Haguro Shrine Tamashima

 

Adorning the roof of Haguro Shrine in Tamashima, Okayamama, is a ceramic Karasu Tengu, and it has become the symbol of the shrine and also a mascot for the town.

Tamashima was a cluster of small islands that have now become reclaimed land due to the efforts of the local daimyo Mizutani Katsutaka who started with the area immediately around where the shrine is now and spread out building embankments and reclaiming more land.

The area quickly became a major port on the trading route of the Inland Sea.

Mount Haguro is a sacred mountain in Yamagata in northern Japan with a major shrine called Dewa Shrine.

It is one of three sacred mountains  grouped together as Dewa Sanzan, and is and was a major Shugendo centre, hence the Karasu Tengu.

The shrine in Tamashima became the centre of the land reclamation project and was supported by the growing merchant population.

The current buildings date back to the mid 19th century and have a lot of fine decorations.

Within the grounds are numerous secondary shrines including a Sumiyoshi Shrine, and a Tenmangu Shrine, as well as a Mizutani Shrine, Kumada Shrine, and a Warei Shrine.

The Seven Lucky Gods are also enshrined and very popular.

There is a small pine tree that has had its branches woven together and is therefore known as Musubi no Matsu.

The figures on tye roof are particularly nice with dragons as well as the Karasu Tengu.

Photos 16 and 17 show two other figures which I believe to be Daoist Immortals. One is riding a turtle and the other a crane, both important Daoist symbols and prevalent in Japanese art and culture, especially gardens.

The kami listed as enshrined here are Tamayorihime, Susanoo, Okuninushi, and Kotoshironushi.

A little off the main tourist track, Tamashima is worth a visit, not least for the artwork adorning Haguro Shrine.

I visited at the start of day 9 walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

The previous post was on the shrine at temple 6 of the pilgrimage that I visited the afternoon previous, Yuga Shrine.

Yuga Shrine

 

Yuga Shrine is unique in having a ceramic torii entrance gate made of local Bizen-ware. It is not the only ceramic torii in Japan. Down in Arita in Saga on Kyushu is a torii made of porcelain at Tozan Shrine.

Yuga Shrine is the now Shinto part of the former shugendo complex of Yuga Daigongen, a syncretic establishment forced tp separate in early Meiji. Post 1945 the shrine and temple began operating again as one entity but in the late 90's a dispute arose between them that continues to this day.

Immediately adjacent to the shrine is the okunoin of the temple. Again, the architecture alone is no help in distinguishing between the shinto and Buddhist parts as they are the same.

The okunoin currently houses a Fudo Myo.

The original kami enshrined here was Yuga Daigongen, a buddhist name and considered a manifestation of Amida and Yakushi.

The kami listed now I suspect were added in the Meiji Period and are Hikosachi no Mikoto, Kaminaohi, and Teoshihobo. They are not well known kami at all.

As well as the torii there are a pair of fine ceramic komainu also in Bizen-ware. The komainu date to 1829 and tye torii to 1894.

There are numerous secondary shrines around the grounds, many clustered around a set of Iwakura, large sacred rocks on the hillside said to have been worshipped since ancient times.

There is a Tenmangu, and also the Seven Lucky Gods are here as well as in the parking lot of the temple.

Interestingly there is a Susanoo Shrine, and here he is considered a god of matchmaking. Males will pray to the female ceramic komainu and females pray to the male ceramic komainu, both with a dark glaze so not technically Bizen-ware.

Yuga Shrine is considered an important shrine for disaster prevention and was historically connected to Konpira on Shikoku with both being connected pilgrimage sites.

The main hall, (photo 9), was built in the early Edo Period and is a registered Cultural Property, as are the ceramic torii and the honden (final photo).

There is a largish Inari presence here, though they list the kami as Kurainakatama no mikoto, not a variation I have ever heard of before.

You might notice the "cute" octopus statue......

This is Owatatsumi, a modern creation by the local fishing culture.....

Though somewhat distant from major tourist sites, and not accessible without a car, Mount Yuga, with all the sights of the temple and the shrine, is well worth a visit.

This was my final stop on day 8 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, and the previous post in the series was on the Buddhist section of Yuga Daigongen, Rendaiji Temple.

Kitasando The Road to Yuga Daigongen

 

The Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage is modelled on one of the oldest pilgrimage routes in Japan, the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, however the Chugoku Pilgrimage is a fairly modern creation, dating back to the 1980's, and therefore its route is based on the modern transportation system and is basically geared towards driving.

However, a few parts of it do coincide with older pilgrimages, and some of these still have sections of footpath, a case in point being this section I am walking on day 8 of my walk along the Chugoku Pilgrimage. South of Kurashiki is Rendaiji, temple number 6 of the pilgrimage, and it has been a site of pilgrimage in its own right for centuries.

Known as Yuga Daigongen, it was a syncretic site now split into a temple and a shrine, but it was a fairly major pilgrimage destination, and connected to Konpirasan on Shikoku, with both sites often being visited on the same journey.

There were 4 routes to reach Yuga Daigongen, depending on which direction you were coming from, but the most travelled route was known as Kitasando and approached from the north.

After visiting the Kumano Shrine and its associated temples in Hayashi, a few kilometers further south a large torii across a minor road show the way to Yuga Daigongen.

Soon a path leads off the road and heads through a huge grove of bamboo. Whenever I am fortunate enough to pass through a bamboo forest I think of all those poor tourists in Arashiyama, crowded shouder to shoulder, viewing a manicured bamboo forest behind a fence while I have a huge, silent one all to myself.

Along the trail are several small wayside shrines, none visited often and with almost no upkeep.

The trail leads to a narrow mountain road and passes a village shrine, photo 11

The torii says its name is Eki Shrine, but it was renamed Susanoo Shrine in 1943.

Earlier that morning I had stopped in at another Susanoo Shrine that had also previously been called Eki Shrine.

The road then passes a series of vegetable gardens... well protected against wild boar, monkeys, and deer.

and then skirts a village...

before once again becoming a trail....

As we get closer to the shrine-temple complex, more indications of the destination appear...

It was an absolute delight to spend an hour off of asphalt and traffic....

The previous post was on the Kumano Shrine at the base of the mountain to the north.