Fujishiro Toge... the Final Pass

 

The final leg of the day's walk along the Kiiji route of the Kumano Kodo from Yuasa to Kainan was over the Fujishirotoge Pass.

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable day, and one of my favorite sections of the numerous Kumano Kodo trails I had walked in the previous week or so....

After leaving Fukusho-ji temple and its glorious display of cherry blossoms, the route heads uphill and offers a view back down on Shimotsu.

Jizobu-ji temple is located at the foot of the steepest part of the trail over the pass. The current building dates to the early 16th century.

The trail now enters a bamboo forest.....

Not exactly sure what this is.... I think it is a rock that the local daimyo thought looked like a giant inkstone and so had a stonecarver "enhance" it....

The bamboo forest was delightful....

Not manicured like the famous bamboo forest in Arashiyama, but better for not being so....

After the pass Kainan comes into view.....

Quite an industrial port, ENEOS has an oil terminal here...

Kainan is the start of the large urban area that spreads out from Wakayama City...

The previous post was on Fukushoji Temple.....

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Fukushoji Temple Cherry Blossoms, Sacred Waterfall, & Tengu Legend

 

After crossing over the small Kamo River in  Kitsumoto, the Kiiji Route of the Kumano Kodo starts to head uphill towards the next pass, but a huge swath of cherry trees in full bloom beackon to take a small detour.

The climb up to Fukushoji Temple was well worth it, as evidenced by the large group of day-walkers also there...

Not only a ton of sakura, but great views, and a sacred waterfall....

I have to say that this section of the route, from Yuasa to Kainan, was one of the best sections of the Kumano Kodo for me....

The falls are named Urami no Taki, given that name by Yorinobu Tokugawa, the first daimyo of the Kishu Domain.

It is possible to walk behind the 20 metre high falls.....

It is said to be a bit more spectacular after a period of heavy rain, when it can be up to 30 meters wide.

Not sure when the temple was founded, but it is recorded that Kobo Daishi visited the temple in 804 and performed rituals in preparation of his upcoming trip to China.

The honzon is a Thousan-armed Kannon, but there are also a a Kokuzo and a Fudo Myoo.

The main hall dates to at least 1512, maybe earlier. The Gumonji Hall dates to 1650 as does the Bell Tower. All three are Important Cultural Properties.

The legend about the tengu is as follows..... One lived in one of the huge sacred trees behind the temple, but as it was cold in winter a local family allowed him to stay in their storehouse.

The daughter-in-law of the family would bring the tengu food, and he would respond with requests to be able to offer something in return as it was driving him crazy just taking and not being able to repay the kindness...

Eventually the daughter-in-law suggested that the uncle of the family was old and now bedridden but had always wanted to visit the Kumano Sanzan, and so the tengu carried the old man on his back down the pilgrimage trail to Kumano.

There is the imprint of a tengu foot in the floor of the veranda of the temple, though I didn't notice it...

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Saigoku and Kumano Kodo Pilgrimages was on a couple of nearby shrines connected to the introduction of mandarins into Japan.

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Baby Sumo & the God of Sweets

 

Kitsumoto, a remote settlement along the Kumano Kodo, turned out to be a delightful surprise. Not only is it a scenic, traditional village in itself, but the two shrines in the village are both home to some unique features.

Located on the Yuasa to Kainan section of the Kiiji Route of the Kumano Kodo, the old Imperial route from the capital down to the Kumano sanzan shrines, I was walking in reverse as the first part of the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

At the first shrine I came to, Yamaji Oji Shrine, a small sumo ring was just inside the grounds. This was for Naki Sumo, sometimes called Crying Baby Sumo. It is fairly common and found in numerous sites around Japan. a "bout" will involve a pair of infants, with the first infant to cry being declared the winner. If they cry simultaneously, then the louder baby wins. The Japanese believe that a crying baby can ward off demons and that loud crying increases the health of  a baby.

Yamaji Oji shrine is one of the 99 Oji shrines along the imperial route that were resting and stopping places for elite pilgrims.

In earlier times this one was known as Ichitsubo Oji or Kutsukake Oji.

An inscription on the main building is dated to 1680, which suggests that is when it was constructed.

The bell tower has the name of the temple that was part of the site until its removal in 1868.

As a tutelary shrine, Yamaji-oji is listed as an enshrined kami, along with Ojin (Hachiman), and Amaterasu. I would also suspect that the Kumano Sanzan are now enshrined here.

Heading down the long, narrow valley, the next shrine is Kitsumoto Shrine.

It is also the site of an Oji shrine, Tokorozaka Oji, but is most well known for enshrining the "God of Sweets"

The kami enshrined here is Tajimamori. According to the myth-legend, he was sent by Emperor Suinin to a mythical realm to find a magical fruit. What he brought back was Tachibana, said to be the source of all the mikan fruits in Japan.

A tachibana tree in the shrine grounds is said to be the latest of cuttings made from the original tree planted here. The daimyo of the domain in the Edo period made mikan production a priority as the hills were too steep for rice terraces, and so that is why I had been passing through so much orange country the last day.

In ancient times the fruit was considered a sweet, and so Tajimamori became known as the kami of sweets. Confectionery companies of all kinds send offering to the annual festival here, although there are other shrines in the country connected to Tajimamori as well.

The previous post in this series on day 8 of my walk along the Kumano Kodo and Saigoku Pilgrimages was on the walk over the mountain pass to get to Kitsumoto.

If you would like to subscribe by email just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published and made public. I post new content almost everyday, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.