Momiji gari

Went to a charity kagura event today and saw a dance I had never seen before, Momiji-gari.

The dance opens with three maidens dressed in gorgeous kimonos carrying sprigs of maple.

The dance is based on a Noh drama which itself was based on an older story set among the autumn leaves in what is now Nagano.

The group dancing was from northern Hiroshima, and one feature of Hiroshima kagura is that "human" dancers do not wear masks, rather make-up.

The dance was graceful and at times frenetic, and the blur of golds, yellows, and reds against the backdrop of autumn leaves was quite spectacular.

Next up we are introduced to Taira Koremochi, the great Heike warrior, who along with an aide has come to Nagano to destroy a demon that has been harassing the local people.

The heroes accept the invitation of the maidens to join their party and are repeatedly given sake until they fall into a drunken stupor.

Now the maidens reveal their true identity as the demons the heroes have come to slay and begin a dance in celebration of the inevitable doom of the heroes.

The transformation from maiden to demon is truly instantaneous.... one second the women are spinning around and in the next they have on the demon masks....... I certainly did not see it happen, and the audience erupts with applause at the slickness of the transformation....

As you can see in the photo, the masks are not held to the head by strings but are gripped between the teeth

to be continued

A gallery of Miko

Iwashimizu Hachimangu, Kyoto.

Miko, commonly translated as "shrine maiden" in English, can be seen at many shrines in Japan.

Iwashimizu Hachimangu, Kyoto.

At larger shrines they will be full-time employees with duties that include office work, cleaning, sales, and assisting with ceremonies.

Dazaifu Tenmangu.

They are not female priests, or priestesses. There are female priests, though they are  not a large percentage of the priesthood.

Iwaishima, Kanmai Matsuri

At smaller, local shrines, elementary-school girls will fulfill the role of miko in some ceremonies. A common scenario being Miko Mai, a dance performed by a single miko or a group. I have several videos of Miko mai, one performed by 4 village girls at the Tsunozu matsuri, and another of two full-time miko rehearsing for a festival at Kagoshima Jingu. Both posts also have lots of photos.

Takachiho Shrine.

Nagaoka Tenmangu.

The most common time to see miko though will be over the New Year period when shrines are at their busiest in the whole year. Big shrines will hire lots of university students as Miko to handle the influx of visitors.

Nagaoka Tenmangu

The full-time Miko will perform the more ceremonial duties, commonly inculuding purification rituals.

Tosa Inari Shrine

Tosa Inari Shrine is jammed in between buildings on a side street off of Kawaramachi Dori in downtown Kyoto.

The shrine was originally built in 1348 on the bank of the Kamo river a little east of its present site.

It was moved here in the Edo Period and renamed Tosa Inari as the surrounding area was the Kyoto headquarters of the Tosa Domain, the former Shikoku Domain nowadays most well known as being the home of Ryouma Sakamoto, star of the most recent NHK taiga drama.

Sakamoto was assasinated not far from here, and amost certainly he prayed at this shrine.

Atrium at Seahawk Hotel

The atrium of the Seahawk Hotel in Fukuoka is based on the design of a seashell.

It, and the hotel, were designed by Italian architect Cesar Pelli.

It offers great views out to sea and houses several restaurants and shops....

Toji. Winter Solstice

I should have posted these a few weeks back in a more timely manner, but with the record levels of snow recently thoughts of winter and the return of the sun are on my mind. They are three paintings I did about 5 years ago on the theme of Toji, winter solstice.

 

They are titled, rather unimaginatively Toji, Toji 2, and Toji 3. They are acrylic on paper and measure 38 by 26 cms.

 

They are for sale, so if interested make me an offer :)

Kunisaki Fudo Myo o

The Kunisaki Peninsular in Oita Prefecture, northern Kyushu, was a major center of Shugendo, the syncretic mountain religion mixing elements of esoteric Buddhism, Daoism, and other forms of mountain "religions". The version practised in Kunisaki was a variant based on Tendai and Hachiman.

Fudo Myo is strongly associated with Shugendo, so I expected to see a lot of Fudo statuary, but actually there wasn't all that much.

These first three were all at Taizo-ji.

Though details differ, most statues of Fudo Myo have him holding a sword in his right hand, a rope in his left, and flames behind.

The devil-subduing sword represents wisdom cutting through ignorance. The rope is used to catch and tie up demons.

The flames purify the mind by burning away material desires. Fudo Myo's fierce, fanged face is meant to frighten people into accepting the Buddhas way....

Up on the mountainside above Taizo-Ji are the Kumano Magaibutsu, 2 huge carvings hewn directly into the cliff face.

The one of Fudo Myo is eight meters tall and the largest cliff carving in Japan.

I am almost sure that this old wooden statue of Fudo Myo is at Maki Odo, which also has many other wonderful wooden statues.

In the center of the Kunisaki Peninsular is Futago-san, the highest mountain, and on it lies Futago-Ji dedicated to Fudo Myo, so there are many statues of him here. The two figues at his sides are probably Kongara Doji and Seitaka Doji.

Like many of the Buddhist deities, Fudo Myo's origin is in Hinduism.

Vacation 2010 Day 12: Penzance to Helston

After St Ives I headed back to Penzance on the south coast to find the weather brightened so I walked 5k along the beach to St Michaels Mount.

There may very well be beaches in Japan that are wide and flat with the sea receding a long ways during the tides, but I havent been to them.

Not as famous as the bigger Mont St Michel across the channel, The Mount, as it is known locally, has a lot of history and was once inland but became an island when Lyonesse sank.

It is the home of some Lord or other but is administered by the National Trust nowadays.

Back when I was a student in Cornwall one of my friends mother was the cook in "the big house".

I know Thatcher stayed here...............

I walked back to Marazion on the mainland along the granite causeway before jumping a bus to Helston where I would be staying for the night with friends.

Got off in Porthleven for a wander..... I briefly stayed here when I first moved to Cornwall.

A picturesque fishing village, the coast path from here down to the Lizard is one of my favorite parts.

In Helston, a medieval market town and home of the Furry Dance, one of the oldest living traditions in Britain.

The Blue Anchor, a pub over 600 years old, still make their own beer. The different varieties are sold by specific gravity and my favorite was called Old Bastard. Twice a year the pub sells a double-strength version and as students we would come and fill up containers to take away.

There is still a skittle alley in back.

Ganryu-ji Falls

Back in December, before winter arrived, there was still some color around so I made one last trip hunting the Fall colors.......

We headed to Ganryu-ji Falls, a place I had only been to once before many years ago.

There are 4 falls in all, descending a total of 120 meters.

The falls are named after a temple that stood near the base, Ganryu-ji.

The temple is gone, though it was still here 8 years ago. The falls will also soon be gone. The valley is going to be flooded behind a new dam. The stated purpose is flood prevention, but the real reason is to get central government funds to pump into the local construction and concrete industry.

As it was there was very little color still around.

This last picture is from 8 years ago when the temple was still here....

Yanai Shirakabe no Machi

Yanai Shirakabe no Machi

Yanai, a small town and port in Yamaguchi is most well known for its Kingyo Choochin Matsuri featuring goldfish lanterns. The main tourist area of the town is known as Shirakabe no Machi, the street of white walls which consists of white-walled buildings, shops, warehouses, etc, mostly from the Edo period when the town was a bustling port.

Most of the shops now sell crafts, especially the goldfish lanterns, but there is also a famous soy sauce brewery and several of the places are open as small museums.

Purchase a selection of Yanai lanterns from GoodsFromJapan

Tanzan Shrine

Probably the first thing you notice at Tanzan Shrine is the rather unusual 13-story pagoda. Pagodas are of course Buddhist, and this was a temple and monastery complex until the government made it a "shinto" shrine in early Meiji.

The pagoda was built on top of the bones of Kamatari Nakatomi by his son Joe Fujiwara and the temple was primarily a private family mausoleum until later when it came under the wing of the Tendai sect and expanded.

Nearby is where Kamatari met with Prince Nakano Oe (later Emperor Tenji) and plotted the assasination of Soga no Iruka.

The Soga were the most powerful clan and most probably ruled Japan at that time, the Imperial family being mere figureheads (like they were for most of history). After their fall the Fujiwara ( the new family name of the Nakatomi) in essence ruled Japan for the next 1,000 years or more.

The history of the ruling elites of Japan, like many other places, reads like a gangster novel, assasinations, plots, revenge, inter-gang warfare, etc. and in truth the distinction between gangster and ruler is a very fine one indeed.

Leading away from the main building a line of torii lead to 3 shrines to Inari. There are in fact and incredibly large number of Inaris, though there are collectively lumped together as one.

There are numerous other sub-shrines within the grounds, a Shinmei Shrine dedicated to Amaterasu, a Sugiyama Shrine dedicated to Isotakeru, the son of Susano that came with him from Korea, the local Mountain God, an Okami Shrine to Suijin the water god, and a branch of Hie Shrine enshrining Oyamazumi, probably dating from the time the Tendai sect took over the temple.

When I went to Tanzan many years ago it was hard to reach, even though it is close to Asuka, though now they have built a new road directly from Asuka that I believe is open.

Tanzan is very popular during the Fall when the leaves are changing.