The 7 Lucky Gods around Shikoku

The Shichifukujin, the 7 lucky gods, are very popular in Japan despite their being mostly "foreign" gods. On my little walk around Shikoku I encountered them at many of the 88 temples, like these small figurines at the mountaintop temple of Tairyuji in Tokushima.

They are often depicted riding a "takarabune", a treasure boat, together like this at Meitokuji in Kochi.

Many temples, especially in Ehime, had fairly new and larger collections of their statues like Ryukoji in Ehime.

The next temple, Butsumokuji, I visited just afew days before New Year and the statues had fresh offerings in front of them in preparation for the large number of visitors expected I would guess.

This small figurine was at Gokurakuji in Tokushima.

Shikoku 88 Temple 8 Kumadaniji

Kumadaniji means Bear Valley Temple and is located up a valley, though it is believed it was even further up the valley originally. Some distance away at the mouth of the valley stands the main gate, considered to be the finest of all the 88 temples. It was built in 1688.

The main gate contained 2 fairly standard Nio, but in the middle gate were 2 brightly-painted nio of a quite different style. I must admit I know nothing about this style, though they seem to me to look very Hindu.

The main deity of the temple is the Thousand-armed Kannon (Senju kannon) and the statue was supposedly carved by Kukai. The founding legend has a story of the Kumano gods, as do many of the 88 temples and this leads historians to believe that sites connected to Kumano ascetics are one of the sources of the 88 temple pilgrimage.

Notable structures include a pagoda and this belfry. The main hall is a twentieth century construction.

Hidden Crosses

When Christianity was outlawed in Japan in the early 17th Century many people took their faith underground and are now known by the name kakure kirishitan, "hidden christians". They employed many subterfuges to disguise their faith, perhaps the most well-knoiwn being to equate the Virgin Mary with the Goddess Kannon.

Another was these stone lantern pedestals which originally had a lantern on top to form a cross with truncated horizontals. Hidden Christians are associated most strongly with parts of Kyushu, especially the area around Nagasaki, but these three examples are not from there.

The top photo is from a temple in Ehime, Shikoku, the second from Hagi in Yamaguchi, and the bottom one is in a temple in Tottori.

Kanzui Matsuri 7

The next dance at last years all-night matsuri in Kanzui was Oeyama, a big production with an unusually large cast for a kagura dance so I will split it into two posts. the story is based on a Noh play of the same name which itself was based on a story in the Heike Monogatari. In the first scene the hero, Minamoto Yorimitsu, and an aide leave Kyoto on a mission to destroy demons that have been kidnapping and eating young women.  On the way they meet a tengu/yamabushi who tells them that the demon will not harm yamabushi so they should discard their armor and wear the garb of mountain priests. the tengu also gives them some drugged sake that will disable demons but not affect humans.

The next scene introduces a villager who works in the mountains as a woodsman.

The next scene introduces a princess who is found in the mountains washing bloodstained clothes in a stream. She was captured by the demons but her flesh was too tough and bones too large to be eaten so the demons kept her as a laundry maid.

She promises to guide them, now dressed as yamabushi, to the demons lair on Mount Oeyama.

Yamabikokan

Yamabikokan is the name of Tottori City History Museum.

Its located near Ochidani Park to the south of the castle area.

I didnt have time to go inside and see what they have on display and I have been unable to find out who the architect is, though I found its color scheme quite pleasant.

Its closed on Mondays and entrance is 500yen for adults, though there is a small reduction for foreign visitors.

Hamada Castle

This is an artists impression of what Hamada castle would have looked like. It no longer exists as it was torched by the Lord of the castle in 1866 to stop it falling into the hands of the approaching Choshu forces.

This entrance gate that now stands at the entrance to the inner fortifications was originally a gate to a samurai residence in Tsuwano. the Choshu forces passed through Tsuwano on their way west but the Tsuwano Lord chose to keep his men inside tsuwano castle rather than engage the invaders.

The castle and surrounding castle town were built in 1620 by the Yoshida clan though control of the domain and castle passed to a branch of the Matsudaira a few decades later.

There are fine views over Hamada from where the keep once stood.

Aizen-in

The first few miles of the pilgrimage path, from temple 1 to temple 3, are along asphalt, but not long after temple 3 the way follows a small footpath that snakes across ride paddies and then through some bamboo groves before arriving at the small temple of Aizen-in.

Both the main gate and the entrance to the main building are flanked by huge straw sandals, and inside the main building are thousands and thousands of regular-sized sandals in piles.

In a corner is a pile of crutches and leg braces which people have left here after having had lower-body ailments healed. The temple was supposedly founded by Kukai who also carved the statues of the main deity, Fudo Myo-o.

Aizen-in is the Okuin of temple 3, Konsenji. Okuin means "inner hall" and is the building of a temple that is furthest from the entrance gate. This one is about 3k from the main temple.

Vacation 2011 Day 12 into the Draa Valley

The seventh day of our trek across the Jebel Sahro in southern Morocco began with a crystal clear sky.

We were coming down into the Draa Valley that separates the highlands known as Jebel sahro from the might Atlas Mountains visible, snow-capped, in the distance.

It was a fairly uneventful day and we made camp in the early afternoon in the middle of an undulating sea of rock. Some may call it barren, but for me it is naked mother earth. I have long since given up trying to figure out why it is that I feel most home, safe, and comfortable in an environment of rock and sky.

Off in the distance a little weather began to form.

The land was not completely without vegetation :)

Ushioni the Cow Demon

Ushioni, demons with the head of a cow, appear in legends and stories all over western Japan.

Probably the most well-known nowadays are the ushioni of Uwajima in Ehime on Shikoku.

In the third week of July the Ushioni Matsuri takes place involving a parade of 5-8 meter long figures with these heads atop tall poles.

In Uwajima they function as protection in a similar way to Shishi.

Steel Hut

The Steel Hut, along with the Silver Hut, make up the Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture.

Unsurprisingly it was designed by architect Toyo Ito.

It is located near the small fishing village of Munakata on Omishima in the Seto Inland Sea between Hiroshima and Shikoku.

On the website for the museum you can download the plan of its design and construct one yourself out of paper........ here

The building consists of four different polyhedrons and is constructed in steel.

Construction finished and the museum opened in 2011.

The tallest stone torii in japan

This is the biggest (tallest) torii made of stone in Japan. It is located in front of Warei Shrine in Uwajima, Ehime, on Shikoku. It is 12.5 meters tall. Many sources claim the stone torii at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto as the tallest, but it is a mere 9.5 meters tall.

Shikoku 88 Temple 7 Jurakuji

Only one kilometer from temple 6, Jurakuji is the eighth temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. The name means "temple of ten Joys" and refers to the 10 joys awaiting believers after death.

There were many Mizuko Jizo in the grounds, the small Jizo statues erected for the souls of aborted children.

This wonderful statue is of Aizen Myo-o, one of the wrathful, fierce-looking deities originally Hindu but now seen as emanations of the 5 Wisdom Kings. Aizen, known as the King of Sexual Passion,  converts lust into spiritual awakening and saves people from the sufferings associated with love.

Jurakuji was, according to legend, founded by Kukai who also carved the statue of the main deity Amida Nyorai.

The temple complex used to be much larger but was burned down in the late 17th Century and rebuilt later, though the current main hall only dates from the Meiji era.