Karatsu Shrine

 

Karatsu Shrine is the main shrine of the castle town of Karatsu on the coast of Saga in northern Kyushu.

It was moved to its current site in the first years of the 17th century when the Terazawa took over the domain and started construction of nearby Karatsu Castle, though its origins goes back much further.

In 755, a local notable, Kanda Munetsugu, had a dream which told him to go to the beach and he found a wooden box washed up there. Inside it was a mirror. He determined it was the mirror left on the beach as an offering by the mythical Empress Jingu when she returned from Korea.

The shrine was established with the three Sumiyoshi kami enshrined as well as Kanda Munetsugu who was given the name Kanda Daimyojin.

The shrine was known as Karatsu Daimyojin until early Meiji when the name was changed to Karatsu Shrine.

It is the home of Karatsu Kunchi, the main festival of the town held in the first week of November and which features giant floats.

There are a lot of smaller, secondary shrines within the grounds, including three different Inari Shrines: Shiratobi Inari, Hibushi Inari, and  Shiratama Inari.

 

There is a Kotobuki-sha that enshrines Sukunahiko, and an Awashima Shrine.

There is a largish Tenmangu Shrine, a Suitengu Shrine, and an Ebisu Shrine.

Next post in the series will be on the floats of the Karatsu Kunchi festival, on display in their own exhibition hall.

I visited at the start of day 73 of my walk along the Kyushu Pilgrimage. The previous post in the series was on Karatsu Castle.

Karatsu Castle

 

Karatsu Castle is situated on a spit of land on the west bank of the Matsuura River as it reaches the sea.

I arrived in Karatsu by walking down the Matsuura River and approaching the castle it became clear how the builders had used the river mouth and sea as a moat to offer protection.

Karatsu castle was built by Terasawa Hirotaka between 1602 and 1609. He used a lot of the construction materials from Nagoya castle about 20k away which was built by Hideyoshi as his base  for invading Korea.

Teraswa had his domain taken by the shogunate, partly it seems for not suppressing the Shimbara Rebellion. A series of different clans had the domain until the mid 18th century when the Ogasawara took over and held it until domains were abolished in 1871.

Interestingly, it is considered almost certain that the castle never had a tenshu, or keep. A base for one had been built but there is no evidence one was actually constructed.

The current keep, was built in the style of keeps of the period, and along with  most of the yagura were reconstructed in 1966.

Sections of the outer bailey can be found southwest of the main castle. After settling into my hotel I went to the beach to the West of the castle for some other fine views.

The previous post was on Kakurinji Temple, a few kilometers down the river.

Yoshiwarayama Kakurinji Temple 80 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 

Kakurinji is located on a low hilltop on the bank of the Matsuura River not far from its mouth where it enters the sea.

I approached it from the rear and so was able to enter using a small footpath rather than the longer main road.

It is a fairly new temple, being founded in 1947 and the main hall dating back to 1954.

A Bokefuji Kannon statue is prominent. Bokefuji is a new Japanese version of Kannon that has become increasingly popular. Depicted with an old couple at its feet, Bokefuji Kannon is prayed to for those wishing to not suffer dementia and Alzheimers.

In fact Kakurinji is now one of the temples on a new pilgrimage, a Kyushu  Kannon pilgrimage to prevent dementia.

It is the 80th temple on the Kyushu 108 pilgrimage but also on the standard Kyushu Kannon Pilgrimage.

The temple is known locally as Koyasu-san or Koyasu Kannon due to its connection with Koyasu Daishi, a legend from Koenji, temple 61 on the Shikoku Ohenro.

At the gate of Koenji Temple Kobo Daishi met a woman having a difficult birth and his prayers enabled a safe birth. The Koyasu Daishi faith spread and led to the formation of thousands of Koyasu co-fraternities across Japan in the early 20th century.

The Karatsu Koyasu-ko was the group that brought Kakurinji into existence and so has a reputation as a temple to pray for safe and successful births.

There were a lot of Fudo Myo statues in the ground.....

The honzon of the temple is a Yakushi Nyorai and also a Koyasu Daishi.

The mountain name, Yoshiwarayama, comes from a wealthy local family, the Yoshiwara, who donated the land for the temple.

The previous post in this series was on the Udono Cliff Carvings upstream.