Wakamiya Hachimansha, Yasaka Shrine, Kifune Shrine, & Yatate Shrine

 

After leaving the delightful Komo Shrine in the early morning of my 6th day walking the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage, the next section of my walk headed pretty much due East.

As usual, I stopped in at any shrines I passed. The first was called Wakamiya Hachimansha, and curiously the main kami was Emperor Nintoku. In 1908 a whole bunch of other kami were jointly enshrined, including Amaterasu, Susano, Takitsuhime, Ichikishimahime, and Kotoshironushi. I also saw a small Inari shrine in the grounds.

Next stop was a Yasaka Shrine.

Enshrining, of course, Susano and members of his family. Yasaka is the post-Meiji name for many different shrines, one of the most common names being Gion-Sha. No mention on the signboard what the old name was.

No mention of the secondary shrine in the grounds, but the early morning sun made for some striking photos.

The third shrine was a Kifune Shrine, a branch of the famous Kifune Shrine (Kibune Shrine) in the north of Kyoto.

It was located right next to a 6th-century burial mound.

When I first came to Japan, I read that Shinto had an aversion to death, and yet  I started to discover many ancient tombs had shrines built next to them...

Once again, the signboards gave no info on dates, history, or other shrines in the grounds.

The final shrine was Yatate Shrine, the largest of the group.

It is also known as Daikongawa Shrine.

In 720, Otomo no Tabito led an army of imperial and Usa Hachiman troops against the Kumaso in southern Kyushu. He planted arrows in the ground and prayed at this spot for victory.

In 725 a Hachiman shrine was established here and was made one of 8 shrines of an Imperial procession.

In 765, the reed pillow of the ritual from Komo Shrine visits here on its procession to the eight "outer shrines".

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the large and impressive Komo Shrine.

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Majima Island. Westernmost point of the 35th Parallel & Abandoned Benten Shrine

 

Majima Island is an outcropping on the coast between Tsunozu and Waki in Gotsu. It may have been a tiny island at some point, but now it is connected to the land by a sandy hill.

There are a few tiny fishing boats on the beach, but no harbour,

Steps lead up to a first torii with a Jizo statue nearby.

When I first visited Majima it had a Benten shrine on top, but now no maps show a shrine at all, leading me to believe it has been disestablished.

After the first torii sand dunes lead to the path to the "island" itself.

After a narrow ridge connecting to the island some steep steps lead to the top. Erosion has seriously undercut the concrete steps.

A second torii stands near the top, though it has been missing some of its parts  for as long as I have been here.

A pair of ceramic komainu stand guard.

In the last day or so I have come across three different sets of ceramic komainu, all in completely different styles. First there was the pair at Ankoku Temple, then the pair at Kantake Shrine, and now these.

The views from on top are fantastic, looking back down the coast past Tsunozu, Ninomiya, & Uyagawa.

Looking up the coast past Waki, Kakushi, then then "downtown" Gotsu with the huge paper factory at the mouth of the Gonokawa River and then past Asari with the mountains of Iwami Ginzan visible...

A sign on the coast road shows that  Majima id the westernmost point on Honshu of the 35th Parallel .

The 35th Parallel pretty much cuts Hinshu in half and passes from south of Tokyo and then south of Kyoto before leaving Japan at this point.

This is also the spot where local fishermen rescued a couple of hundred Russian sailors from a sinking ship during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. The story can be found in this old post of mine.

The previous post was on three shrines I visited yesterday.

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3 Shrines Around the Iwami Kokubunji Sites

 

The Iwami Kokubinji and Kokubunniji (nunnery) were located on the high ground just up the coast from Shimoko. Neither still exist, but the area is named Kokubu-cho.

The first shrine I visited was the Otoshi Shrine, which is, I think, the main shrine for Shimoko.

It is up a long flight of steps and on the way up offers views over Shimoko.

The main kami is Otoshi, a son of Susano connected with growing rice and also with immigrant clans from Korea. There are several more Otosshi shrines in the towns further up the coast...

Other than that I can find no history or info on secondary kami.....

A walk east toward the main Route 9 brings me to the guardian shrine of the Kokubunji, Kokubunji Kantake Shrine.

It was moved here when the Kokubunji was moved here. I had always presumed that Shimoko was the capital of Iwami all along, but apparently it was originally further up the coast in the Nima area. It was moved here in the early 9th century I think. I must find out why.

The most striking thing for me at the shrine was the pair of ceramic komainu. Unlike any I have seen before, they are quite cat-like.

The main kami of the shrine is Raijin, the Thunder God. I have always considered Raijin, and Fujin the Wind God, to be primarily Buddhist, as they are often depicted in paintings and sculptures at temples.

However, in Shinto mythology Raijin is equated with Ikazuchi, created out of the rotting corpse of Izanami. Ikazuchi is connected to the Kamo shrines that preceded the establishment of Kyoto.

Due to its importance and connection to the provincial capital, the shrine is listed in the Engi Shiki. Also enshrined is Omoto, the local land-goddess found everywhere in Iwami, and also Ebisu.

After passing the site of the former monastery, I head to Route 9, the old San-in Do that ran from Kyoto to Yamaguchi. The original Sanindo turns off from the new Route 9 and I follow it into Kushiro.

Kushiro Shrine enshrines Kushiroame no Koketsuhiko no mikoto, the son of Ama no Tarashihikokunioshihito no mikoto, the ancestor of the Kushiro Clan who settled the coast of Iwami.

More of that story can be found in this earlier post from down in Masuda.

It is also important enough to be listed in the Engi Shiki.

In the early 20th century with the shrine merger programme, the village Otoshi Shrine was merged with it.

In the grounds are an Omoto Shrine and an Ebisu Shrine.

New growth on a Sago Palm....

The Ebisu Shrine....

I carry on up the coast following the old San-in Do for a while. Abandoned properties are numerous.

The previous post in this series was on two shrines in Shimoko...

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 last ten posts.