Around Kawamoto Higashi Ohashi Bridge

 

After leaving Kawanoto, heading upstream the river does an s-bend.

Not far out of town and the Higashi Ohashi Bridge comes into view.

It carries a road that heads up to Iwami Ginzan, Oda, and Mount Sanbe.

 

However, it doesnt get much traffic. Most traffic comes into Kawamoto from the downstream side.

The bridge dates to 1967 and is 165 meters long.

It replaced a suspension bridge built in 1923. At that time there were still few bridges across the Gonokawa River, with most crossings still done by ferry.

Consequently the suspension bridge was somewhat of a tourist attraction. It was destroyed by a flood in 1965.

The previous post in this series documenting my walk up the south bank of the Gonokawa River to its source was on the roadside Tatara Shrine at the edge of town.

Until the Meiji Period, the river marked the boundary between the Hamada Han and Iwami Ginzan, controlled directly by the Shogunate.

Usually in Japan, when a river marked a boundary, it ran down the middle of the river, but it is said that in this instance the Shogunate put the boundary on the opposite bank and took the whole of the river as its territory.

Not sure how that worked in practise, but the next section of the river was the route used by the Shogunate to transport the gold, first upriver to Miyoshi and then by land to Onomichi, then by ship up the Inland Sea.

When the Mori Clan controlled the mines the silver was shipped out along the Kitamaebune trade route along the Sea of Japan, the closest and easiest way. Once the Shogunate took over using that route would have meant sailing around the territory that the Mori had been confined to after their defeat by te Tokugawa, and so I guess they thought that not so smart and kind of inviting trouble...

Tatara Shrine Kawamoto

 

At the edge of Kawamoto on my way out of town is a small wayside shrine.

It is a Tatara Shrine, tatara being the traditional type of forge used in historical Japan to create iron and steel out of iron sand. Iron production was a huge industry bu in the mountainous areas of Izumo, but I have found numerous small Tatara shrines in the mountains of Iwami too.

Right next to the shrine was a small wayside Buddhist altar, a not uncommon thing, finding the two together as they were less differentiated in former times.

 

Inside the "shinto" shrine the largest statue was a Zuijin, shinto guardian equivalent to a Buddhist Nio. There was also what appeared to be a Buddhist statue along with a fox, an Ebisu, and a Daikoku. Quite an eclectic mix.

A large bottle of sake, or Omiki as it is called when offered to the kami, indicates that the shrine is somewhat active. Not sure which Buddhist deity is enshrined next door, but it has a Jizo as well.

The previous ost in this series documenting my walk up the Gonokawa River to its source was on passing by Kawamoto

Passing by Kawamoto

 

Kawamoto is the biggest town on the Gonokawa River since leaving Gotsu ate the mouth of the river about 35 kilometers downstream.

The river does a more than ninety degree bend here and the town is all on the inside of the curve, with the outside being steep cliffs and mountainside.

However, I choose to walk along the embankment and therefore completely by-pass the town itself.

Photo 6 shows Senganji Temple on the mountainside overlooking the town. I visited it earlier as it is one of the temples on the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage and that post has several photos looking down on the town.

The town has a big town hall, Police Station, Indoor Swimming Pool and primarily serves as a shopping and services centre for the surrounding rural and mountain communities.

The previous post in this series walking up the Gonokawa River to its source was on the Imbara to Kawamoto section.

Senganji Temple 9 on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage

 

Senganji Temple, number 9 on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage, sits on a steep hillside overlooking the small town of Kawamoto on the Gonokawa River.

It is a Soto Zen temple with a Jizo for a honzon, and was founded in 1576.

It was originally located in a valley to the west but was burned down, quite ossibly due to warfare.

On to of the mountain was a castle belonging to the Ogasawara Clan who ruled the area, with the agreement of the powerful Mori Clan.

Senganji and two powerful temples nearby, also both on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage, all had strong connections with the Ogasawara and were considered clan temples.

Senganji has been uninhabited and rarely visited for some time, and since I visited ten years ago I have seen photos showing a lot of deterioration and collapse in the buildings.

According to one source there were several residences at the temple until about 100 years ago.

The previous post was on the path up the mountainside to the temple which has many statues.

Senganji is also temple number 21 on the Iwami Ginzan Kannon pilgrimage, a recently rediscovered pilgrimage route.

The Climb to Senganji Temple

 

Kawamoto is the next town up the Gonokawa River from my village.

Halfway up the steep hillside across the river from downtown Kawamoto is a small temple, Senganji.

The temple becomes really visible in late Autumn when the trees around it turn orange, yellow, and red.

I have actually only made it up to the temple one time, after walking down from Iwami Ginzan on day 5 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage.

Senganji is temple number 9 on that pilgrimage.

There is no vehicular access to Senganji, only a footpath with more than 200 steps, which is, I think, a large reason the temple has been uninhabited for a long time.

There are numerous statues along the path, inlcuding a lot of Jizo but also some Kannon.

When I visited in the late afternoon in May, the shafts of sunlight illumnated many of the statues quite dramatically.

Tomorrow I will post photos from inside the temple and include what history I have been able to find out.

According to a recent photo I saw, the structure housing this collection of statues has  now completely collapsed.

The temple occuppies a narrow ledge in the steep hillside.

The previous post in this series on the Iwami kannon pilgrimage was Ido Shrine in Omori.