Utago Miho Shrine

 This small shrine goes overboard with marine-safety gods, has the most strangely looking Fudo Myoo, and proves that angry ghosts can be horses.

The main shrine in the old fishing harbour of Utago is a Miho Shrine on what was until the 1700's a small island named Ebisujima, but which was connected to the mainland by a man-made causeway.

As a branch of the famous Miho Shrine in Mihonoseki, the main kami is Kotoshironushi, now equated with Ebisu. Also enshrined are a whole slew of other kami with connections to maritime safety.

The Sumiyoshi Sanjin are enshrined here, the three kami associated with Sumiyoshi Shrine, and then there are Omononushi and Emperor Sutoku, the two kami of Konpira shrines, and finally Ichikishimahime, one of the three Munakata kami associated with the safety of travel between Japan and Korea, and alone often equated with Benzaiten, a water kami.

Standing at the side of the main shrine building is a very unusual statue of Fudo Myoo. No longer carrying a sword, it is carved out of some kind of eroded black rock. My feeling is a kind of volcanic rock but it is full of holes. The head in particular is most weird.

Behind the shrine in an altar among rocks is a horse made of straw. I had seen similar things before at shrines on the Tottori coast, but this one comes from a fire that badly damaged the village and in the process, killed a horse. Subsequently, fires kept breaking out until they figured out it was the angry ghost of the dead horse causing the fires and so created the straw horse and altar to propitiate it. Angry ghosts are never far away in Japan....

The previous post was on the village of Utago where the shrine is.

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Itsukushima Shrine Koshigahama

 

The Itsukushima Shrine in Koshigahama near Hagi is situated on the banks of Myojin Pond.

The pond is tidal but also contains freshwater, so species of fish and marine life from both ecosytsems can be found in it.

The pond is on the sandbar that connects Mount Kasayama, a small volcano, with the mainland.

The shrine was established by the second Mori Lord of the Hagi Domain, Tsunahiro, in 1686.

It is a branch of the famous Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima in Hiroshima, which had earlier been part of the Mori Domain.

Not sure what fish these are, but sea bream, parrotfish, mullet, rays, and sea bass can all be found in the pond.

The pond was previously known as Benten Pond and the original Benten Shrine is now a sub shrine of the Itsukushima. Bezaiten was considered a manifestation of Itsukushimahime.

Other sun shrines in the grounds include an Inari and a Konpira.

This was the start of day 30 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

The previous post was on the last part of my walk on day 29, across the Matsumoto River.

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Art of Hashikuraji Temple

 

Hashikuraji is a mountain temple in the mountains that border Tokushima and Kagawa on Shikoku.

It was the "inner temple" of Konpira-san, once a major pilgrimage destination in its own right, and since Meiji Konpira became a shrine.

While not all temples have komainu guardian statues, Kashikuraji has quite a few. It also has several shinto torii gates. The top photo is the older type of komainu, wooden and kept indoors.

There are also plenty of carvings adorning the buildings at Hashikuraji. In fact when I was there I noticed free worksheets for kids available at the temple that encouraged kids to explore and find all the examples of animals, including mythical ones, at the temple.

Hashikuraji was a major centre for Shugendo and yamabushi and so has a pair of big wooden Tengu masks.

As is fairly typical, there was a pair, one of the long-nosed Tengu, and one of the Karasu Tengu with beak;

The honzon of the temple is a Konpira Daigongen, though it is a secret buddha and the last four generations of head priest have not even seen it.

There are a few statues scattered around the rounds though.

One of the newer ones is a Bokefuji Kannon. prayed to for protection from dementia and Alzeimers, this is a new version of Kannon that is becoming very common. Typically the standing Kannon will have a small, elderly couple at its feet.

There is a large outdoor altar to Fudo Myoo, and in fact this was what I had come here for, while walking the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage.

The previous post was on the temple buildings and the temples history.

Hashikura Temple 4 Shikoku Fudo Myo Pilgrimage

 

While being temple number 4 on the Shikoku Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, Hashikura-ji is probably more well known for being temple 15 of the 20 "extra" bangai temples of the much more famous Shikoku Ohenro pilgrimage. However, it is also a temple of the Shikoku Kannon Pilgrimage, and the Awa Saigoku Pilgrimage.

It is located at 600 meters above sea level looking down on the Yoshino River valley that cuts right throiugh Tokushima.

The temple is accessible by a ropeway which offers a great view of the impressive Niomon gate on the way up.

The ropeway stops at the main level of the temple near the priests residence, and right next to it the Gomaden. Though it had been really sunny for a few days, it was late December and there was snow around the grounds.

According to the temple, Hashikiuraji has performed the goma ceremony twice a day, every day, since the temples founding.

It was founded by Kobo Daishi himself in 828 when he climbed the mountain. Hr had a vision of Konpira Daigongen and carved a statue of him.

Hashikiraji became the okunoin, or inner temple, of Konpira, the complex that since Meiji has been a Shinto Shrine.

Further along is a massive Bell Tower and the Heart Sutra Steps that lead up to the main hall.

With 278 steps, the same number of chracters in the Heart Sutra, when added to the steps from the Niomon up to this first level, in total the climb to the main hall has 769 steps.

This is just a little less than the 785 steps that lead up to the actual Konpira Shrine.

A major fire in 1769, and then another in 1826, destroyed almost all the buildings, so everything standing now dates back to the late Edo period.

It is a large complex with a lot to see, and relatively few visitors. There are a lot of nice carvings and statues and so I will do a post on them next.

The previous post in this series on day 5 of my walk along the Shikoku Fudo Myo Pilgrimage was on the interesting old house and museum across the river that documents the local tobacco industry.