Showing posts with label kochi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kochi. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Day 14 on the Ohenro Trail Winds Down
Friday, September 3, 2021
Cape Oyama Kannon
Kannon
There is a small cave in one section and it has a small chapel/shrine with a Kannon statue. Or rather it had. It seems that it no longer exists, though it may be reinstated.
Increasingly I find that the some of subjects of my photographs and blogposts have ceased to exist. Maybe I should have a seperate blog called Glimpse of Disappeared Japan"
Labels:
cave,
henro,
kannon,
kobo daishi,
kochi
Monday, February 22, 2021
Historic streets of Kiragawa
There are about 120 of these preservation districts throughout Japan, and while some are very touristy and disneyfied, i find the less visited sites like Kiragawa more appealing. A longer guide to Kiragawa I wrote can be found here.
Labels:
Architecture,
global geopark,
henro,
kochi,
preservation district
Friday, November 13, 2020
Mikurodo
The mani is now known as Kobo Daishi, a name bestowed on him long after his death, and he is probably the most well-known religious figure in Japanese history, founding the Shuingon sect, and the focus of the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
Labels:
cave,
henro,
kobo daishi,
kochi
Friday, July 3, 2020
Married Rocks of Muroto
Heading down the coast road towards Cape Muroto is a familar site to anyne who has walked or cycled the Shikoku Pilgrimage known as Ohenro. As you approach the cape a group of towering rocks becomes visible.
Once there you see that a pair of these rock pillars has a shimenawa, sacred rope, strung between them. These roks are known as Meoto Iwa, or "married rocks". The larger rock is considered male and the smaller, female. They are one of the attractions of the UNESCO Global Geopark of Muroto Cape
Meoto Iwa appear at numerous places around the coast of Japan, and I must have seen half a dozen around the western part of the country, but the most famous ones are on the coast of Mie not too far from the shrine at Ise.
Friday, May 3, 2019
Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 36 Shoryuji
Shoryuji is one of the temples that was most probably founded by Kobo Daishi. He named it after one of the temples he studied at when he was in China.
It's fairly remote and very pleasant temple, with two pagodas. According to the legend, when Kobo Daishi was in China he threw a vajra and it landed here.
The honzon, claimed to be carved by Kobo Daishi, is a Fudo Myo, and there are several Fudo Myo statues around the grounds.
Pilgrims used to have to take a ferry across the narrow but very long inlet, but now a bridge has been built.
Labels:
Fudo Myojin,
henro,
kochi,
pagoda,
temple
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 35 Kiyotaki-ji
At the end of my 17th day of walking I arrived at Kiyotakiji, the 35th temple of the pilgrimage, located on a mountainside overlooking Takaoka in Tosa City.
It's not so high, but with a steep approach. There were some fine Nio in the gate halfway up the final flight of stone steps. According to legend the temple was founded by Gyogi in 723 and he carved the honzon, a statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine Buddha, which is a National Treasure.
Kobo Daishi visited here later and, in a ubiquitous legend created a spring with his staff, though here it became a waterfall which leads to the temples name which means "Clean Waterfall Temple".
The priests here were very kind, giving me permission to spend the night in the Tsuyado, free accomodations, quite a substantial one. They also asked if I needed any food, which I didn't. It was nice to be able to explore the grounds after dark.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Kuroshio Town Ogata Library
One of the delights of wandering the backwaters of Japan, for me at least, is stumbling upon huge pieces of modern architecture, often quite surreal, which would not look out of place in a big city, but are found in the most rural, depopulated areas.
The number of small towns and villages which are home to massive auditoriums, museums, etc is quite staggering, and most date their inception and funding back to the tail end of the bubble era. Vanity projects for architects, and a cash cow for the ubiquitous concrete and construction industries, the funding for their construction came from the central government, however their maintenance and upkeep fell to the local communities, and many, like the Ogata Library featured here down near Shimanto in Shikoku have now been closed.
Prince Charles may call these structures carbuncles, and the local people may not think much of them, but for my style of photography they are great. I've been here twice but unfortunately both times were really overcast....
It was built in 1998 and designed by Dan Norihiko, a relatively young architect. He's younger than me so that makes him young.
Labels:
Architecture,
kochi,
norihiko dan
Friday, September 23, 2016
Shikoku Pilgrimage Temple 32 Zenjibuji
Located on a hilltop on the Pacific coast south of Kochi City, Zenjibuji is temple number 32 of the 88 temples that make up the pilgrimage.
The grounds contained a lot of rocky outcroppings and is said to resemble Fudaraku, the paradise of Kannon placed in southern India.
The honzon of this Shingon temple is an 11 faced Kannon, said to be carved by Kobo Daishi who is also claimed as the temples founder, though other sources attribute both to Gyoki.
While I was visiting a group of modern day yamabushi were in the process of leaving. In their immaculately clean costumes and air-conditioned tour bus it was hard for me to reconcile them with the yamabushi of old.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Chikurinji Temple 31 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage
Its the onlly temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage that is dedicated to Monju Bosatsu, and legend has it that Gyogi carved the statue.
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