Tebikigaura Daiba Park

 

Tebikigaura Daiba Park is a small clifftop park overlooking Tagi Port and the mouth of the Tagi River which formed the boundary between the old provinces of Iwami and Izumo.

It's the summer solstice and I am starting the 6th leg of my walk heading east along the Sea of Japan coastline and have just entered Izumo.

The most intriguing thing at the park was a pair of cannon. The first a full-size replica of a Japanese-style cannon, and the second, below, a 3/4 scale replica of a Western cannon.

In the 18th century the Matsue Domain installed two batteries, each of three cannon, at this spot and down at the mouth of the river.

The replica cannons here are based on documentation of another battery further up the coast in Tottori.

Looking across the bay is Hinomisaki, the western cape of the Shimane Peninsula where I would be visiting next day.

This area of beach and coast is named Tebikigaura after a myth concerning a daughter of Okuninushi named Adakayanushitakikkihime who lived in the area. She is the kami of the Adakaya Shrine much further east of Matsue with the cool straw serpents...

My plan was to get as far as around Izumo Taisha and spend the solstice night sleeping out...

The previous post was on the section of coast from Kute to Hane.

Gardens at Jodo-ji Temple Onomichi

 

Jodo-ji is an ancient temple said to have been founded by Prince Shotoku Taishi in the early 7th century.

Many of the current buildings date to the early 14th century and two are Nationl Treasures.

Surprisingly Jodo-ji is located nowhere near Kyoto or Nara, but in the old port town of Onomichi in Hiroshima.

On this visit I was walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage and Jodo-ji is temple number 9.

Next post I will cover the temple, but for now I focus on the garden.

The garden only dates back to the Edo Period.

Dated to 1806, the designer was Hasegawa Senryu, claimed to be a 13th generation descendant of Sesshu the famed artist and garden designer.

Curious as there were no records of Sesshu having any children.

Generally it is considered a karesansui garden, although a narrow waterway, barely visibly, runs between the area of raked gravel and the artificial hill.

Overlooking the garden is the teahouse Rotekian.

This was originally located inside Momoyama Castle by Hideyoshi.

It was moved here in 1814.

Unfortunately, the garden around the teahouse is rarely open to the public.

There is also a smaller South Garden, photos below....

The previous post in this series was on the ferry ride getting to Onomichi

18 Stone Fudo Myoo Statues at Ichinotaki Temple in Sasaguri

 

Ichinotaki Temple is a small mountain temple on the Sasaguri 88 temple pilgrimage.

Unlike many of the miniature 88 temple pilgrimages, a lot of the temples in Sasaguri are in the mountains, and quite a few have waterfalls.

I have never seen so many Fudo Myoo statues as I found in Sasaguri, and as Fudo is associated with waterfalls used for ascetic training, Ichinotaki has more than usual.

They are all outside, and the majority are carved in stone.

They come in a wide range of sizes, and while a few are professionally carved, many are "less" professional, but in many ways more evocative.

As with all statues outside, the weather has worked on them and this adds yet another layer to their aesthetics... to me at least...

There is a lot more to see at Ichinotaki Temple but that will be for next time....

The previous post was on the previous temple, Shuzenji, also with multiple Fudo's

Scenic Ferry Ride from Tsuneishi to Onomichi

 

After leaving Abuto Kannon, I walked up the west coast of the peninsula until as far as Tsuneishi from where I hopped on a small car ferry heading to Onomichi.

Japan is an archipelago of thousands of islands, and one of the areas of Japan where this is most obvious is the Inland Sea between Honshu and Shikoku.

A good chunk of the shipbuilding industry is centred here as the waters are relatively calm.

This curious piece of architecture is called Ribbon Hall and seems to be used primarily as a wedding chapel at a resort.

Nowadays many of the islands are connected by bridges to each other or two the main islands of Hinshu, Shikoku, or Kyushu,  but small ferries are still needed for the numerous unconnected islands.

Looking back, I had earlier walked past the Utsumi Bridge which connects the Numakuma Peninsula to Tajima Island.

First stop of the ferry was Momojima Island.

The "floating torii" of Itsukushima Shrine in Urasaki was built in 1977 emulating its head shrine on Miyajima.

A small car ferry links Tozaki on the peninsula with Uta on Mukaishima Island.

The Inland Sea, Setnaikai in Japanese, was the main transportation route in historical Japan, a country with many mountains, few wheeled vehicles, and few roads.

Getting closer to Onomichi, the big shipbuilding area lies to the east of the town.

The channel between Onomichi  and Mukaijima is as narrow as a river, but some serious, ocean-going vessels are built and repaired here.

While so much of Japan has been "renovated" there are still remnant of a funkier type of architecture, as below....

The Shimanami Kaido, an expressway that links Honshu to Shikoku via 6 islands, crosses the narrow strait. The small bridge carries non-expressway traffic.

Striking because of its rarity, a domestic house with stylish, modern architecture, rather than the cooki-cutter houses of most of Japan...

Just a few minutes away from the destination....

The final two photos are of the two pilgrimage temples, Jodo-ji, and Senko-ji, that I will visit once the ferry docks.

The previous post in this series was on Abuto Kannon, the striking vermillion temple overlooking the sea.