Hachiman Asami Shrine

The Hachiman Shrine in the Asami district in the south of Beppu City is the tutelary shrine of the town, and was founded in the 12th Century.

The entrance is flanked by two ancient cedars and the local tradition says that if a couple walk together between the trees they will be married.

Hachiman shrines, in Kyushu at least, tend to have retained more of their earlier decoration and are often painted a a dark red, rather than the vermillion associated with imperial or Inari shrines.

Since the Heian Period the kami nof Hachiman shrines have been equated with the legendary Emperor Ojin, and the kami are usually listed as Ojin, his mother Jingu, and father Chuai. Sometimes Ojins wife is listed too.

Now called the God of War, Hachiman has had a multitude of varying identities. The best resource in English on Hachiman is the American researcher Ross Bender, and many of his papers can be found here

The shrine has various interesting things within its grounds, some unusual-shaped stones in the walkway, a pure water spring, a treasure house

This huge camphor tree is said to be over 1,000 years old.

There are several sub-shrines in the grounds, but have been unable to find out exactly which kami they enshrine.

Akaoni (red demon) masks of Kunisaki

Since I started to make masks myself I have become interested in searching out examples of older, wooden masks.

Shrines are a good place as many of them have old masks on display.

The red demon is often paired with the white demon.

All of these masks were at shrines on the Kunisaki peninsular in Oita Prefecture, northern Kyushu.

You can see a couple of my red demon masks here.

NCB Seaside Building

The NCB Seaside Building houses the offices of several major banks. It is a fairly nondescript office block with little architectural merit except for the entrances located on the corners of the building.

It is located in the Momochi district of Fukuoka.

Arisanomiya Shrine

The shrine of Arisa is located in a cave about 90 meters above the Takahashi River near Niimi in Okayama Prefecture. To get to the shrine you have to walk and climb through 1 kilometer of the Ikura cave.

Arisa was a local girl who lived in the village about 400 years ago. She had a boyfriend called Mosaku. Apparently all was well until one day the daughter of the local lord passed through the village. This girl/woman was so stunninbgly beautiful that even as far away as China they had heard about her great beauty.

Mosaku became smitten by this girl and left the village to go after her and try to win her hand.
Arisa waited.
And waited.
He never did come back.

No longer able to stand her grief Arisa climbed up to the top of the waterfall that drops down from the cliff above the cave and threw herself off.

The villagers built the small hokora for her.

For some reason, the logic of which defies me, the shrine is now a place where young couples come to pray for good relationships.

Unfortunately the only way to reach the shrine is to pay to enter Ikra-do, but it is well worth it.

Along the tracks

On Sunday I went down to Gotsu for the annual Kagura Festival, but after a few hours indoors I couldnt stand it any longer... outside was another beautiful clear day and as we have had so few this month and as the good weather was not likely to last, I headed off for another walk.

I got off the train in Kawahira and headed up the tracks.

This section of the river has no road on this bank, and as it was 90 minutes or so till the next train I reckoned I could get along the tracks before it came.

There are a few abandoned farms along this side of the river....

Closer to Kawado I passed by a place that has fascinated me since I moved here, a hidden valley. The entrance is very narrow and choked with bamboo and undergrowth and there appears to be no trail in, but one of these winters when the undergrowth has died back Im going to try and find a way in...

Though its the longest river in West Japan, the Gonokawa is not well known but I have yet to see a river in Japan that is more beautiful.

I arrive safely into Kawado without encountering the train.

Kawado, the bustling commercial hub of Sakurae Town.......

Mine-Ji

Mine-Ji is an ancient mountain temple looking down on Unnan Town in the Okuizumo district south of Lake Shinji.

I previously posted on the Nio and Fudo Myojin statues here.

Reputedly founded in 658 by the legendary En no Gyoja, considered to be the founder of Shugendo, the temple was reputedly visited by Kobo Daishi and has been a Shingon Temple since then.

There are a lot of nice statuary in the extensive grounds, and several shrines, one to Inari, and one to Suijin. The shugendo tradition continues here and in April a Himatsuri (fire festival) is held.

With advance reservations the temple is one of the few in the region that offers shukubo (temple lodgings) and shojin ryori (vegetarian buddhist meals) There is a nice garden that can be enjoyed while drinking tea, and an interesting library and an altar for Tibetan Buddhism.

 

This felt very much like a "working" temple, active in many areas, whereas so many temples are simply funerary sites. There is no public transport to the temple but Kisuki Station is about 2k away, and the temple is only at about 180 meters elevation, so not so hard to walk to.

 

I dont usually find painted screens all that appealing, but this one in the temple really struck me.

The views from Fukuoka Tower

From 123 meters above ground the observation deck of Fukuoka Tower offers stunning 360 degree views.

Right down below in the Momochi Beach and Marizon, a pier with expensive restaurants and a wedding chapel.

Looking up the coast towards downtown. Numerous hi-tech companies have buildings in the Momochi district. The largest high-rise visible is the Hilton Hotel, formerly the JAL Seahawk.

Fukuoka City is home to about one and a half million people. Ranked 14th in the worlds best places to live, most people seem to live in apartments.

Bombed heavily towards the end of the war, like most Japanese cities there is little left of prewar architecture.

Another view of the Hilton.

Phallic Hokora

Hokora are small roadside shrines found all over Japan.

Often the doors are closed, but sometimes they are open and one can see the shintai which is usually a stone, sometimes a small statue.

This one I found in a village in southern Okayama is obviously a small fertility shrine.

They were much more common in earlier days, though one can still find them in the countryside.

Each carving would have been made by a local person to ask the kami for a baby.

Inside the Fukuoka Tower

The views looking up inside the Fukuoka Tower are pretty impressive, and I would have liked to spend some time taking photos, but unfortunately I only had a few seconds.

We were kept behind a rope until the elevator was emptied and then herded across the open space by a team of uniformed young ladies in white gloves. I was scolded for pausing for a few seconds to take these shots.

More details on the tower can be found here in an earlier post

Looking down can sometimes have its rewards too.....

OMMMMK 8

The eighth, and what turned out to be the last, matsuri for me in October was at Sano, a village up in the mountains behind Hamada. It was my first time at this matsuri and I accompanied a group of non-Japanese tourists, so the shrine, yet another Hachimangu, was quite crowded.

Because of the foreign guests could only stay a few hours the kagura group chose to play the opening shinji (ritual dances) later and started straight in with the theatrical dances. First up was Tenjin, the deified spirit of Sugawara Michizane a high-ranking courtier and poet who was banished to Kyushu by Fujiwara no Tokihira in 901. Sugawara died shortly thereafter and a series of disasters befell the Fujiwaras and the court and it was decided that Sugawara's vengeful spirit was responsible so he was deified and posthumously elevated in rank.

The dance is primarily a standard fast-paced battle between Sugawara and Tokihira.

The next dance up was everybody's favorite, Orochi, the piece that most typifies what Iwami kagura is all about, color, speed, drama, and excitement. This is usually the finale of a matsuri night of kagura performed at around 5am.

As is typical, only 4 serpents danced instead of the full complement of 8. Space in shrines is usually too small.

Halfway through the serpents gig an old gentlemen walked into the writhing mass and in turn lifted up the head of each dragon and gave the dancer a glass of sake....... no-one seemed to mind.

"I aint afraid of no dragon"

I had hoped to visit at least 12 matsuris this year, but unfortunately scheduling conflicts, the weather, and a trip to Kyushu meant only 8......... still, there is always nect year :)