Okanari Shrine & Akamatsu Hiyoshi Shrine

 

A little farther up the lower slopes of Mount Daisen, I came to Okanari Shrine.

When this area was being settled and developed, three shrines of the Kumano Sanzan were founded, this one being for Shingu Daimyojin, so the kami here is Hayatamano.

The village was originally named Shingu, but later was renamed Okanari. During the 16th century the shrine was supported by the local warlord, a vassal of the Mori.

In the late Edo Period the shrine functioned as a subsidiary shrine of Ogamiyama Shrine.

In early Meiji the name was chnged from Shingu Daimyojin to Okanari Shrine.

Within the grounds is a Yamaguchi Shrine enshrining Susanoo, Oyamatsumi, and Inari.

A little further, in the village of Akamatsu, I came to a Hiyoshi Shrine. There are no records of its founding, except that as Sanno Gongen, the original name for Hiyoshi Shrines, it has been there since ancient times.

The kami are Okuninushi, Oyamatsumi, Toyotamahime, Ojin, & Inari

In 1913 all the other shrines in the village were merged with Hiyoshi Shrine.

A Myoken shrine, an Ikenojinja Shrine, an Ichinotani Shrine, and an Otani shrine combined to create the mix of kami mentioned above.

The shrine is home to a unique festival tradition the Akamatsu Kojin Festival, held only in leap years, and an Intangible Folk Cultural Tradition. In it a 25 meter long serpent made of straw is carried through the village and then placed at the Kojin altar in the shrine.

This is obviously an extension of the Kojin straw serpents found at just about every shrine in Izumo, and the equivalent of Omoto in our region of Iwami. Straw serpents can be found in most parts of Japan and usually represent the local land kami.

The previous post was on Ogamiyama Shrine.

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Folk Art of Maze Town

 

The next temple on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage was in the middle of an old part of Tonosho known as Meiro no Machi, which translates as Maze Town

The name comes from the narrow lanes of the area which have so many turns it quickly gets confusing when walking around. It is said the layout was created in the 14th century when fighting between the rival Northern and Southern Courts occurred on the island. Other sources say it was to protect the town from pirates.

When I was there the alleys had curious figures made from fishing net floats. I have seen such things numerous times. Often painted to look like a cat.

Here there was a standard pattern of the float placed in a plant pot or small bucket, and each one was wearing a conical cap I think representing the sugegasa, the hat worn by pilgrims.

Most just have standard faces, but some are painted to represent characters.... Daruma being common, and even Hello Kitty as above...

Since I visited the area has opened several Yokai museums and there seems to be Yokai decoration around so maybe these figures are not so common.

The previous post was on the nearby Narrowest Strait in the World.

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Ogamiyama Shrine

 

Ogamiyama Shrine has a long and somewhat unusual history. It is mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki, and is listed in the Engi Shiki, and is the Ninomiya, second-ranked shrine, of Hoki Province.

Mount Daisen has long been a sacred mountain, and the shrine's origins lie in a small shrine built high up on the mountain by ascetic monks.

As the mountain was covered in deep snow during the winter, a second shrine, this shrine, was built down below so people could worship in the winter. The top shrine became known as the summer shrine and this one was the winter shrine.

The kami enshrined here is Okuninushi. In ancient times, when the Fudoki were written, Okuninushi was considered to reside in/on Mount Daisen. All the stories of Okuninushi come from what is now Tottori, and at the northern base of Daisen is a Yayoi settlement that was one of the biggest in all of Japan, a strong possibility for the capital of an Izumo Polity that ceded the country to the Yamato.

As the mountain shifted to a more Buddhist-oriented mountain worship, the main deity of the mountain became Jizo.

The mountain was a huge shugendo centre with at one point 189 sub-temples and a community of 3,000 "warrior monks". The most famous warrior monk was Benkei, and there are stories that he spent time on Daisen.

The current shrine buildings date to the mid-Edo period. The grounds have 1,000 Hydrangea bushes, and this is one of the top hydrangea spots in Tottori.

The Tottori Association of Shrines says that along with Okuninushi, also enshrined here is Oyamatsumi, Susano, & Sukunahikona.

Secondary shrines in the grounds include a Misaki Shrine enshrining Amaterasu and two other kami.

In 1868 with the separation of Buddhas and Kami, Jizo was removed from the shrine at 900m, the summer shrine, and it became the Okumiya, inner shrine; this shrine, the winter shrine, became the main shrine.

Flanked by two foxes is the "worship from afar" shrine, enabling those unable to climb the mountain to the inner shrine to worship from afar.

As well as the hydrangeas, the large shrine grounds also includes one of the biggest Iris gardens in the San-in region.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the walk into Tottori that ended the previous day.

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Yumeminato Pavilion

 

Attached to the Yumeminato Tower in Sakaiminato, Tottori, is the Yumeminato Pavilion.

They are both remaining structures from an Expo that was held here in 1997.

In front of the pavillion are several sculptures. They take the form of metal boxes with holes in the shape of Yokai.

Sakaiminato is a Yokai capital in Japan as it is the birthplace of Mizuki Shigeru, a manga artist responsible for reviving many traditional yokai and for creating many ne yokai. Similar statues can be found in the Yumeminato park that runs from here down the coast a ways, and along Mizuki Shigeru Road.

When we visited on this trip, about 20 years ago, the lower floor was devoted to sales of souvenirs and local specialities

On the upper floor was an exhibition that included a full size Mongolian yurt.

There was also a collection of national costumes of countries of East Asia available for visitors to try on and be photographed in.

I was unsure why the focus on Asia, but then I later learnt that a Japanese anthropologist who specialized in Iran and Mongolia and the Silk Road, was born near here.

Later I was to visit a large, but decaying, museum near here dedicated to him.

Yokai made their presence known a little around the building, but at that time I was more interested in the  geometry and light and shadow of the architecture.

The previous post in this series was on the Yumeminato Tower.

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.