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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Unpenji Temple 66 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

I spent the night at a minshuku at the base of Mount Unpenji. Overnight, there had been a heavy snowfall. 

I set off at first light, before the sun, as I had about 650 meters to climb to reach the temple. The trail was virgin. Not a single footstep had been made in the 6 to 12 inches of powdery snow.

After about an hour of climbing I was overtaken by a couple of younger guys who had been eating breakfast when I left the minshuku. Not only younger, but they were only carrying small day packs, so I watched them hurtle up the mountain and sat and had a cigarette break.

Unpenji Temple, the 66th of the pilgrimage is the highest of the temples at about 900 meters altitude.

Thye Niomon is very new, but not the Nio, although I can't find a date for them.

The temples origins begin with Kobo Daishi who climbed the mountain as a you man. He came back later and established the temple.

On his third visit he carved the honzen statue.

It became a well-supported temple with many branch temples on the mountain and became known as the Koya of Shikoku.

However, in the 11th century a fire completely destroyed the temple.

The temple was restored later and the new honzon, a seated 1000-armed Kannon, and a Bishamonten statue were carved.

The great warlord Motochika Chosokabe visited the temple and spoke with the priest about his plan to rule over all of Shikoku. I am guessing that therefore, Unpenji was one of the few temples in Shikoku he didn't destroy.

Most of the buildings seem to be fairly new.

I wish I had had more time to explore, as there are some fine statues inside.

The temple became much more accessible in 1989 when the Unpenji Ropeway was built.

There is actually quite a lot to see at the temple and it has extensive grounds. It is well known for Autumn colours, but for me at least, the most impressive feature was the 500 life-size statues of the Rakan, or Arhats. I gave them their own post here.

Shrine to Gosha Daigongen, the protective kami of the temple.

The previous temple I stopped at was the Bangai Temple Tsubaki-do, down below. Temple 65, Sankakuji was the previous main temple, and the previous post was on the awesome Rakan statues here at Unpenji

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