Kakuro Tatara Museum

Japan Museums

Tatara are the traditional type of forge used to smelt iron in historical Japan. They used charcoal and iron sand rather than coal and iron ore.

The first iron used in Japan was all imported from the Korean countries on the peninsula, which begs the question what they paid for this fundamental resource. One historian suggests mercenaries which would make sense of the Japanese military involvement on the peninsula in ancient times.

Later iron sand was discovered and so domestic production of iron began using tatara forges, the technique also having been introduced from the Asian mainland.

The Chugoku mountains and especially the Okuizumo area became the centre of iron and steel production for ancient Japan until the late 19th century when the more efficient western techniques of iron production using coal and ore were introduced.

This former tatara high up in the Chugoku mountains was actually not built until the 1930's. It was built next to an Edo period tatara that closed down in 1911. It is a kind of hybrid forge, utilizing a mix of traditional and modern techniques. It is close to where the Sakurai family, a high-ranking samurai family that controlled some of the iron production in the region.

The museum is free to enter and has plenty of information, in Japanese, about the technology as well as numerous mannequins showing scenes..... The bellows were operated by water power.

During the 1930's the US began to apply sanctions against Japan because of the invasion of China.... these sanctions eventually included all export of iron and scrap iron to Japan, which suggests that this tatara was created to improve the situation for Japan. It ceased operating in 1945.

Ema Votive Plaques

Fudo Myoo at Iwaya-ji Temple

 

Last post I showed you inside the cave below the main hall of Iwaya-ji Temple, the mountain temple that is number 45 on the Shikoku pilgrimage. Along with a Jizo and a Kobo Daishi, Fudo is the main statue there.

After starting up the steep trail from the road you pass  a bronze statue of Fudo along with his 36 acolytes.

Iwayaji was a yamabushi site and often at such ascetic sites there will be Fudo statues.

Behind the Kokuzodo near the top of the trail is a small cave with a Benzaiten statue and also this large stone Fudo.

According to the legend, Kobo Daishi carved two statues of Fudo Myo here, both "hidden", one in the main hall and the other u at the okunoin.

However, there are quite a few small carvings of Fudo scattered around, many having been left by worshippers in the past.

As any regular readers of my blog will know, I have posted hundreds and hundreds of photos of Fudo Myo, which posts you can easily access by clicking on the Fudo Myojin tag below......

The most detailed post I have done about Fudo is this one from the Sasaguri pilgrimage....

This final photo is of a statue of  Kurikara, the sword of Fudo which exists as a manifestation of Fudo but also as a separate deity.....

Iwayaji Temple 45 on the Shikoku Ohenro

 

Iwayaji, temple 44 on the Ohenro pilgrimage in Shikoku, is located among towering cliffs and spires of rock high in the mountains of Kumakogen in Ehime.

The surroundings are what I would consider a  classic shugendo environment, and any similar -looking places I have ever seen have all been yamabushi sites. I subscribe to the theory that much of the Shikoku pilgrimage is based on a series of Yamabushi training areas that became linked.

When I met a young priest I commented to him how jealous I was of the location of his home, clinging to the base of the cliff with great views down and across the mountainous countryside.

According to the story, when Kobo Daishi visited here he found a female hermit already living here. He carved two statues of Fudo Myo, one is the honzon in the main hall, and the other is enshrined higher up the mountain in the Okunoin. Because of the snow I decided against climbing up to the Okunoin.

A fire destroyed all the main buildings in 1898. The Kokuzodo, a small structure below the main shrine on the path up, and the Niomon, a little distance from the main temple at an older entrance, both survived and date back to the 18th century.

The current main hall was built in 1927, and is unusually smaller than the Daishido which was built in 1920. The Daishido is registered as an Important Cultural Property because it applarently incorporates numerous western elements into its traditional temple architecture.

There are numerous caves in the area that were used by the ascetics. A ladder leads up to one with a wooden platform where a small structure, the Hokke Sennindo, used to be. From here the views are remarkable.

Below the main hall is an entrance into a narrow 10 metre deep cave with an altar and several statues.

Next up some photos of the Fudo Myo statues and carvings here.

Cimbing Up to Iwaya-ji Temple in Winter

Iwayaji, temple 45 on the Shikoku Ohenro pilgrimage is a favorite of many pilgrims. It is a mountain temple at more than 600 meters altitude ( 700 if you include the okunoin) and is considered a nansho, a difficult to reach temple.

However, a main road ( and a bus) gets to the base of the final climb up which is less than 1k

There is a group of small shops near the start of the ascent selling pilgrim supplies and snacks etc. There are also a pair of bronze nio, not housed in a Nio gate. There is a Nio gate up near the main buildings of the temple but it is on a mountain path that approached from a different direction.

The Sanmon, mountain gate, was not built until 1937, is a good spot to rest as the sections before and after the gate are steep.

There are some giant sugi trees, and much of the surrounding forest is Horse Chestnut.

There are a lot of statues on the way up including a Fudo myo with 36 acolytes (more of Fudo in a later post), a Kobo Daishi, and many Jizo.

Just before reaching the main temple buildings, you pass the Kokuzo-do, actually the oldest remaining structure of the temple following a fire in 1898.

Next up some shots from the main temple.

Ramune

Tashima Oimatsu Shrine

 

Tashima is a small farming hamlet  north of the river in the Chikugo River Plain. I passed through and stopped in at the local shrine while walking between Nanrinji Temple and Joshinin Temple.

It was January 3rd, still well into the period when shrines have most visitors, and I suspect the two young women with girls were making their first shrine visit of the year.

For new year the banners were flying and the shrine had a length of fresh cut bamboo placed along the shimenawa.

This was another Oimatsu Shrine, the vast majority of which are located here in Fukuoka, and which enshrines Sugawara Michizane who died not far from here in Dazaifu. Most shrines for Michizane are named Tenmangu or Tenjin Shrine, and there are also numerous of those in the area, so exactly what the difference is between a Tenmagu and an Oimatsu Shrine, is unknown to me.

Unusually there was a Buddhist pagoda at the shrine. It seemed to be a modern construction, so maybe replaced an original that was removed in 1868?

Joshin-in Temple 90 on the Kyushu pilgrimage

Japan Guide

About ten kilometers West of Nanrinji, in the middle of the Chikugo River Plain is the small temple-shrine of Joshin-in, temple number 90 on the 108 temples Kyushu  Pilgrimage.

Striking is the torii at the entrance..... usually associated only with Shinto shrines...... in fact in 1868 it became law that only Shinto shrines could have a torii.... according to the little info I could get the temple celebrates shinbutsu shugo, the older more traditional mixture of religious traditions that was abolished in 1868.... which leads me to suspect this temple was founded post 1945.

The honzon of the temle is a Fudo Myo and there are several fudo statues in the small grounds.

Also enshrined here are an 11-faced Kannon, a Dainichi, a Shaka, and a jizo. The temle is also on the Kyushu 24 Jizo pilgrimage.

The torii is because Inari Daimyojin is enshrined here, as a nun was instructed in an oracle from Fudo. A couple of the Ohenro temples on Shikoku enshrine Inari. The Inari here is considered one of the 10 Inari's of Chikuzen

Nanrinji Temple #6 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage

Nanrinji Temple

I reached Nanrinji, temple number 6 on the 108 temple Shingon pilgrimage around Kyushu, in the afternoon of my 54th day walking.

Walking along the rural road a few kilometers from the temple a car stopped and it was the priest of the temple and his wife. They asked if I needed a stamp for my nokyo. I said no. temple stamps usually cost 300 yen a pop, and if you multiply that by 108 then the money spent on stamps is equivalent to a week's worth of cheap lodgings, a more sensible use of my very limited budget.

So when I got to the temple it was all locked up, but because I knew no-one was home I sneaked a peek at the garden behind.

As well as the Shingon pilgrimage focused on Kobo Daishi, Nanrinji is also on the Kyushu Yakushi pilgrimage. The honzon of the temple is a Yakushi Nyorai statue supposedly carved by Kobo Daishi himself in 809.

According to the story, while Kobo daishi was on his way to China he encountered a storm and vowed that if he was spared he would then carve 7 Yakushi statues on his return to Japan , this being one of them.

The statue was in a temple much closer to the Chikugo River and was in constant danger of being flooded  so was moved a few kilometers to the current location, not far from where Empress Saimei died in 661.

This temple burned down several times and there seems to have been some sort of a scheme to spread water around the forested slopes around the temple. The year after I visited their was major storms and landslides here and the temple was closed for a while but seems to be open again now, though with concreted slopes all around.

Ramune