Kasuga Shrine Fuse

 

Fuse is a small fishing village on the East coast of Dogo, the largest of the Oki Islands in the Japan Sea off the coast of Shimane.

I reached it late in the afternoon on my first day walking around the coast of the island.

The shrine in the village is a Kasuga shrine and is said to be older than the mid-16th century. The shrine is most well known for the main path which is directly east and so sunrise can be viewed on the Spring and Autumn equinoxes

Being a branch of Kasuga Shrine, the main kami is Ame no Koyane, seen to be the encestor of the Nakatomi-Fujiwara Clan who pretty much ran Japan for centuries. Curiously, the chigi, clearly visible in the one before last photo, is for a female kami. Also clearly visible is the red oni decorating the end of the roof. A blue one is at the opposite end.

There are numerous other secondary shrines within the grounds with Hachiman and Sumiyoshi being two I could discover the names of.

This is where the rituals and ceremonies for the amazing tree-shrine, Oyama Shrine, nearby take place.

The previous post was on some of the amazing coastline along this section of Dogo.

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Down the Isa River from Hachimangu to Izuchi Shrine

 

After passing by the entrance to Mount Sanbe, my route continued west down the Isa River.

My first stop, in the village of Yamaguchi, was the village Hachiman Shrine.

It was established in 1095, but I can't find from which "mother" shrine it is from, Usa, or Iwashimizu I think it is a little too early to be a branch of Tsurugaoka.

Curiously it only lists Ojin and Jingu. No mention of Chuai or any consort kami.

The style of architecture with glass doors on three sides of the worship hall is unusual.

Heading down the Isa River, the Yaezakura, the late cherry blossom with thick, pink blossoms appears several times.... I find it much nicer than the Yoshino cherries that dominate...

Of course, lots of other flowers are around at this time..

At some point as I approach Izuchi Shrine I pass from Iwami into Izumo..... it would have been clearly demarcated in earlier times....

Izuchi Shrine is written as Ijitsu Shrine on Googlemaps. It was known as Wakaichi Gongen until 1868.

It enshrines Kunisatsuchi no mikoto, a fairly obscure kami mentioned early in the myths and then disappearing. The honden dates back to 1812.

The previous post was on the delightful scenery of flooded rice paddies around the base of Mount Sanbe.

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Tenei Hachimangu

 

3rd of May, 2014, and my final stop of day 9 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage was a fairly standard village shrine in Mito Onsen, in the Chugoku Mountains near Masuda.

There was no signboard, and I have been unable to unearth any information searching the web.

Plenty of small shrines within the grounds, almost certainly moved there in the early 20th century when local shrines were moved to national shrines.

Stone zuijin are not si common, and this one is quite recent.

As with most village shrines in Iwami, it is set up for annual kagura performaces...

Also unusual were the wooden masks, I suspect there is a mask-carver in the neighbourhood

The previous post in this series was on the day's walk through the remote mountains with an emphasis on wild harvesting...

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Wakamiya Hachimansha, Yasaka Shrine, Kifune Shrine, & Yatate Shrine

 

After leaving the delightful Komo Shrine in the early morning of my 6th day walking the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage, the next section of my walk headed pretty much due East.

As usual, I stopped in at any shrines I passed. The first was called Wakamiya Hachimansha, and curiously the main kami was Emperor Nintoku. In 1908 a whole bunch of other kami were jointly enshrined, including Amaterasu, Susano, Takitsuhime, Ichikishimahime, and Kotoshironushi. I also saw a small Inari shrine in the grounds.

Next stop was a Yasaka Shrine.

Enshrining, of course, Susano and members of his family. Yasaka is the post-Meiji name for many different shrines, one of the most common names being Gion-Sha. No mention on the signboard what the old name was.

No mention of the secondary shrine in the grounds, but the early morning sun made for some striking photos.

The third shrine was a Kifune Shrine, a branch of the famous Kifune Shrine (Kibune Shrine) in the north of Kyoto.

It was located right next to a 6th-century burial mound.

When I first came to Japan, I read that Shinto had an aversion to death, and yet  I started to discover many ancient tombs had shrines built next to them...

Once again, the signboards gave no info on dates, history, or other shrines in the grounds.

The final shrine was Yatate Shrine, the largest of the group.

It is also known as Daikongawa Shrine.

In 720, Otomo no Tabito led an army of imperial and Usa Hachiman troops against the Kumaso in southern Kyushu. He planted arrows in the ground and prayed at this spot for victory.

In 725 a Hachiman shrine was established here and was made one of 8 shrines of an Imperial procession.

In 765, the reed pillow of the ritual from Komo Shrine visits here on its procession to the eight "outer shrines".

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the large and impressive Komo Shrine.

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Kannonji Temple 69 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

Kannonji, temple 69, and Jinneiin, temple 68, both occupy the same site, but I came into the kannonji side first so it gets posted before 68.

The reason I came into Kannonji first was that I visited the original "temple" 68, which was the Hachiman shrine on the hilltop.

From the hilltop is the viewpoint overlooking the Zenigata Sunae, a huge sand sculpture.

The shrine was founded in the very first years of the 8th century by a monk practising austerities on the hill and seeing a vision on the sea and established the Kotohiki Hachiman Shrine.

The temple was founded as the shrines temple and was named Jinguji Hokoin.

Later Gyoki visited, and then later still Kobo Daishi and he painted an Amida Nyorai and made it the honzon of the shrine. He built several halls and statues at the temple and renamed it Kannonji.

When the government forcibly separated the Buddhas & Kami in 1868, the Amida was brought from the Hachimen Shrine and placed in Kannonji. The shrine ceased to be number 68, and the part of Kannonji holding the Amida became temple 68 and as renamed Jinnein.

The honzon of Kannonji, a Kannon, is a secret Buddha, but recently has started to be shown once every ten years.

As well as the main hall, built in 1677, and Daishi Hall, Kannonji also has an Aizen hall, a Heart Sutra Hall, a Kaizan Hall, a Dainichi Hall, and a Kyozuka Hall.

The main hall is an Important Cultural Property, and in the Treasure Hall are two more: a wooden reclining Buddha dating to the Fujiwara Period, and a silk painting of Fudo Myoo

The previous post in the series was Daikoji Temple 67.

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