Ikegami Merchant Mansion

 

Down below the former samurai district of the castle town of Takahashi in the mountains of Okayama is the merchant district of the old town.

The wealthiest merchant family was the Ikegami, and their property is open to the public as a kind of rest spot-information centre-musuem.

The family has been on this site since the early 18th century, initially with a store selling small goods.

Later the family expanded in the river trade with some kawabune boats and also money-lending, a lucrative business for many Japanese  merchants in the Edo Period.

Their greatest success came with the manufacture of soy sauce which reached its peak in  the Meiji period.

The current buildings date back no later than the mid 19th century as much of the town was destroyed by a fire in 1843.

It is quite a large property with many buildings including the residential part and with a long garden in between.

The storerooms to the rear contain a lot of exhibits pertaining to the manufacture of soy sauce.

Entry is free and there are sometimes staff on hand to offer information.

As far as I can tell this is the only traditional building in the merchant quarter that is open to the public.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the samurai mansion up the hill.

Orii Family Samurai Residence & Garden

 

The former Orii family residence in the castle town of Takahashi in Okayama was a fairly high-ranking samurai home built in the late Edo Period.

Placed around the property are various mannequins dressed in period costume including a suitably obsequious servant.

I found it a little creepy. In a museum when viewing a historical tableau, then it seems OK, but when you can walk around in the space I find it somehow distracting.

As this is next door to the Haibara Residence, it would suggest that the two samurai families were of a similar ranking, but as this one is closer to castle I would guess slightly higher ranked.

 

As the photo below shows, there were two separate entrances: one for receiving guests and one for daily life.

All the rooms of the property are open to visitors.

The gardens are nice enough, but nothing special and did not seem well tended. The gardens next door were better in my opinion.

There is a also a museum displaying armour, weapons etc

There are a variety of joint-entry tickets including the neighbouring samurai residence, the castle, and Raikyuji Temple.

These photos are from August, 2014 while I was on day 6 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage. The previous post was the Haibara Samurai Residence next door.

Haibara Samurai Residence

 

The former Haibara Samurai Residence is located in Takahashi, the castle town in the mountains of central Okayama, on the Takahashi River.

It is on a road of former samurai residences at the north of the town, near the base of the mountain on top of which sits Bitchi Matsuyama Castle, known as the highest castle in Japan.

At 430 meters above sea level, it is one of the few castles remaining in Japan with an original tenshu, or keep, and the only mountaintop castle with an original keep.

The former Haibara Residence was built about 170 years ago at the end of the Edo Period.

Unusual for a samurai residence, it was built in what is known as sukiya-style, normally associated with temples and teahouses.

Numerous artifacts including furniture and some armour are on display.

The gardens have also been kept in their original form.

There is a joint entry ticket to this house and the slightly more impressive Orii House next door which I will post about next.

Takahashi is a little off the main tourist routes, but is well worth a visit. While it is not a Preservation District, it has plenty of traditional architecture as well as the amazing castle, some lovely temples, and just outside town a great modern art museum.

On this visit, my second to Takahashi, I was on day 6 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

The previous post was on nearby Raikyuji Temple which was used as a home by the daimyo and has an amazing garden by Kobori Enshu.

Eifukuji Temple 57 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

Temple 56 is quite a small temple with Amida as its honzon. As well as the Daishi-do there is also a Konpira-do and a Yakushi-do.

Eifukuji is the 4th of a cluster of 6 pilgrimage temples in the area of Imabari, Ehime.

It is located at the base of a small mountain to the south of the city, though it used to be located on top of the mountain with views over the city.

The most noticeable thing for me when I visited at the start of my 35th day walking the pilgrimage was the Enbutsu-do, a strikingly modern building that towers over the temple compound.

Designed by architect Zai Shirakawa, it features very thick walls with angled window openings that allow for some privacy but also allow plenty of light to enter.

It is said that Kobo Daishi performed a ritual on the mountaintop in the early 9th century for peace at sea and afterwards Amida appeared and so he built a temple.

In 859 another monk was travelling from Kyushu to Kyoto with the divided spirit of Hachiman to found Iwashimizu Hachimangu. He thought the mountain here looked like the one where Iwashimizu was to be built and so founded a Hachiman Shrine alongside the temple. Both functioned as the same site.

Until 1868, that is,  when the government separated Buddhas and Kami and the temple was relocated to its current location at the foot of the hill. The shrine still stands on top.

There are some fine carvings, and I was surprised to see a Ta no Kami statue (below). The cart in the first photo was left by a 15 year-old crippled pilgrim whose leg was healed at the temple.

The previous temple was temple 56 Taisanji.