Heading West Off the Beaten Track in the Mountains of Yamaguchi

 

After visiting Kanyoji and its wonderful gardens, there were still a couple of hours of daylight left in the day.

The next temple on the pilgrimage was in Yamaguchi City, about 40k almost directly west.

The route was across a very remote section of mountains, although the Chugoku Expressway roughly went the same way.

It was not an area I had ever been to before, and there seemed to be no notable sights or settlements along the way....

I stopped in at any local shrines I passed....

In Suyama,  a Kumano Shrine with two pairs of Ebisu and Daikoku masks...

As the sun gets lower I keep my eyes peeled for a place to sleep for the night.... something I  habitually do even if I am in a car or on a train....50 years of sometimes having to sleep out means I know what to look for ...... I believe the contemporary term is stealth camping...

 

And then over a small pass  from the Seiryoji River valley to drop into the Kushi River valley....

In Kushi, a small park....

And next to it on the hillside a small Hakusan Shrine....

Rusting metal covering thatched roofs are very common around here...

Kushi Hachimangu is quite rare, a shrine with a thatched roof...

It claims to have been founded in the early 8th century

An unusual pairing of masks... a Karasu Tengu with a Daikoku...

The sun has gone down so it seems this is the best place to sleep..... The previous post in this series on day 21 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on some of the Mirei Shigemori gardens at Kanyoji Temple...

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Mitakidera Temple 13 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage Part 2 Up Above

This is a continuation of a previous post on the lower parts of Mitakidera, a beautiful temple complex near Hiroshima City centre.

The top waterfall is behind the main hall, and then the water runs underneath the main hall and come out as a small purification waterfall.

So, of course there is a Fudo.

On the same level as the Hondo is the Mikigongendo, with a pair of large, wooden tengu  flanking the entrance. It is a branch of Miki Daigongen established by Kobo Daishi on Mount Misen on nearby Itsukushima Island in 806.

With a pair of Tengu as companions, Miki Daigongen is three "demon gods", Tsuichokishin, a trace of Dainichi, Jibikishin, a trace of Kokuzo, and Marakishin, a trace of Fudo Myoo. I believe that Mt. Misen and here are the only sites connected to this deity. It is said that Japan's first Prime Minister, Ito Hirobumi, was a devotee of Miki Daigongon.

The main hall as seen from the the Mikigongendo.

There are a lot more statues scattered around the grounds at this upper level.

Many of the statues in this part of the temple grounds appear to my eyes to be Indian in style

Some even look more Southeast Asian in style....

Inrerestingly, on my first visit to Mitakidera many years ago, I marvelled at the flowers in front of the many, many statues. I imagined how much work it must be to keep freash flowers on so many statues. A little later I noticed they were plastic.

To my untrained eye this looks Chinese or Thai...

The highest of the three waterfalls is Yumei no taki.

These are a kind of toba, a kind of memorial tablet usually placed on graves and tombs. I have not seen them purified in water like this before...

On the veranda of the Main Hall is a really interesting pair of statues. This first one has fangs like Fudo Myoo, one up, one down, and he is holding a Jaki, a kind of small demon. Usually it is the four Shitenno who are depicted holding down Jaki under their feet, but I have never seen any of the Shitenno with fangs and I don't remember seeing them holding the Jaki.

I wonder if this is a statue of one of the Mikidaigongen enshrined nearby. The one that is considered a trace of Fudo?

There are also a pair of Nio on the veranda too.

The other statue with them is also unlike anything seen before, with great spiky hair or head.

It is flinging a Jaki, again something I have not seen a Shitenno do, nor does it look like any Shitenno I have seen. Could this also be one of the Mikidaigongen? If anyone has a clue, please let me know.

The previous post, which included another 28 photos, focused on the lower part of the Mitakidera complex.