Sufu Beach to Hamada Port

 

After leaving the Hachimangu Shrine I pass by the small beach at Sufu before heading over a little rise and dropping into the wide curving beach and bay of Nagahama.

This is also the westernmost wharf of Hamada Port, the only deep sea port on the Shimane coast.

This western wharf has the Coast Guard station and seems to primarily export cedar logs.

Nagahama is home to several large shrines, but on this trip i passed them by, but did visit one small Inari Shrine.

The beach at Nagaham is well protected by a long wall of terapods with just a few gaps in between.

Near the eastern end of Nagahama, a small harbour for small inshore fishing boats.

Then, the main part of Hamada Port. Numerous silos, plus one of the container-lifting cranes. I know one of the major exports from the port is used cars.... shipped to Russia

I didn't visit, but looks like my kind of place.....

And then the main fishing port. This is the biggest fishing port in Shimane by far. It has a fish market with a couple of touristy restaurants. Squid is one of the biggest "products" landed here....

The fishing port has the infamous Hamada Great Bridge. Absolurely useless, goes to a little island that is just 10 meters from the mainland and that already had a bridge. Brainchild of a former mayor who decided it would make Hamada look like San Francisco. A prime example of the construction excesses of Japan before the bubble burst .

The previous post in this series on the Chugoku and Iwami Kannon Pilgrimages was on the two shrines I visited in Sufu, mentioned in the opening of this post.

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Sufu Kasuga Shrine & Hinoashi Hachimangu

 

Not far from Shotokuji temple and Jorinji Temple is a Kasuga Shrine with great views over Sufu and the mouth of the Sufu River.

There appear to be few existing records, but as Kasuga Shrine is the family shrine of the powerful Fujiwara family, and the local rulers claim descent from a branch of the Fujiwara family, that makes sense.

The Kasuga Daimyojin consists of Takemikazuchi, Amenokoyane, Futsunishi, and Himegami.

I was impressed with the older-style masks....

About a kilometers away near the mouth of the Sufu River, is Hinoashi Haxchimangu. This shrine does have records.

The governor of Iwami, Fujiwara no Kunikane, established the shrine as a branch of Usa hachimangu in 1114. Thirty years later the shrine was given extensive lands to support it and its festivals. It was the tutelary shrine for 16 villages. The Suo Clan, descendants of Kunikane, made it their family shrine and gave more support. When the Suo moved with the Mori to Nagato a lot of the shrines lands were confiscated.

There is a very popular Inari shrine within the grounds. Over the centuries it has been located at numerous locations.

The previous post in this series on walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage and the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage was on Jorinji Temple.

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Kairyuzan Toda Hachiman Shrine

 

Depicting doves, rabbits, and monkeys, the ceramic roof ornaments at Toda Hachimangu are fairly unusual, though I have seen some on the tile roofs of walls around houses in Tsunozu.

Located close to the sea among rice paddies, Toda Hachimangu has three toriis. The third being Ryobu style. The name Kairyuzan is  Shingon related, and with the Ryobu torii indicated a strong Buddhist connection.

On the path from the shrine to the torii on the beach is a small Inari shrine.

There are also secondary shrines to Kakinomoto Hitomaro, the legendary ancient poet who possibly died nearby. Toyokehime, Kotoshironushi, Otoshi, and the sea kami Wadatsumi, enshrined here before the shrine was converted to a Hachiman shrine in 899.

The shrine was completely destroyed by the tsunami of 1026, which also destroyed Kushirogahime shrine that I had just visited.

The tengai, the sacred ceiling below which kagura dances are performed, was composed of an unusual set of plants I had not seen before. Usually they are pine or sasaki.

As tutelary kami for samurai, Hachiman is often called a god of war. As such, samurai often donated their swords after success in battle. One sword was donated here in the late 16th century by a local samurai who had success in Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.

Incidentally, the dove is the messenger of Hachiman which may explain the decorations on the roof. Also it adds some confusion to the imported notion of doves being symbols of peace.

The version of Hachiman here is Ojin, Jingu, and all three Munakata kami.

The previous post in this series on day 33 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on Kushirogahime Shrine nearby.

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Itsukushima Shrine Koshigahama

 

The Itsukushima Shrine in Koshigahama near Hagi is situated on the banks of Myojin Pond.

The pond is tidal but also contains freshwater, so species of fish and marine life from both ecosytsems can be found in it.

The pond is on the sandbar that connects Mount Kasayama, a small volcano, with the mainland.

The shrine was established by the second Mori Lord of the Hagi Domain, Tsunahiro, in 1686.

It is a branch of the famous Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima in Hiroshima, which had earlier been part of the Mori Domain.

Not sure what fish these are, but sea bream, parrotfish, mullet, rays, and sea bass can all be found in the pond.

The pond was previously known as Benten Pond and the original Benten Shrine is now a sub shrine of the Itsukushima. Bezaiten was considered a manifestation of Itsukushimahime.

Other sun shrines in the grounds include an Inari and a Konpira.

This was the start of day 30 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

The previous post was on the last part of my walk on day 29, across the Matsumoto River.

if you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the most recent posts.