Goishizan Temple 2 Shodoshima Pilgrimage

 

This is one of the iconic views of the Shodoshima Pilgrimage. Temple number 2, Goishizan is only a few hundred meters from Temple 1, Dounzan, and the car park at Goshizan is a good place to park to explore Dounzan and the okunoin of temple 3.

At the open parking lot there is a view down the mountain and a small, modern, concrete hall topped with an oversize statue of Kobo Daishi, the focus of this 88 site circular pilgrimage.

From here you pass through a torii gate and head along the mountainside until eerging from the trees at another torii. From this torii a step of very steep, rough steps lead up to the Gyoja-do, an ascetic route. From the Gyoja-do you can see a small k9npira Shrine perched on top of a rock pinnacle nearer the summit.

Like the famous 88 temple pilgrimage on Shikoku, on which this Shodoshima pilgriage is modelled, many of these mountain sites would have been Yamabushi sites before becoing incorporated into the pilgrimage .

Carrying on past the torii you come to a small structure that leads into the cave which is the main hall. The hinzon is a Namikiri Fudo, a wave-cutting Fudo Myo.

There is often someone here on duty selling candles, incense, and pilgrimage supplies.

Kinzanji the Oldest Temple in Okayama

 

According to records, Kinzani Temple was founded bu the monk Hoon Daishi, under orders of Empress Koken, in the year 749, which makes it the oldest surviving temple in Okayama.

Also known as Kanayam Kannonji, I came across the temple quite unexpectedly while walking  through the mountain north of Okayama City and spied a large, old pagoda on the hillside.

Qith its dilapidated Nio gate, onky foundations stones of the formerly huge main hall, and a couple of structures other than the pagoda, it looked like it was obviouslt a very major temple coplex in former times, but now almost abandoned.

However there was a walled compound that was home to a cluster of buildings, including what I guessed was the priests home and a small main hall. It is now a Tendau sect temple and apparently home to one of the infamous "Naked Festivals" where hordes of men and boys in loin-cloths jostle for good luck charms....

Taketomi Beaches

Taketomi

Taketomi Island, a small island a few kilometers from the larger Ishigaki island in what is now Okinawa Prefecture, is a very popular tourist site that visitors come to primarily to see the picturesque traditional village, and to take a ride in a cart pulled by water buffalo.

However the island also has a couple of rather nice beaches, one a little rocky, the oyjer with fine white sand.

We visited in April, out of season, and so the beaches were deserted. Also it was an overcast day so the colors are not so spectacular.

At low tide, it seemed too shallow for swimming or snorkeling for quite a ways out.

This gentleman was off collecting something, maybe a type of seaweed, maybe shellfish.....

Ishigaki Sea Salt

Buy Ishigaki Bath Salts from Japan

Tamana Observatory

 

Taman Observatory is a curious structure located on a small hilltop overlooking a sports park and the town of Tamana beyond. It's not so high and the views are not particularly impressive.

More like an oversized, climbable sculpture than a building, it does have a single room inside the central ovoid shape.

As a photographer I found it exciting as I spent a good hour running around taking lots of geometric, abstract shots.

It is yet another of the Kumamoto Artpolis projects, and was completed in 1992, so an offspring of the bubble-era. Like so many similar projects, the lack of use and deteriorating concrete surfaces do not bode well for the future.

If I was a kid with friends, it would be a great place to play hide and seek, and I would imagine it would be suitable for a paintball contest, with lots of different levels and nooks and crannies.

The architect is a young Kagoshima native, Masaharu Takasaki, who does not seem to be very well known but does have a book written about him. I came across another of his projects earlier in my walk when down in Kagoshima.Nanohanakan  Sports Park is quite bizarre, but also excellent for the kind of geometric, abstract photography I am partial to.. 

It was an excellent place to spend the solstice night to see the sunrise

Down the Kikuchi River

 

December 20th, the 48th day of my first walk around Kyushu and I left Yamaga to head down to Tamana. First stop was the burial mounds museum I posted about here and here. Pictured above are some of the haniwa reproductions. Haniwa were the ceramic figures placed on top of the burial mounds. Horses and chickens appear here. Houses, deer, and human figures are also common.

My route takes me roughly alog the Kikuchi River, though here the land is fairly flat and the river meansers so the road sometimes cuts straight. I am still surprised by how much agricuture takes place under plastic. I have no idea what was growing here, though being December 20th, the coldest weather had yet to arrive.

A statue modelled on a clay haniwa marks the entrance to a cluster of tombs, the largest being the Etafunayama Mound. The grave goods excavated from the burial chamber included multiple swords, mirrors, and jewels, collectively known as the three symbols of Imperial power, or the Imperial Regalia.

November and December are my favorite times for walking around western Japan. The weather is usually good, the light is great, and the lack of mosquitoes makes sleeping out more pleasant, but the days are somewhat short.

Arched stone bridges would not be particularly noreworthy in many places, but in Japan they are somewhat unusual. Introduced by Chinese monks in Nagasaki most of them seem to be in areas near to Nagasaki. Therevwere several more in Tamana.

Being the solstive eve I found myself a nice high-point to spend the night.

Kumamoto Komainu

Komainu

Day 48 of my Kyushu Pilgrimage found me walking down the Kikuchi River in Kumamoto from Yamaga to Tamana. As normal I stopped in at every shrine I passed on the way, on the look out for art, stories etc. Usually I would post about each shrine, with details of the kami there enshrined, history, features, etc but these posts do not seem to interest many people, so instead I will just post some photos of the komainu I encountered.

Komainu literally means "Korean Dogs", but they are usually translated as "Lion Dogs. They are a variation on the guardian lions found in China that were transmitted to Japan via Korea. Some of the earliest ones found in Japan are in Yaegali Shrine in Izumo, which attests to Izumo's close connection to Korea.

Most komainu are now found at the entrance to shrines and lining the walkway to the main shrine buildings. However thyese date to the Edo Period at the earliest, and the original versions were places inside thye shrines, or inside the gates where they are often paired with Zuijin.

Komainu are in essence guardians, and can also be found outside temples as well as secular properties. Usually, but not always, one of the pair will have an open mouth, one closed. Like with the Buddhist Nio guardian statues, this represennts the "ah" and "un", the alpha and omega of sanskrit.

Sometimes the pair are male and female, and sometimes the female may be shown with a pup or two. Mostly they are shown in a sitting position, but sometimes, especially in Izumo, one will have its haunches raised like the photo above.

There is more and more standardization of Komainu designs, so I delight in seeking out unusual, local variations like those I discovered further south in Kumamoto.

Quite rarely I have actually found standard lion statues at a few shrines.

Kumamoto Decorative Tumulus Museum

 

These are just some architecture shots of the museum I posted on last. This time I use the name that is listed in the official Kumamoto Artpolis listings, in which the museum is included.

It opened in 1993 and was designed by Tadao Ando, one of the best known modern Japanese arhitects, though many dislike his obsessive use of plain concrete.

From a purely photographic viewpoint I really like his work as it allows me to take strong, abstract photos with lots of curves and shadows.

A typical feature of many Ando designs is a great, sunken, circular space that brings the sky into the design, something he also often does with great expanses of water reflecting the sky.

More of my visits to Tadao Ando works can be found here. Some of the older posts have lost their photos. If you have any particular desire to see them or if you would like to see more posts on Ando Tadao, please leave me a message in the comments.

Posts on other works in the Kumamoto Artpolis Project are here

Decorated Tombs Museum Kumamoto

Tombs Museum

The Kumamoto Decorated Tombs Museum is located a few miles from Yamaga, north of Kumamoto City. It is sometimes referred to as the Forest of Tombs Museum.

The museum is situated in the middle of an area that has a high concentration of burial mounds of different sizes including the largest, a so-called keyhole tomb.

Burial mounds, tumulus in Latin, are found all over the world, called barrows in England, cairns in Scotland, and kofun in Japan where the name is applied to a historical period, the Kofun Period,  which runs from about 300 to 538 AD.

Burial chambers within the mounds that were decorated, either with carving or painted were in a minority, with a few being found in the Nara/Kinki area, but most being found in northern Kyushu. Of course there may well be more in the Nara region but the tombs there are not excavated. The official reason given is  to protect the dignity of the imperial ancestors, but many believe it is to avoid questions about the origins of the imperial clans.

The kofun, like so much technology, was imported into Japan from the Korean Peninsula. Decorated tombs, in particular, seem to have the strongest link with the kingdom of Paekche. On display inside the museum are many replicas of these decorated tombs. I believe they were originally created for a major national exhibition on decorated tombs in 1993.

While approaching the museum I also passed by another unusual type of burial, tunnel burials, where small tunnels were excavated into the rock face, kind of like pigeonholes or left luggage lockers