Tokei Shrine Tanabe World Heritage Site

Tokei Shrine Tanabe World Heritage Site

Tokei Shrine is the main shrine of Tanabe, Wakayama, known as the gateway to the Kumano Kodo.

In 2016 the shrine was added to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, most commonly known as Kumano Kodo.

The shrine grounds are home to many ancient Camphor trees with the oldest estimated to be 1200 years old.

The famed warrior-monk Benkei, known primarily as the sidekick of Yoshitsune, was born in Tanabe and a statue in the shrine depicts him with his father and some chickens.

According to the story, Benkei's father was asked for support from both sides of the conflict known as the Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto clans. Unable to decide, he staged a series of cock fights between cocks with red and white feathers, representing each side of the conflict. The cocks with white feathers won and so he chose to support the Minamoto.

According to the shrine, it was founded in the 5th century, which seems very speculative to me, however the shrine rose to prominence in the 11th century as a branch of the Kumano Sanzan shrines. Pilgrims would pray here for a safe journey into the interior, and in some cases, because the pilgrimage route was at times heavily traveled by bandits and robbers, pilgrims would go no further and "worship from afar" here.

Tokei Shrine enshrines all the kami that are enshrined in the Kumano Sanzan, the three big shrines of Hongu, Shingu, and Nachi, that are the focus of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage, which is why there are so many hondens.

There are also a wide variety of sub-shrines scattered throughout the grounds. many festivals take place throughout the year including the massive  Tanabe Matsuri held in July and also a Benkei Festival.

I arrived here at the end of my 4th day walking the Saigoku Pilgrimage. The previous post in the series was Takahara to Takajirioji on the Nakahechi.

Kankakei Gorge Ropeway Shodoshima

 

The view from the top of Kankakei Gorge, which  is located roughly in the middle of Shodoshima Island.

It is considered one of the Top Three gorges in Japan.

It is splendid at any time of the year but becomes very, very popular in the Autumn when the changing colors are spectacular.

A ropeway runs above the gorge and offers a great way to enjoy the views.

It runs from the lower station at approximately 300 meters altitude up to the top at roughly 600 meters.

It takes about 5 minutes and covers just over 900 meters in length.

At the top are souvenir shops, restaurants, scenic viewpoints. etc

There are two trails, one that roughly follows the gorge and is about 2k and another about 3k.

I was on the second day of my walk along the Shodoshima Pilgrimage and took the ropeway down after having climbed up the East Trail, which is the subject of the previous post in this series.

Chiyo Inari Shrine Tsuyama

Chiyo Inari Shrine Tsuyama

Chiyo Inari Shrine is literally right at the base of the massive stone fortifications that made up Tsuyama Castle.

It was originally a sub-shrine of Tsuyama Hachimangu which stood on the hill, and is said to have been founded in 934, but when the Mori Clan took over the domain and started constructing the castle in 1604 it was moved.

Actually it was moved several times but in 1683 made its final move to the current location.

Being an Inari shrine, the guardians are foxes, with red hats and scarves rather than bibs.

I visited at the end of July and a Chinow was in place inside the torii. These purification hoops can be found at different times of the year nowadays, but as I encountered one a few days earlier it seems that this time of the year is the norm in Okayama.

The roosters on the ema suggest they have been hanging there for nine years.

The main hall dates back to when the shrine was moved here in 1683 and is an Important Cultural Property of the city.

The Hanya carving is quite unusual and is there for protection.

As is common at Inari shrines, there are a lot of smaller, Inari shrines in the grounds.

I visited on the 4th day of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage and the previous post in the series is Tsuyama Castle.

Mount Nosokodake Ishigaki

Mount Nosokodake Ishigaki

This is the view, looking north, from Mount Nosoko, sometimes referred to as Nosokodake, and also known as Nosoko Mape, on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa.

It is somewhat unusually shaped with a very steep peak.

Topped with a rocky outcropping, there are fantastic 360 degree views .

At 282 meters, it is not very high, but is still the second highest mountain on Ishigaki, after Mount Omoto, which at 525 meters in height is also the highest mountain in all of Okinawa.

A road goes up to about 200 meters altitude and from there, a sometimes steep trail takes you up to the apex.

The name Nosoko Mape comes from a local folk tale and song about a girl called Mape from nearby Kuroshima Island and her forced separation from her fiancee when half of the islanders were forced to move to the area around Nosodake in 1732 in order to "develop" the land to raise enough tax revenue to pay the Japanese Satsuma Clan who invaded Okinawa in the early 17th century.

The previous post in this series on Okinawa was on some of Ishigaki's lovely beaches.

Buy Ishigaki Bath Salts from Okinawa

Mountain Shrines Autumn Foliage

 

Route 34 runs roughly East-West along the lower slopes of the southern side of the conically-shaped Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita, Kyushu.

At the end of November, 2012, I was walking along on the 5th, and final, day of my walk exploring the peninsula and was on my way towards the road that heads directly north to the central high point of the area.

Along the way I stopped in at any shrines, temples, or roadside  altars, and as this is an area with a particularly rich religious landscape, there were many of them.

Curiously the first group were all called Yama Shrine, which simply means Mountain Shrine.

A lot of the shrines in the Kunisaki Peninsula are connected to a religious system called Rokugo Manzan which is very much a Buddhist-Shinto hybrid, and so many of the shrines here have Buddhist Nio guardian statues, but this group of shrines did not.

I was also unable to find out anything about any of the shrines.

However it was a glorious morning and once the early morning sun penetrated the narrow valley there was a lot of autumn colour, esecially the golden ginko....

The previous post was of the frosty flora I encountered in the shadows....

Isonomiya Hachiman Shrine Takehara

 

Founded originally at the end of the 12th Century as a branch of Usa Hachimangu to be a tutelary shrine for the Goto family, powerful retainers of the Kamakura Shigunate, it was moved to its current location in the mid 17th Century.

It appears to be the most popular shrine in the town. It has the remains of a nice pond and garden, and a memorial to Karasaki Hitachinosuke, a local man who suggested reverence towards imperial ruke in the mid Edo period.

In the Meiji period the government trawled through historical records to find any instances that could be interpreted as historical support for imperial rule, and memorials and shrines to such figures, including of course emperors were constructed. History was very much rewritten after 1868.

As a Hachiman Shrine the main deity is Ojin along with, usually, his mother Jingu, and then either his wife or his father.

There are numerous other kami enshrined here including a large collection housed in a "terrace" of small shrines. The main hall is made of concrete.

The previous post on this series was the Fujii Shuzo Sake Brewery.

Iwami Mandala Kannon Kanzeonji Temple

 

Kanzeonji Temple is located on top of a rocky outcropping right in the middle of the historic town of Omori and offers great rooftop views over the World Heritage site.

The miners have carved niches into the rock face for several altars holding statues. The hinzon of the temple is a Kannon

It is one of the "extra" temples on the Iwami Mandala Kannon Pilgrimage and I visited on this occasion on day four of my walk along that pilgrimage route. Kannon pilgrimages usually consist of 33 main temples and maybe three "extra" temples, but this pilgrimage has at least a dozen "extra" temples over and above the main 33, which is probably why it is called Mandala.

It is worth the short climb up, not only for the views of the town, but for the rather fine pair of Nio guardians.

The previous post in this series was Iwami Hachimangu.