Mizuki Shigeru Road

 

Sakaiminato, the small town and fishing port in the very west of Tottori, is the childhood home of Mizuki Shigeru, a manga artist who concentrated a lot on yokai, a term that covers all manner of otherworldly creatures and forces from ghosts and poltergeists to demons and gods.

In his work he revived many of the myriad yokai that have been around Japan for centuries, but he also created some new ones of his own, the most famous being Gegege Kitaro, the character who has featured in big screen movies along with a whole cohort of new yokai.

There is a museum in Sakaiminato dedicated to Mizuki Shigeru and his work, and the street that leads from the train station to the museum has been renamed Mizuki Shigeru Road.

Dozens and dozens of bronze statues of yokai line the street, and I have covered many of them in three earlier posts.... Gallery of Yokai 1, Gallery of Yokai 2, and Gallery of Yokai 3.

So in this post, some of the bronze statues I have not posted before, and some of the other yokai artwork along the street...

The first photo shows one of the many streetlamps made to appear like Daddy Eyeball, the father of Gegege no Kitaro. The second photo, in black and white, is Gashadokoro, a yokai from a village in Hiroshima that is the collected resentment of all who died working in the fields. Photo three is a tableau called Kappa Spring and feature a variety of yokai, predominantly kappa.

Photo four is of a couple of stainless steel sculptures with the shape of yokai depicted as a hole. There are many of this type of sculpture in the park that runs along the beach from Yumeminato Pavilion and Tower. The fifth photo is of ema hanging at Yokai Shrine, not registered with any religion, but said to be a power spot. Sixth photo is of Iju, a yokai from the Niigata area. When given food it carried a mans heavy pack for him.

Number seven is a painting set in the sidewalk depicting a variety of yokai. Sakaiminato has a bunch of manholes with yokai designs that you can view in this earlier post. Not at all sure what the next painting is of, but it was on the wall outside a shop.

The yokai above is Makuragaeshi, a yokai that moves your pillow while you are asleep.

Numerous stores sell yokai merchandise like the masks above, and even a bakery sells buns with yokai faces and shapes.

The Kubire Oni in the painting above is formed from the malice of people who died by hanging and cause depression and suicidal thoughts in people.

Above is Nononba and a young Mizuki. She lived near to him and introduced him to many yokai stories.

Tsuchikorobi, pictured above, seems to be a harmless yokai that rolls down a hill ahead of you.

Above is Harionago, a beautiful woman with disheveled hair that has hooks at the ends to catch and carry men away.

Above is Kajuu from Nagano, which can walk but not swim.... 

Above is Iwami no Ushio, a yokai from my region of Iswami. It has the face of a cow and a body of an Earth Spider and attacks people on beaches. Below are a group of small Daddy Eyeballs, and the final picture is of Kajiga Babaa, a yokai from Kochi. A blacksmith's wife got lost at night and was eaten by wolves. Her spirit possessed one of the wolves and began to devour travellers.

Every time I visit Sakaiminato, there are many new yokai sculptures added, so if you have an interest in yokai it is well worth visiting or revisiting.

The previous post was on the nearby Ferry Terminal.

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Continuing to Descend Daisen

 

I awoke before sunrise on day 46 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage at a little over 630 meters' elevation on Mount Daisen.

With the early morning light, Mihonoseki, the eastern cape of the Shimane Peninsula is clearly visible across the water...

After descending a kilometer or so the stench of cow shit starts to dominate, and will do for most of the day.

Mount Daisen is famous for its milk, and either side of the road are dairy farms.

Factories would actually be a better word as there are no pastures with cows grazing, rather large wooden buildings, and metal for the more modern ones.

I am guessing that this dairy industry on Daisen grew out of the livestock market up at the temple...

Both sides of the roads are lined with fairly tall trees, so the dairy operations are invisible except when passing their entrances...

I come to Hoto Shrine, a place I had visited before, and that I was looking forward to revisiting. In this region, "hoto" is a slang word for vagina. Knowing that, the symbolism of the unique torii perhaps becomes more obvious.

However, just a few meters down the stone steps, the overgrown vegetation made it impossible to proceed. I also noted on Google Maps that there are no photos of the actual shrine, which suggests to me that since my first visit more than a decade before, the shrine has become impossible to visit. I have a fondness and interest in the remaining fertility shrines in Japan and seek them out. There used to be very many more until Japanese society took on a lot of Victorian Christian morals, but I have collected quite a lot of photos of such places.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful...just walking and enjoying the views and the dance of my own thoughts...

Going downhill I was able to make good time, though the route was very windy...

I reached Hagiwara Shrine....

The small honden was fully enclosed in a building, perhaps because we were still quite high and the winter weather would be inclement...

I can find absolutely no information about the shrine or its history..

After Hagiwara Shrine, I leave the main road and take a side road that will take me westward, and I start looking for a good spot to spend the night.

The previous post was on the first leg of my walk down the mountain.

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Awa Ichinomiya

 

Immediately adjacent to Dainichi-ji Temple is the Ichinomiya Shrine of Awa, the old name for Tokushima.

Dainichiji Temple  is now temple number 13 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, but prior to the Meiji era it was the shrine that was the 13th site of the pilgrimage. The Kannon statue was removed from the shrine and placed in Dainichiji.

In ancient times local people worshipped a huge, sacred stone at the site.

The shrine itself was founded in the mid-9th century, and at that time the Ichiniomiya for the province was Oasahiko Shrine across the Yoshino River.

This shrine became the Ichinomiya a couple of centuries later as Oasahiko Shrine was too far from the provincial capital and so considered inconvenient.

The three kami now enshrined here are Ogetsuhime, Amanoiwatowake, & Yakurahime.

Ogetsuhime is more commonly known as Ukemochi. Usually seen as the Goddess of food, she is sometimes a he. Different versions of the myths have her being killed by either Susanoo or Tsukuyomi, and from her corpse all the various foods of Japan sprang forth. She is also sometimes equated with Inari.

Amanoiwatowake is the name for several different kami, but one of them is the ancestral kami of the Imbe Clan, and so that is the most likely version here. The Imbe "colonized" the Awa region to grow hemp for the Imperial court.

Yakurahime is considered another name for Amaterasu.

Secondary shrines within the grounds include a Sarutahiko Shrine, a Tenjin Shrine, and Inari Shrine, an Okuninushi & Kotoshironushi Shrine, and a Munakata Shrine.

A Wakamiya Shrine enshrines several generations of the lords of nearby Ichinomniya Castle.

Due to the proximity to the castle, the shrine was completely destroyed by battles in the Warring States Period of the 16th century.

The honden is an Important Cultural Property. It was built in 1630.

The previous post in this series on day 8 of my walk along the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the neighbouring Dainichiji Temple.

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.