Garden at Taimasan Shrine

 

This is the second post on the garden at Taimasan Shrine. In the previous post, I showed how the garden looked in 2010, but this post is photos from a visit at the end of 2021.

In the second and third photos, a new garden has been built between the entrance to the shrine and the old temple garden. This new garden was built by the current head priest and is composed of two parts, Iwakura, and Iwasaka.

An Iwakura is a rock into which a kami descends, and an Iwasaka is a rock that mark the boundary of sacred space.

This makes this new garden very much a shinto garden.

The major difference in the main garden from when I visited 11 years earlier, is the white gravel area.

Also, this was the end of May, so some of the small trees are now full of leaves, and there are still a few flowers left on the azalea bushes.

For information on the history of the garden, please refer to the previous post.

The previous post in this series on  MountTaima, literally Hemp Mountain, was on the garden 11 years earlier....

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Garden & Teahouse at Matsue History Museum

 

The Matsue History Museum is just across the moat from Matsue Castle and opened in 2011.

It was built on the site of the residence of the senior retainer of the domain and was built to resemble a high-ranking retainers residemce. The museum is fronted by the original Eco-Period Nagayamon.

Matsue is known as one of the three centres of Tea Culture in Japan, thanks to Fumai Matsudaira, the daimyo and tea master.

The museum has extensive displays on Fumai and the tea ceremony as well as the history of the town and castle.

The cafe of the museum, where matcha with traditional sweets is the main offering, looks out on a small traditional garden.

Though modern, and built for the museum, it is a traditional Izumo-style garden, one feature of which is stepping stones raised higher than in other parts of the country.

Like most gardens it is planted with seasonal plants so changes throughout the year. These photos were from a couple of different visits at different times of the year.

The top of the castle keep can be seen from within the cafe.

From the cafe a corridor leads to an old teahouse with links to Sen no Rikyu.

I had always thought this was a replica, but apparently not, it is the oldest teahouse remaining in Matsue.

It was designed either by Sen no Rikyu, or under his guidance, in the late 16th century and ended up in Matsue. In the Meiji Period it was dismatled and stored at the Yakumo Honjin.

The previous post in this series exploring Matsue and Izumo was on the gardens at the Prefectural Office next to the castle.

To Kirara Taki

 

After leaving the cannons of Tebikigaura Daiba Park my route along the coast follows Route 9 and the railway.

This section of coast has a lot of rocks, many just a little submerged and makes sailing close to the coast quite difficult. While sailing with a friend in a yacht with a keel, we scraped rocks a couple of times.

the road and railway are quite high above the water for this section.

The cape of the Shimane Peninsula ahead beckons.

A little further ahead is the Tagi fishing harbour.

Back in the town at the mouth of the river is a harbour, and I often see huge floating cranes moored there, but this harbour further along the coast has the Japan Fisheries building.

Up ahead the two wind generators on the hill above Kirara Taki, the michi-no-eki.

Then, another small harbour. I actually know this one quite well as my friend had his yacht moored here.

The road descends slightly and I pass through what is called Oda.... Little Paddy, not Big Paddy.

The small Oda River empties into the sea...

And then the beaches begin...

The area around Kirara Taki, the largish Michi no Eki, literally "road station" , a kind of service area without gas stations...

In recent years they have developed the area as a beach resort....

The beaches don't really compare with the ones we have down in Iwami..... but most of the population of Shimane lives in this end of the prefecture, so its the best they have I guess....

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Japan Sea Coast was on Tebikigaura Park.