An Autumn Walk to Yasaka Shrine & Ishinokuchi Hachimangu

 

I begin day 20 in Tabuse and today's walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage will take me into the countryside of southern Yamaguchi.

First stop, walking out of Tabuse, was a Yasaka Shrine.

Enshrining Susanoo and Kushinadahime, like all Yasaka Shrines it was known as a Gion Shrine until the Meiji Period when the separation of Buddhas and Kami meant Gozu Tenno was replaced by Susanoo.

Like many Gion shrines, it was established to protect against plague and disease.

The exact date of its founding I cannot find out, but it was certainly here in 1559.

It is a glorious late Autumn day as I head out on Prefectural Route 63.

As usual in Japan, you can't go far without passing a roadside Buddhist altar.

I have never been in this area before, and I have no idea what I will find along the road.

Exploring seems to be out of fashion nowadays. Most people seem to want to go to places they have seen on the internet.

The landscape I walked through I would describe as typical Japan....

River valleys with forested mountains....

Farms scattered around, and when the valley is wide enough, larger settlements...

At the base of Iwakisan, a sacred mountain with a cluster of ancient shrines on top, a big shrine of a "new" religion, and the remains of a "korean-style" castle of the late 7th century. I came across the entrance to Ishinokuchi Hachimangu.

It is said to have originally stood higher up the mountain but was relocated to its current site in the late 14th century.

Not far up the approach was a small shrine with no name....

Though it did have a lovely ceiling....

Further in, a second torii and more steps...

and then more steps....

To be so far from the road is quite unusual....

I had left my backpack at the first torii so I didn't mind the walk and the forest was quite atmospheric with shafts of sunlight piercing the mist...

In a small storage shed I found an unusual mikoshi shaped like a sea bream....

I finally reached the quite substantial main shrine... I would say about 400 meters from the first torii...

As a Hachiman it enshrines primarily Ojin....

There are several sub- shrines nearby, but I can find no details....

There is also a huge stump of what must have been a sacred tree....

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the ancient mountain temple of Hannya-ji

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