Onigawara of Shikoku part 2

Onigawara, "DemonTiles", are the , usually ceramic, tiles decorated with the face of a demon usually found on the roofs of temples, and sometimes shrines and private dwellings.

Meant to protect the building by warding off evil, my own fascination with them is in their diversity, so I seek them out whenon my travels and am always looking for unique ones.

All of these I encountered while walking the Shikoku Pilgrimage known as Ohenro. The first photo is from Fujiidera, the 11th temple on the pilgrimage.

The second photo is from Jurakuji, temple 14, and the third is from a small Chinese style chapel nearby.

The 4th is from Kokubunji, temple, number 15, and the final photo is from Kongochoji, temple 26.

Kyushu Pilgrimage Templ 24 Rengeji

Rengeji, which means Lotus Temple, is number 24 on the Shingon Kyushu Pilgrimage and is located in the little coastal town of Hiji on the northern part of Beppu Bay.

The pilgrimage guidebook has little to say about the temple. Right next door was a large shrine with similar architecture to the temple so that suggest they were both the same place previously. Both had some nice onigawara.

There was no-one around to talk to and it was a grey day so I pressed on....

Kyushu Pilgrimage Temple 13 Hozenji

The final pilgrimage temple of my third day walking around Kyushu was Hozenji, like the previous two earlier in the afternoon located in Iizuka.

It's a very small, urban temple. The honzon is an 11 headed, thousand armed Kannon, but it is only shown once a year.

It was a very small, urban temple, with not a lot to see othere than a couple of onigawara.

Onigawara

Onigawara, literally " Demon/Ogre/Goblin Tiles" can be found primarily on temple roofs, but also in shrines and residences. They serve as protection against the weather at the end of ridges.

They also function to ward off evil. What fascinates me in particular is the diversity. These first two are at Jyoei-ji, the temple in Yamaguchi that is home to a garden by Sesshu.

The Oni designs seem to date from the Kamakura Period. Prior to that these end tiles were decorated with flowers or animals. This one is from another temple in Yamaguchi, Toshun-ji.

They are almost always ceramic, though some were wood or stone. This one was at a former samurai residence in Chofu, Yamaguchi.

Many shrines and temples will display onigawara from older buildings that have been replaced like at this small rural shrine in southern Hiroshima.

A previous post on some Onigawara in Shikoku.

Iwami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage: Kitahachimangu

Though I have yet to finish walking the Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Ive started walking the Iwami 33 Kannon. Being local it means I can do it in one day sections when the weather window allows. I had wanted to do the old Iwami 33 but many of the temples on it no longer exist... victims of Haibutsu Kishaku I suspect.

The old and the new pilgrimages both share a majority of temples but the older one started in Iwami Ginzan and the new one starts in Oda. On my way from Oda Station to the first temple I stopped in at Kita Hachimangu.

A fairly typical Hachiman Shrine, though it was founded in the ninth century, much earlier than many others, and unusually is a branch of the original Usa Hachiman rather than the Kyoto Iwashimizu Hachiman. There are many secondary shrines in the grounds, Ebisu, Aragami, Awashima, Konpira etc

The most interesting of the secondary shrines is this Kinashi Shrine. It enshrines Susano and connects to when he stopped here on his journey from Sila to Izumo. According to local legends he, along with local kami, travelled back and forth between Izumo and Korea from a point a few miles down the coast... Even more interesting is that this shrine was the original shrine here before the Hachimangu was established.

Onigawara of Shikoku

Onigawara are "demon tiles" found most commonly on temple roofs, but also on some shrines and even private dwellings.

They are found at the end of roof ridges and were originally wooden boards used to protect the roof from the weather. Tile came to be used and were decorated with flowers and other designs.

From the kamakura period the demon design became popular and in some ways are analogous to gargoyles in the European tradition.

The first  and second  photos are from  Temple 3 Konsenji.  The third photo is from Aizen-in, the fourth from temple 5 Jizoji, and the last photo is from the main gate of Temple 8 Kumadaniji

Kannon-in, Tottori.

The Sanmon (main gate) of Kannon-in, a Tendai sect temple in Tottori City. Built originally in 1632 it was moved to its current location in 1639.

The temple was built for the Ikeda family who had been installed as Daimyo of the Tottori Domain.

The main deity is Kannon and supposedly the temple was given a statue of Kannon carved out of local rock by Gyoki in the 8th Century.

It is temple number 32 on the Chugoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Route.

The main reason to visit the temple, if you are not a pilgrim, is for the garden.....