Choanji Flower Temple

Choanji

Choanji is a mountain temple in the Kunisaki area that is known locally as a flower temple because of its extensive gardens.

In ancient times it was the most important temple in the region as it was the head temple of Rokugo Manzan, the syncretic shugendo sect based on Hachiman and Tendai Buddhism that dominated the area.

In the heyday of its power and wealth more than 1,000 monks were based here. Excavated in the grounds have been 19 bronze plaques inscribed with the Lotus Sutra. These sutra burials were popular in the late Heian period, though occurred mostly in areas outside of the capital area.

During the Warring States period a warlord built a small castle above Choanji. When he was defeated control of the Rokugo Manzan was shifted to Futago Temple, where it remains to this day.

When I visited in early May, 2016, the gardens were not well kept and there was no-one around, though it was only 7:30. I had arrived from down the mountain, following the trail that roughly follows the old shugendo pilgrimage route. This was my second day walking along the Kyushu Fudo Myo-o pilgrimage

I was impressed with how many pairs of stone Nio there were. More photos of colours and statues will come next.....

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Mishima Shrine & Misosogi Shrine

Mishima

I was excited to start day 2 of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myoo pilgrimage. A good chunk of the days walking would be along mountain trails. After waking early at my stopover at Nameshi Dam, I walked across the dam itself and headed into the woods.

The first seven temples of the pilgrimage are all located in the Kunisaki Penisula, but to visit them I decided to walk the Kunisakihanto Minemichi Long Trail, a route that closely follows the old yamabushi pilgrimage route that circumnavigates the peninsula. This was my third visit to Kunisaki and I would be revisiting some sites but visiting many more for the first time.

Not far into the forest I come upon the first stop, a shrine set against a cliff with the honden and a secondary shrine both under a rock overhang. The map says this is Mishima Shrine, though there is no information about it.

I am very fond of shrines that cannot be accessed by motor vehicle. From here an ancient road leads up a little higher before crossing over a pass and dropping into the next valley.

The Kunisaki Peninsular is a roughly circular volcanic cone, and from the central high point a series of 28 valleys raditae out. What this means is that to walk around the peninsula involves an awful lot of ups and downs.

As I approach a qiute large temple I first pass by a substantial shrine. My map says this is Misosogi Shrine, but another says it is Choanji Rokusho Shrine. Choanji is the temple nearby connected to this shrine, and Rokusho is the name of several shrines in the area, related I am fairly sure, to  Rokugo Manzan, the Tendai- Hachiman syncretic cult that formed the areas unique religious landscape.

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A room with a view at Nameshi Dam

Nameshi Dam

Early evening on the 2nd may, 2017, and I arrived at the place I would spend the night. A wide roof with a wooden bench overlooking the small reservoir behind Nameshi Dam on the Togo River near the centre of the Kunisaki Peninsula.

I havent used a tent in more than 30 years, preferring to sleep under the stars when possible, and in a bivvy sack if its wet. Here I had toilets nearby and drinks vending machines. There is a small shop but it has never been open whenever I was here. There is a replica waterwheel, many cheery trees that have passed theor blossom by date, and a small house used as a vacation rental I believe.

I had slept out here about four and a half years previously in November 2012. Then I was at the end of my first day of a 5 day walk across and around the Kunisaki Peninsula and I had started the day at the famous Usa Hachiman Shrine, and I was exploring sites along the anciet Hachiman-Tendai Shugendo pilgrimage route. Photos of the sunset that day are here

On the next day of that trip, I carried on east up along the river and then over the centre of the peninsula and on to the coast. On this trip, I will be heading over the dam and into the mountains and be following, to a large extent, the Kunisakihanto Minemichi Long Trail which closely follows the old pilgrimage route. I'm actually on the first day of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, but as the first clister of temples are all here on the Kunisaki Peninsua I decided to visit them by useing the Minemichi trail.

It has been an excellent day and as the next days route is largely along mountain trails rather than roads I am excited. Here are links to the sights of my first day.

Taizoji                 Demons Stairway                 Not the Village of Dolls                 Treasures of Makiodo

            More Kunisaki Cliff Carvings                                             Tachibu Motomiya Hachimansha 

Fuki-Ji Temple                             Yama Shrine                                 Umi Shrine

Umi Shrine

 

I reached Umi Shrine not too long after leaving Yama Shrine. There was no information board at the shrine and I have been unable to find out anything about it from any source. It did appear to be even less used than Yama Shrine and there were absolutely no statues of any kind.

The approach to the shrine was somewhat dramatic, but in fact not very natural. Japan suffered major deforestation in the Edo Period when forests were cut down to build castles and castle towns, and the Shogunate did instigate a tree-planting campaign, around the same time as Germany created their tree-farming methods.

However, the massive expansion of these sugi (Japanese cedar) tree farms where whole mountains are covered in trees of the same age and in lines is a product of postwar bureaucracy/ These unnatural forests are very prone to landslides and lacking any natural undergrowth drive deer, bears, wild boars, and monkeys into raiding villages for food. Meant to be a profitable source of building materials, Japan now imports most of its timber from the USA where it is cheaper.

I was coming to the end of my first day walking the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage and had chosen to spend a couple of days walking the Kunisakihanto Minemichi Long Trail which closely followed a more ancient pilgrimage route around the Kunisaki Peninsula. This last section was mountain trail whereas most of the day had been spent on small roads.

Yama Shrine

 

After leaving Fuki-ji temple, the oldest wooden building in Kyushu and a fairly major tourists site, I carried on up the narrow, mountain road upon which vehicular traffic had ceased passing me. On this, my first day embarked upon the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage I was following the Kunisaki Hanto Minemichi Long Trail which roughly followed the route of the ancient Kunisaki pilgrimage.

The road crossed over a ridge and dropped down into the next of the 28 valleys that radiate out from the centre of the peninsula. 28 "chapters" of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddhist text that the pilgrimage maps. I arrive at the entrance to Yama Shrine.... simply named Mountain Shrine.

Over the years, as I have wandered the back roads of rural Japan I have noticed that some regions have very few shrines, and other areas have huge number of shrines. Kunisaki is one of the latter. Yama Shrine is quite crude and ridimentary. No fancy carvings nor elaborate structures. More like a simple mountain hut.

Like many shrines in the region is does however have a pair of stone Nio, the Buddhist guardians that are often found at temples. In 1868 the government officially separated Buddhism and "shinto" and elements such as Nio were removed from shrines. Apparently, the memo never reached Kunisaki. It has sometimes been referred to The Land That Time Forgot, as like my own home region of Iwami, traditions were not so radically reinvented.

There are said to be more than 32,000 stone statues of various sizes throughout the peninsula, one for each kanji character that comprises the Lotus Sutra.

Fuki-ji Temple the Oldest Wooden Building in Kyushu

 

Fukiji Temple on the Kunisaki Peninsula is certainly an elegant structure and is the oldest wooden building still standing in all of Kyushu, and is therefore registered as a National Treasure.

It is believed to have been built in the early 12th Century, part of the huge Tendai-Hachiman-Shugendo pilgrimage area that extends over the whole peninsula. It is believed the temple was built for the priests of Usa Hachiman. Like almost  all the shrines and temples in the region there are a fine pair of stone Nio.

The main hall houses a statue of Amida Nyorai, and is classed as one of the top 3 Amida Halls in Japan. The interior walls of the hall have remnants of colorful murals depicting the Western paradise of Amida.

I was here on the first day of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, and while Fukiji is not one of the pilgrimage temples it did have a Fudo statue.

More Kunisaki Cliff Carvings

The Motomiya Magaibutsu are a set of Buddhist cliff carvings in the Kunisaki Peninsula. I had started the day at what are believed to be the biggest cliff carvings in Japan, the Kumano Maigaibutsu, and later in the day after visiting the wonderful statuary on display at Makiodo I carried on walking north .

The figure on the left is a Jizo, next to Jikokuten. In the center of the first photo is a Fudo Myo flanked by his two attendants Setakadoji and Kongaradoji. The figure on the far right is Tamonten. It is believed they were all carved in the late Kamakura Period. Oita, and Kunisaki in particular, has the highest concentration of magaibutsu in Japan.

I was on the first day of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, and as the first few temples were all located in Kunisaki I took the opportunity to take a longer walk roughly following the old Kunisaki/Hachiman pilgrimage. Kunisaki remains my favorite area in japan because of the remoteness and huge diversity of ancient religious sites.

The Motomiya Magaibutsu are now protected by a roof, but 20 minutes earlier I had visited a smaller set of Magaibutsu, the Daimonbo Magaibutsu, at the ruined site of a former temple. These magaibutsu are still exposed to the elements and are somewhat more eroded. Out of the photo on the left is a small standing Fudo Myo. The figure on the right is said to be Dainichi Nyorai, but no-one seems sure who the central figure is.

Just beyond the site of the ruined temple is a small Inari Shrine. The sheer number of shrines and temples and such in the area is quite staggering. It is said that there are more than 32,000 stone statues of various sizes in the area..... one for each kanji of the Lotus Sutra. It is thought that the Lotus Sitra is "mapped" onto the landscape of the Kunisaki Peninsula.

This was my sixth trip to the area and I was hoping to get to some of the many sites I had long been wanting to visit.....

Treasures of Makiodo

The Treasure Hall at Makiodo Temple in the Hunisaki area.

Makiodo was built on the site of Makisan Denjo-ji, a large temple in the Kunisaki Peninsula area of Oita. The temple burned down in the early 14th Century but some of the statues were saved and are on display now at Makiodo.

Amida Nyorai flanked by the 4 Shitenno

Makisan Denjoji was reputed to be the biggest of the Tendai temples in the Kunisaki area that was home to a Tendai version of Shugendo. I visited it on the first day of my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myo Pilgrimage. The first group of temples on the pilgrimage are located in the Kunisaki area and as I had been long wanting to walk the old Kunisaki Pilgrimage I used this opportunity. The Kunisakihanto Minemichi Long Trail approximately follows the old pilgrimage route.

Rare Statue of Daitoku Myo at Makiodo

All the statues on display in the Treasure House are obviously more than 700 years old and include a seated Amida Buddha with the four Shitenno, Heavenly Guardians, flanking it. What is believed to be the biggest example of A Daitoku Myo in Japan, seated astride an ox, and a wonderful Fudo Myo with his two attendants.

Fudo Myo at Makiodo in Kunisaki

In a separate building are other artworks and a pair of Nio guardians. Makiodo is located less than 3 kilometers north from the Kumano Magaibutsu, and like many of the really interesting places in Japan , not really served by public transport.

Ancient Nio statue on display at Makiodo