Winding down

My vacation is winding down and I will be back in Japan shortly when I will resume posts on Japan.... till then a couple more pics from Morocco.

Lahcen, Berber, muleteer, patriarch, companion and guide for 10 days across the Jebel Sahro.

Full moon in Essouira .

Things missed while sleeping

6:33am April 6th. Jebel Sahro


6:36am April 7th. Jebel Sahro


6:28am April 8th. Jebel Sahro


6:30am April 11th. Jebel Sahro


6:19am April 16th. Marrakesh


6:27am April 17th. Essouira

The view from Sanbe

Sanbe San is the name given to the highest point in Shimane, a cluster of 7 peaks.

!,126 meters above sea level, I have only climbed it one time.

Most people go up it on the trail on the north side but I went up a barely used trail on the south side.

As you would expect there are some great views once you get out of the trees.

In the distance the Shimane Hanto with Izumo Taisha at its base.

According to the Kunibiki myth the peninsular was dragged from Sila and held to the land of izumo by a rope that is now the beach you can just see. The other end of the peninsular was tied by a rope to Daisen in Tottori.

A huge caldera.

More zuijin of Kunisaki

Here are a few more zuijin from shrines around the Kunisaki Peninsular.

For an explanation of what zuijin are, see this earlier post.

This is something I had not seen before, paintings of zuijin. Maybe the original zuijin statues had become damaged or destroyed in some way, or maybe the shrine could just not afford to pay for real statues.

Almost all the zuijin in Kunisaki were carved out of stone, the only place I have seen that, but some of them were originally painted.

The Kojin of Takeuchi Shrine

I have posted before about the wonderful straw effigies of the land kami Kojin. Not far from the Adakaya Shrine effigies there is another big shrine, Takeuchi, and here I found some unusal ones as they are sculpted in stone, not made of straw.

At first I wasnt sure they were Kojin, I thought they may have been Ryujin, the dragon god, but I checked with the shrine priest and he confirmed they were Kojin.

They were carved directly out of large boulders and seemed to grow out of them.

In the Izumo area Kojin is a very widespread and popular kami, basically being the local kami of land. In my area of Iwami the similar kami goes by the name of Omoto.

Canal City (inside)

I must admit I do like the architecture of Canal City in Fukuoka. It is easy to see the influence of the canyon country of the Colorado Plateau on the design.

Designed by American architect Jon Jerde who also designed the Riverwalk complex in nearby Kokura and the Namba Parks complex in Osaka.

The name Canal City derives from a pool of water that snakes along the interior of the canyonlike interior.

There are several fountains and an area for performances.

I was here a few days ago and there was some type of market going on.

Children's Inari Shrine

The 4th shrine I visited on my walk around Matsue was yet another Inari Shrine, knowns as the Children's Inari. It is well known mainly due to the writings of Lafcadio Hearn.

It was built by the Lord of Matsue as a subsidiary shrine of the Jozan Inari within the nearby castle grounds and he named it Komori Shrine which means child guardian.

In Hearns day mothers would come here to ask for help with their children that refused to take baths or have their heads shaved.

Nowadays those two problems are rare but parents leave prayers for any kind of problems they are having with their children, most often illness.

There is a smaller Inari shrine just behind the main building. There are many Inaris. According to the signboard at the shrine the main kami is listed as Uganomitama, the female as opposed to the more usual male Ukanomiama.

Hoki Church

Hoki Church is situated on the hillside of Hoki village with great views looking out over the coastline and islands.

It is interesting architecturally as the foundations are stone, the facade is made of red brick, the walls are wooden, and the roof is tile.

Like all the churches on Hirado, entrance is free.

It is the oldest church on Hirado Island, being built in 1898 to replace an earlier temporary church.

Vacation 2010 Day 16: Exeter

My final stop on my 2010 vacation was in Exeter, a place I lived for a couple of years, but havent been back to since.

The town was the westernmost outpost of the Romans in the SW, and parts of the Roman wall still remain. The Cathedral was built in the early 12th Century.

Actually this was the first time I had been in the cathedral.

Traces of medieval buildings still abound, and the town is not such a bad place to live.

After the Cathedral I wandered down to the River Exe and the canal basin next to it before walking to the train station.

So thats it for my 2010 vacation. Right now I am on my 2011 vacation so will start posting on that in a few weeks when I return from the deserts of Morocco.

Kakaji Town

Kakaji town is a collection of fishing villages on the north coast of the Kunisaki Peninsular in northern Kyushu.

We stayed in one of the villages, Otakajima, when we visited Kunisaki last year.

The ryokan was excellent quality, but cheap, probably because it is off the main road. Actually the village was in a hidden cove that could only be reached by a narrow mountain road.

The little island, Horseback Island, had a small shrine that could be reached at low tide.

The village ( actually small hamlet would be more accurate) was of course well protected by concrete.

This is not the ryokan!