3 Shrines Around the Iwami Kokubunji Sites

 

The Iwami Kokubinji and Kokubunniji (nunnery) were located on the high ground just up the coast from Shimoko. Neither still exist, but the area is named Kokubu-cho.

The first shrine I visited was the Otoshi Shrine, which is, I think, the main shrine for Shimoko.

It is up a long flight of steps and on the way up offers views over Shimoko.

The main kami is Otoshi, a son of Susano connected with growing rice and also with immigrant clans from Korea. There are several more Otosshi shrines in the towns further up the coast...

Other than that I can find no history or info on secondary kami.....

A walk east toward the main Route 9 brings me to the guardian shrine of the Kokubunji, Kokubunji Kantake Shrine.

It was moved here when the Kokubunji was moved here. I had always presumed that Shimoko was the capital of Iwami all along, but apparently it was originally further up the coast in the Nima area. It was moved here in the early 9th century I think. I must find out why.

The most striking thing for me at the shrine was the pair of ceramic komainu. Unlike any I have seen before, they are quite cat-like.

The main kami of the shrine is Raijin, the Thunder God. I have always considered Raijin, and Fujin the Wind God, to be primarily Buddhist, as they are often depicted in paintings and sculptures at temples.

However, in Shinto mythology Raijin is equated with Ikazuchi, created out of the rotting corpse of Izanami. Ikazuchi is connected to the Kamo shrines that preceded the establishment of Kyoto.

Due to its importance and connection to the provincial capital, the shrine is listed in the Engi Shiki. Also enshrined is Omoto, the local land-goddess found everywhere in Iwami, and also Ebisu.

After passing the site of the former monastery, I head to Route 9, the old San-in Do that ran from Kyoto to Yamaguchi. The original Sanindo turns off from the new Route 9 and I follow it into Kushiro.

Kushiro Shrine enshrines Kushiroame no Koketsuhiko no mikoto, the son of Ama no Tarashihikokunioshihito no mikoto, the ancestor of the Kushiro Clan who settled the coast of Iwami.

More of that story can be found in this earlier post from down in Masuda.

It is also important enough to be listed in the Engi Shiki.

In the early 20th century with the shrine merger programme, the village Otoshi Shrine was merged with it.

In the grounds are an Omoto Shrine and an Ebisu Shrine.

New growth on a Sago Palm....

The Ebisu Shrine....

I carry on up the coast following the old San-in Do for a while. Abandoned properties are numerous.

The previous post in this series was on two shrines in Shimoko...

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Matsubara Itsukushima Shrine & Tonoura Kotohira Shrine

 

Matsubara is the small settlement below Hamada Castle on the mouth of the Hamada River.

The shrine right below the castle and immediately next to the sea is, not surprisingly, an Itsukushima Shrine...

There is a secondary Ebisu shrine in the grounds and hanging inside the common pairing of two masks of Ebisu and Daikoku. 2 of the 7 lucky gods, the pairing has deeper significance in this region as Daikoku is read as Okuninushi, and the father-son pair of Okuninushi and Ebisu are important in Izumo mythology.

The Itsukushima shrine is a branch of the famous one on Miyajima. This one only enshrined Ichikishima and not her sisters...

The chikaraishi stones were used in displays of strength at festivals...

The shrine has some very nice, large paintings.....

A few hundred meters up the narrow inlet towards Tonoura, the Kitamaebune port in earlier times, is a Kotohira Shrine set among a rocky outcropping.

This was originally a small Buddhist hermitage in 1711, but a few years later, following a dream, Kotohira Gongen was invited from Shikoku. In 1868, with the separation of Buddhas and Kami, it was turned into a shrine.

The previous post was on the Otoshi Shrine near Hamada Port

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Motohama Otoshi Shrine

 

Down below the Otoshi Shrine near Hamada Port is a small Benten-Sha and a memorial to sailors and fishermen lots at sea...

The Otoshi shrine was founded in the first half of the 8th century by "inviting" the kami of Izawa and Otoshi shrine in Mie, which suggests that figures in the provincial government offices nearby were responsible.

Otoshi is a common kami in this area as a son of Susano connected with farming and with links to Korean immigrants. The Otoshi here though, uses a different kanji, and the Izawa shrine is very closely connected to Ise, so it seems to be a different kami than the Susano connected one. Another clue is that a site I use to research Engi Shiki shrines usually has links to descriptions of all the major kami, but for the Otoshi of this shrine, no link....

The shrine received further donations from visiting dignitaries from Kyoto, and was listed in the Engi Shiki, so was obviously an important shrine in the past, but now is unmanned and somewhat dilapidated.

The zuijin in the gate were kind of cool, as were the relief carvings....

There are some secondary shrines in the grounds, the biggest being a Sumiyoshi Shrine, then there is an Inari shrine and an Ebisu shrine....

From the shrine there are nice views over the fishing port...

The previous post in this series on the Chugoku Kannon and Iwami Kannon pilgrimages was on two of the pilgrimage temples in the neighbourhood.

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Dark & Stormy Kuroshio Coast

 

December 2nd, 2011, and day 21 of my walk around Shikoku on the Ohenro Pilgrimage begins under a cloudy sky, though the rain of yesterday has abated.

Kuroshio is the name of a north Pacific current that passes along the Pacific Coast of Japan.

Here at the southern extreme of Shikoku, where the current passes, there is also a town called Kuroshio, where I will mostly be today.

As usual I tried to stop in at every shrine I passed, but this one was too far off the main road so gave it a miss.

On this section of coast the sea was much calmer than yesterday evening when I reached the coast.

Passing through Ida Port I did visit the next shrine.

It is a Tenmangu enshrining the ancient courtier, Sugawara Michizane.

Often used by students praying for exam success, Tenmangu shrines increased somewhat in the late 19th century as a preferred "national" shrine....

There was no signboard so have no info on the history.

Nearby was Kannonji, a very small temple.

There was a tsuyado here, free lodgings for walking pilgrims, and I had thought about staying here but it got dark too quickly yesterday so instead of chancing it I stayed in a henro hut.

Next up a small Ebisu shrine. As kami for fishermen, Ebisu is very common on the coast.

While it is not actually raining, the air is more than damp.

The way ahead looks like darker , windier weather....

It costs a lot to have old cars disposed of in Japan, which is why in the countryside you can often see abandoned cars slowly begining to decompose...... very slowly....

This small shrine is a Yaku Shrine..... no details....

The Sunahama Museum is a little free museum on the beach.

The skeleton of a Minke whale was impressive....

Across the Minato River....

And then across the bigger Fukigami River...

The previous post was yesterday's walk over the mountains to reach the Kuroshio Coast.

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