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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