected to the Iwami Ginzan silver mines.

At the actual head of the inlet where the small river enters is the newer part of town where I can catch the train home at the end of this my second day exploring the nooks and crannies of the Japan Sea coast.

On the north side beyond the hots spring town is the old port of Okidomari, one of the two original ports that served the silver mines and that are also part of the World Heritage sites.....

On the way to the station I stop in at Anrakuji, a small temple with a rather nice dragon sculpted in plaster in the eaves. This kind of decoration is called kote-e, " trowel picture" and I have posted more examples.

Raion-ji Hagio Yakushi-do, Temles 49 & 76 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

Raion-ji Hagio Yakushi-do

After leaving Kannonzaka Kannondo, temple 66 on the Sasaguri pilgrimage, the route heads up the mountain valley for about 3 kilometers before reaching the next temple, actually a cluster of three, in the mountain settlement of Hagio.

What is remarkable about that is that the first three kilometers of the pilgrimage, as far as Kanninzaka, included a full 12 temples.

The route sometimes followed the narrow mountain road, and sometimes a trail through the forest including some decent bamboo groves.

Around Hagio, none of the three temples were large. There was temple 49, Raionji, temple 76, Hagio Yakushido, and temple 47, Hagio Amidado.

There were, however, just like the other small temples so far, a lot of statues, especially of Fudo Myo.

Raionji was the largest, and this is the main statue, a Shaka Nyorai, the "historical Buddha".

Raionji also has this nice thousand-armed Kannon,....

... and several nice Fudo....

The Yakushi-do obviously enshrines Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha...

And the Amida-do's main statue is an Amida....

The Sasaguri pilgrimage is an excellent opportunity to both get a taster of what walking a pilgrimage is like, and also an excellent series of mountain walks close to the big city of Fukuoka.

Ema Votive Plaques