Married Islands & Sugawara Shrine

 

Approaching Abu, 2 small islands lie just offshore.

The smaller island is named Megashima, which means Doe Island. It has a single torii and may have a hokura.

The larger island is named Ogashima, which means Stag Island. It has several torii and some shrine buildings. It is a branch of Kashima Shrine.

Being male and female islands, they are known as Married Couple Islands.

In Abu itself, the main shrine is a Sugawara Shrine.

Obviously Sugawara Michizane is enshried here.... same as in Tenmangu shrines or Tenjin shrines.... though am not sure why they have different names.

These shachi on the roof of a small hokoro were quite unusual...

Many shrines to Sugawara have an ox statue, from the ox that was carrying his coffin in Dazaifu and then stopped. At that spot Dazaifu Tenmangu was built, though until Meiji it was actually a temple.

There was no signboard at the shrine, and I can not find any information about the shrine online in either Japanese or English...

There were some nice paintings on the ceiling and a fairly unusual pair of komainu

The previous post in this series on day 3 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the walk from Oi to here...

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A Walk from Koshigahama to Nagato-Oi

 

Late March, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom on the Sea of Japan coast in Yamaguchi.

This was day 30 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, and the for the next few days there would not be any pilgrimage temples to visit, but the route is along a spectacular section of coastline where the road is literally right next to the sea.

Koshigahama is home to a pretty large fishing port, but fish is not the only product harvested from the sea.

As well as squid hanging up to dry, there was a lot of wakame, a species of kelp, and widely eaten in Japan.

Spring is the primary harvesting season in Japan.

Looking up the coast at my route. The high mountain in the distance is Mount Takayama near Susa. I expect to be there in about 3 days.

have no idea what these tiny fishes are that are being dried.

Not a big fan of small, bony fishes, though I must admit i used to enjoy whitebait back in Cornwall.

I suspect this guy doesn't care less which kind of fish he gets to eat....

If its not cloudy or windy, then the sea here is usually clear and turquoise blue.

The train line from Masuda to Hagi also hugs the coast and so these views can be enjoyed from a slow train....

Oshima is the biggest of the islands visible most days. In good weather, Mishima, much further offshore, can be glimpsed in the far distance.

For the next few kilometers there are no houses or settlements until Oi.

The previous post was on the scenic Itsukushima Shrine on Myojin Pond in Koshigahama.

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Taisha Fishing Port

 

After passing by Inasa Beach and the Benten island/shrine, I come to the fishing port of Taisha Town.

I have passed by several small fishing hatbours, but this is the first port since leaving Tagi yesterday morning. The distinction, for me at least, between harbour and port is that a fishing port will have an ice machine and a Japan Fisheries office

Like most Japanese fishing harbours, this one is also constructed out of millions of tons of concrete, not just making piers, but breakwaters of tetrapods and massive offshore breakwaters "protecting" the harbour.

Over the years of traveling the coast of Shimane, I have only ever seen two boats that were not fishing boats, cargo boats, or Coast Guard boats.... my friend's yacht in Tagi, and a yacht here in Taisha.

The route along the coast now sweeps up towards the cape at Hinomisaki.

The previous post in this series on the 6th leg of my deep exploration of the Sea of Japan coastline was on Inasa Beach and the Izumo myths associated with it.

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Inasa Beach & Izumo Myths

 

Up before the sun on the longest day of the year, I left my beach  campsite and started up towards Taisha.

Looking back up the beach towards where I started yesterday, Mount Sanbe is clearly visible in the predawn light.

I have one more small rivermounth to cross, the Hori, before my way up to Inasa Beach is along the debris-strewn, concrete-protected beach....

At Inasa Beach, sunrise illuminates the most famous landmark,... Benten Island.

Until fairly recently it was still a true island, surrounded by water at low tide, but now the beach has built up and the island is accessible at except at very hight tides...

The small shrine on the island was to Benten,.... otherwise known as Benzaiten, a Hindu deity brought to Japan. with esoteric Buddhism and then adopted as a kami as well as a Buddhist deity.

She is the ony female among Japan's Seven Luck Gods, but in early Meiji she was replaced in the shrine by a "purely Shinto" deity, Toyotamahime.

The beach and Bentenjima have become a "powerspot", and later in the day will be crowded with tourists, but at this time I am alone.

The long beach that sweeps from here to the area of coastline below Mount Sanbe is, for most of its length, known as Nagahama... Long Beach. According to the Kunibiki myth, it was a rope used by the kami to hold the land now known as the Shimane Peninsula to the mainland of Izumo after it was "pulled" from several other sites including the Korean Peninsula. It is believed the myth explains a series of migrations into the Izumo area, or the extension of Izumo influence to those areas.

Inasa beach is also where, every November, "all the kami of Japan" arrive for their annual meeting. Actually it is one of many spots where the kami are said to arrive, but the myth has come to simplified.

The beach is also home to the Kuniyuzuri myth, whereby Izumo hands over rule of Japan to the descendants of Amaterasu, the current lieage of Yamato rulers.

Such a major national myth would you think be a major site, but actually it is a small rock, on private property, tucked away behind the beach.

The previous post in this series on my deep exploration of the Sea of Japan coastline was on the solstice sunset the evening before...

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.