Yuminato Harbour to Tomogaura Port

 

After leaving Yuminato I need to cross the Yusato River before I can continue u the coast. The first bridge is a little upstream and after crossing I need to head further upstream towards Yusato as the next section of the coast is rocky headlands and narrow inlets with no settlements or roads. Though it is October, Morning Glories are still in flower.

The river flows down from the mountains that contained all the silver ore that made it one of the richest mines on the planet and why the area is now a World Heritage Site. Up ahead I see the village of Yusato with the new expressway, the main San-in Rail Line, and Route 9, the main road from Kyoto all crossing the river in about the same place.

I stop in at the local village shrine, a fairly standard Hachiman Shrine with nothing notable or unusual, and just as I reach the edge of Yusato I take a narrow road up into the mountains. Only wide enough for a single small vehicle, I love these roads as there is never any traffic and its like having a  wide, paved hiking trail and there is only forest, no buildings, no other sign of humans.

After 15 minutes walk the road drops down into the tiny settlement of Kitahata which has a huge compound that i would call a manor house, that has always struck me as incongruous with its location. Obviously belonging to a wealthy and powerful family, its remote  location has always puzzled me. Though this is not the actual old Ginzan Kaido, the road that connected the Silver Mine with the nearby port of Tomogaura, it is very close to that road and so I'm sure it must be connected.

Kitahata has a small beach that is protected by thousands of tons of concrete that is reminiscent of Normandy beaches in 1944. Though it is an unpopular idea to many, one cannot help but think that Japan is at war with nature, though it is couched in the vocabulary of defense.

Climbing out of Kitahata along the narrow road that runs alongside the railway, a sign points to a trail that leads into Tomogaura. This is the old Ginzan Kaido and from it I look down on the little settlement that runs down to the World Heritage Port.

The previous post in this series documenting my walk along the Sea of Japan coast was Yuminato Harbour.

Tenno-in Temple 36 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Tenno-in, number 36 on the 88 temple Sasaguri Pilgrimage, like its counterpart on Shikoku, Shoryuji Trmple, enshrines Fudo Myoo.

Specifically, the honzon is a Namikiri Fudo, a "wave^cutting" Fudo. According to the legend, on his return journey from China in 806,  the boat Kobo Daishi was in was in danger of being sunk by stormy seas but was saved by prayers to Fudo.

The main Fudo statue in the main hall is "hidden" but, as with most of these Sasaguri temples, numerous Fudo statues can be found around the grounds.

Tenno-in is a sub-temple of Nomiyama Kannonji, a large complex of temples and sub temples including Gokurakuojoin and an unrelated temple Mizuko Monjuin, located high in the mountains to the north of Sasaguri.

Tenno-in has some large buildings, including a guesthouse. It is said that the main hall is the largest main hall of all 88 temples on the pilgrimage. It was built in 1973. The origunal Tenno-in was at Koyasan but had been demolished and inactive since the late 19th century.

Tenno-in has a large Hydrangea Garden and the grounds are planted with lots of Japanese Maple so is ablaze with color in the autumn. It also has a small zen garden and teahouse.

From here the pilgrimage route heads down the mountains following a different route than the one taken on the ascent. The previous post in this series was Gokurakuojoin Temple.

Settsu Kokubunji Temple 7 Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage

 This text is from an earlier post that was of photos of Taiyuji Temple, number 6 on the pilgrimage that I mistakingly thought was number 7 Kokubunji. I have now edited that post and added relevant information about Taiyuji. Sorry.

Kokubinji is an urban temple in downtown Osaka that is the 7th temple on the Kinki Fudo pilgrimage. It is also on the Saigoku Yakushi, Settsu 88, and Osaka Jizo pilgrimages. Settsu is the old provincial name for what is now Osaka.

The temple's origins lie in the 7th century when a temple was established on the site of a former palace to pray for the peaceful repose of the former emperor Kotoku. It was called Nagara-ji.

In 741 a nationwide system of temple-monasteries called Kokubunji was established, one for each province. Nagara-ji was chosen to be the Kokubunji for Settsu.

In 1615 the temple completely burned down during the Siege of Osaka and was not rebuilt for a hundred years.

It was completely rebuilt again at the end of the Meiji period, and in June 1945 was once again destroyed, this time in an air raid, so all the structures have been built since then, except for the entrance gate which dates to the Edo Period.

The honzon is a Yakushi, but there are numerous other shrines and altars to a variety of deities and buddhas, including several Fudo Myo. Not surprisingly considering the various pilgrimages it is on, the temple attracts a lot of visitors and is surprisingly quiet for an urban temple.

The large Fudo statue with large eyes is Minori Fudo. The smaller Fudo ( photo 4) is a Mizukake Fudo. Photo 5 is a Kobo Daishi statue.

The Bell Tower is a memorial to the Tenroku Gas Explosion when the nearby subway line was being constructed in 1970 and a gas explosion killed 79 and injured 420.

The previous post in this series on my second day walking the Kinki Fudo Myo Pilgrimage was Kantele Ogimachi Square.

Minakata Kumagusu Museum

 

While doing my initial research, many years ago, on any interesting spots to visit in Tanabe to visit I came across the Minakata Kumagusu Museum and was instantly attracted to the architecture.

I have not been able to find out who designed it, but it reminded me somewhat of Ando Tadao's wooden temple in Shikoku, Komyoji.

I had never heard of Minakata Kumagusu, but since visiting I have come across him in various books and he has become more and more intriguing. He is often portrayed as a naturalist, and specifically an expert on slime mould, but he is also credited with being  Japan's first environmentalist. Certainly he was a maverick and an eccentric.

He was born in Wakayama in 1867. He studied at a school in Tokyo and passed the entrance exam to university but instead chose to travel to the U.S. and study independently in 1886. He enrolled briefly at an Agricultural College, but, as would occur repeatedly throughout his life, incidents caused by drunkenness meant he didn't stay long. He studied by himself and traveled to Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, and other countries to collect samples. After 6 years he moved to London and spent a lot of time at the British Museum. He continued to study and became well known among many scientists and other public figures and published extensively in the journal Nature. In 1900 he left London and returned to Japan.

He lived a few years in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, continuing his research and collecting. In 1904 he moved to Tanabe and in 1906 married and started a family. He continued to publish in both English and Japanese and became a well established authority and at one point gave a lecture to Emperor Hirohito. He never did graduate from university and continued to get into trouble through his drinking. He passed away in 1941 and is buried in nearby Kozanji which is where another famous Tanabe resident, the creator of Aikido, Ueshiba Morihei, is also buried. I will cover Kozanji later.

When his daughter died she left a massive collection of notes and research materials to the town and they built this place as an archive of his materials, a museum about him, and as an ongoing research facility.

Next door is the house he lived in and it is also open to the public. When I post on that I will delve into the most intriguing aspect of Kuagusu, his fight against the shrine closure movement of the early 20th century which was his legacy which is why he is considered an environmentalist.

I visited at the start of the 5th day walking the Kumano Kodo as part of the Saigoku Pilgrimage. The previous post was on Tokei Shrine, part of the Kumano Kodo World Heritage sites and linked with the family of Benkei.

Kajimura Residence Tsuyama

 

The former Kajimura Residence in the Joto Historic District along the Izumo Kaido in Tsuyama is now known as Joto Mukashi Machiya which basically means "Joto Old Townhouse".

It is open to the public for free as a kind of local history museum.

The original structure dates back to the Edo Period but some of the other buildings were built in subsequent times up to the 20th century.

The storehouses have been turned into museums with typical glass cases displaying historic artifacts.

The garden is quite large and includes two teahouses, one of which can be looked into.

The wealthy merchant family who lived here operated a kind of bank. According to the class system, samurai were at the top, and merchants were at the bottom, below farmers and artisans.

However, as the Edo Period progressed many samurai became poorer and poorer and merchants became wealthy, and in return for financially supporting the samurai were given marks of status reserved technically only for the samurai.

The garden is also recognized nationally, and combined with the teahouse makes this traditional property well worth a visit.

The previous post in this series on Tsuyama while walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was  the Joto Preservation District.

Kinoshita-an, Seikenji, Ichinotani-an, & Gokurakuji. Four Temples on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage.

 

Late afternoon on Christmas Day, 2015, day 2 of my walk around Shodoshima Island on the Shodoshima 88 temple pilgrimage, and I take the ropeway down from the top of Kankakei Gorge.

I share the ropeway down with a French family, and they offer me a ride in the taxi that is waiting for them at the bottom, ….. I'm tempted but decline gracefully. From here it should all be downhill.

Once I get back to where I started up to Sekimondo I find a footpath that goes straight down rather than having to walk along the road which winds back and forth, saving me about a kilometer. The path comes out at the big dam above Kusukabe and then I enter the outskirts of the small town.

I have a bit of trouble finding the next temple but a little old lady points me in the right direction. Number 19, Kinoshita-an, is a small hermitage but I am beginning to appreciate the unpretentiousness of these small establishments. They are very welcoming and completely lacking in ostentation. Compared to other hermitages, this one is actually quite large. It enshrines a statue of Yakushi Nyorai the "Medicine Buddha"

Another kilometer and I'm in the middle of an urban area and I find number 21, Seikenji, a somewhat larger temple with some curious sculptures in the park next door.

The honzon is a Fudo Myoo,  and the temple legend claims it to have been founded by Gyoki in the 8th century. It was burned down in 1899 and reconstruction was given support by the Crown Prince who visited Shodoshima in 1907.

The stone sculptures were by Hiroshima artist Aki Sora, but I can find no other information about them.

The afternoon becomes golden as the sun rushes towards the horizon. I cut back up a little valley and find the next temple, number 17 Ichinotani-an, snuggled against the hillside. It's another small hermitage.

The honzon is another Yakushi Nyorai that survived a landslide here in 1976. It was nice to see another Fudo statue.

According to the map the next temple is down the valley then around and up the next little valley over, about one and a half kilometers, but signs at Ichinotani-an point to a footpath that goes through the woods. Once again the route for walking pilgrims is much shorter than for those driving. I passed this line of statues, and according to the current google streetview they are no longer there. 

 

The last temple of a very long day was Gokurakuji, number 16, and was quite impressive being reached across a bridge that spanned a wide pond in front of the temple.

It is said the temple was located at the foot of  Mount Kamikake but was moved to this location, said to be a site where Kukai spent time, in the early Edo Period. The honzon is an Amida Nyorai, The current main hall dates back to early Meiji.

It had a decent garden. By now the valley was in shadow and it was cooling down quickly so I headed straight down to the main road to catch a bus back to my minshuku as the sun dipped below the horizon across the sea. A long day filled with great sights and nice weather.

The first part of this days walk is covered here, and the previous post was Kankakei Gorge Ropeway.