Kakinomoto Hitomaro is the greatest of the ancient poets and is worshipped as the kami of poetry.
He was a low-ranked bureaucrat from Yamato who was posted here as acting governor around the end of the 7th century. He maried a Tsunozu girl known now as Yosomi no Otome. Whereas Kakinomoto is considered the most prominent of the poets in the Manyoshu, Yosomi was the female poet with the most entries in that anthology.
There is actually very little known for sure about Kakinomoto. One historian I like suggests that being sent to Iwami was an exile for being on the wrong side of a succession dispute at court. He suggests that he was poisoned while here and as it was a political murder Kakinomoto was elevated after death to placate his angry ghost.
There used to be a huge, old pine tree here but it was cut down not too long ago for safety reasons. A cross section of the trunk is on display inside one of the shrne buildings. Masuda, down the coast aways, claims to be where Kakinomoto died. There are several of his poems that have been inferred to have been wriyyen about the Gotsu area, including one spot just downriver from my place. Kakinomoto and Yosomi are mascots for Gotsu.
From here it is just a short walk to the main shrine of Tsunozu, yet another Otoshi Shrine.
I have been here quite a few times for their annual matsuri parade. A video and photos of the Miko Mai dance is here. I met the priest soon after moving to Shimane, and am still using the desk he gave me.
In front of the shrine are a couple of small Buddhist altars with colourful statues. They are part of a miniature 88 "temple" pilgrimage around the town and hills.
According to the shrine records it was established in the late 9th century. It moved to its current location in 1711. It is one of the half dozen Otoshi shrines in the region that might be the one listed in the Engi Shiki.
An ancient ritual called Yatate that dates to the time of looking out for signs of Mongol invasion. Samurai would shoot an arrow at a target on a pine tree at the entrance to the shrine. The ritual was discontinued in the Meiji Period.
Sunsiduary shrines in the grounds are Kotohira Shrine, Omoto Shrine, and Itsukushima Shrine.
Like most shrines in the Gotsu area, but not inland in the mountains, there is a Kaguraden. All-night kagura takes place on October 31st and mikoshi parades and miko mai on November 1st. Kids get the day off school.
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Shunki Taisai translates to "Great Spring Festival," although, as far as I can tell, it is not a very common event.
In May 2011 we went down to Taikodani Inari Shrine in Tsuwano for their Shunki Taisai. As far as I know, they have not held one since.
It was quite a grand affair, with numerous priests, mikos, and representatives of the town dressed in samurai outfits.
I was very surprised to see some of the miko wearing swords.... don't think I have seen that before...
a Himorogi was set up in the shrines open courtyard. A himorogi is an area demarcated with 4 bamboos with shimenawa. It is believed this was the form shrines took in ancient times before they utilized buildings a la Buddhism.
First, the miko purified each other and then the townsmen.
Then it was the turn of the priests....
One of the great things about Tsuwano is that there are never crowds, so events such as this, or the Heron Dance or even Yabusame, you can get close to the action, not view things from a distance at the back of a crowd like at the major tourist destinations...
All the participants lined up and awaited the Guji, head priest.
The Guji arrives under the shade of a ceremonial parasol....
Then all the participants follow in procession and line up inside the himorogi...
Offerings are made and norito are read....
The guji then leads the procession up into the main hall of the shrine where further rituals are held.
later in the afternoon we watched kagura in a building half-way down the hill belwo the shrine...
The previous post in this series on Tsuwano was on the Taikodani Inari Shrine where this festival took place.
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I'm a big fan of kagura, the traditional performing art of japan that is the least well-known. In my area, Iwami in Shimane, kagura is hugely popular,but over the years I have been fortunate to see some different styles of kagura in Izumo, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Oita, and Miyazaki, and, as shown here, on the Oki Islands.
Nowadays normally only performed during the summer festivals, I was able to see a short performance of three dances put on for a group of tourists on Nishinoshima Island, and the style is Dozen Kagura as opposed to Dogo Kagura. One unusual feature of Dozen kagura that differed from all the others I have seen is the involvement of Miko, shrine maidens.
Miko Mai, or the dance of shrine maidens is probably the most common form of what was once kagura, though it is not usually called kagura nowadays.
The second dance was called Sakibarai or Sakiharai. The dancer represents Sarutahiko and the dance is a protective purification dance.
Traditionally Sarutahiko leads matsuri processions, purifying the path as he goes.
The instruments are the same as other types of kagura I have seen except there is no flute here.
The third dance was Kiribe, but unfortunately I know nothing about the character or meaning of the dance.
I don't know much about the technicalities of music, but a source says that here with dozen kagura it switches between 4/4 and 3/4 which is rare in traditional Japanese music but common in traditional Kprean music. Also worth noting is that the space the dancing is performed within is quite small compared to say Iwami Kagura.
With lines of people waiting for their first shrine visit of the year, hatsumode, 5 full days already into the year, it is an indication of how popular Saga Shrine is with local inhabitants. It is also the main venue for Shinto-style weddings, car-blessings etc.
many miko, shrine maidens, were also in evidence. Mostly students hired for the new year period, the shrine's busiest, and most profitable, time of the year, major festivals may also see the hiring of temporary miko.
Saga Shrine is located just north of the moat of the old castle. The shrine is relatively new, founded in the Meiji period and enshrining the last two daimyo of the former Saga Domain, Nabeshima Naomasa and his sone Naohiro. A lot of the last generation of daimyo got themselves enshrined as gods, especially those daimyos who were pro-imperialist like the daimyos of Choshu, Satsuma, and Saga.
Immediately adjacent to Saga Shrine, and in reality not at all separate, is the older Matsubara Shrine, founded a century earlier, and enshrining the ancestors of the Nabeshima and their earlier generations.
Within Matsubara Shrine are many sub-shrines and other points of interest, but on this trip, it was so crowded and I just literally walked through. A few years ago while walking the Kyushu Fudo Myo pilgrimage I stopped in and explored more deeply, so will post much more later.
This was the end of my 56yj day walking the Kyushu pilgrimage, and I estimated that I had already walked more than 1500 kilometers, several hundred more than the whole of the Shikoku Ohenro, and I still had more of Saga, all of Nagasaki, and then back into Fukuoka before I would finish. Tomorrow I would head back home and return to Saga in February to continue on....
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