Hachiman Shrine & Makio Shrine in Yasaka

 

Day 9 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage and during the morning I stop in at two noteworthy shrines.

Iwami is a remote region, and the area in the mountains now collectively grouped together as Yasaka Town is a remote part of that region. Though I have lived here for decades, this was an exploration for me...

The first shrine I reached was the Hachimangu in the area called Nakayasu after thebfamily that were installed in the area as local  administrators in the mid 14th century.

They served under various different lords until the mid 16th century when the Mori attacked and defeated them, then took over.

This Hachimangu was established as a branch of Usa Hachiman in the mid 15th century to protect the nearby castle. It became the tutelary shrine for ten villages in the area.

There are a pair of huge Sugi trees flanking the stairway, and a third up near the shrine buildings.

They are big enough to be protected and registered as Natural Monunments by the prefecture.

An older Tenmangu shrine was moved into the grounds in early Meiji.

With its Ryobu-style Torii, Makio Shrine, much further south, is quite picturesque. (top photo above)

Said to be founded in the early Heian Period, making it about a thousand years old, it was relocated to its current location in 1582.

 

Unusual is the combination of main kami, Izanagi, and Otoshi. Izanagi, well known as the male of the creator-kami pair with his sister/wife Izanami. Otoshi, one of Susano's sons, with association with rice harvest and Korean clans.

There is a kagura den, but it looks like it has not been used in a while....

The previous post was on the last temple I visited yesterday, and the place I stayed the night.

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Kairyuzan Toda Hachiman Shrine

 

Depicting doves, rabbits, and monkeys, the ceramic roof ornaments at Toda Hachimangu are fairly unusual, though I have seen some on the tile roofs of walls around houses in Tsunozu.

Located close to the sea among rice paddies, Toda Hachimangu has three toriis. The third being Ryobu style. The name Kairyuzan is  Shingon related, and with the Ryobu torii indicated a strong Buddhist connection.

On the path from the shrine to the torii on the beach is a small Inari shrine.

There are also secondary shrines to Kakinomoto Hitomaro, the legendary ancient poet who possibly died nearby. Toyokehime, Kotoshironushi, Otoshi, and the sea kami Wadatsumi, enshrined here before the shrine was converted to a Hachiman shrine in 899.

The shrine was completely destroyed by the tsunami of 1026, which also destroyed Kushirogahime shrine that I had just visited.

The tengai, the sacred ceiling below which kagura dances are performed, was composed of an unusual set of plants I had not seen before. Usually they are pine or sasaki.

As tutelary kami for samurai, Hachiman is often called a god of war. As such, samurai often donated their swords after success in battle. One sword was donated here in the late 16th century by a local samurai who had success in Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.

Incidentally, the dove is the messenger of Hachiman which may explain the decorations on the roof. Also it adds some confusion to the imported notion of doves being symbols of peace.

The version of Hachiman here is Ojin, Jingu, and all three Munakata kami.

The previous post in this series on day 33 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on Kushirogahime Shrine nearby.

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Toshi Daimyojin & Ryosho Daigongen Shrine

 

Heading south from Futagoji Temple I stopped in at a shrine that seems to have been closely connected to the temple.

Toshi Daimyoji Ryosho Daigingen Shrine is the old name for the shrine, the name written on the torii, but in Meiji when the kami and Buddhas were seperated it became simply Toshi Shrine.

The Toshi refers to Otoshi, one of the sons of Susanoo, a kami associated with agriculture, and also connected to "immigrant" groups.

The Ryosho Daigongen are much more fascinating. According to the legend, Ninmon, the legendary founder of the Rokugo Manzan temples on Kunisaki, established this shrine in 717. Next year he established the temples, including Futagoji.

According to the legend, he was practising austerities in the area and was bothered by a pair of kami who he "tamed" and convinced to become the guardian kami of Futagoji. They are enshrined in the okunoin as Ryosho Daigongen.

The pair are said to be a brother and sister,  twin children of Hachiman, the powerful kami whose head shrine is not far from Kunisaki. Interestingly, this was long before Hachiman became equated with Emperor Ojin.

Other than Futagoji Temple and this shrine, there seems to be little mention of Ryosho Daigongen other than a statue held in the treasure house of Usa Hachimangu.

Nowadays, the official kami listed are Otoshi and Izanagi and Izanami

Until Meiji, the rituals and ceremonies performed at the shrine were done by priests from the Futagoji complex.

Like many shrines on the Kunisaki Peninsula, Buddhist Nio guardians of stone can be found. The ones here are said to be unusual in that their eyes are made of copper plate.

The previous post in this series on the Kyushu Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the Okunoin of Futagoji Temple.

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Along the Shimoko River

 

2nd of May, 2014, and I begin day 8 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage from Arifuku, the small onsen resort in the mountains between Hamada and Gotsu.

The paddies are all flooded and will be planted with rice soon.

I stop in at a deserted, though not defunct, pottery.

Behind, some of the climbing kilns, anagama, no longer in use.

I think this may be the Yoshida Pottery, as they specialize in larger more utilitarian pieces, rather than the other potteries nearby which have modern showrooms and make more delicate pieces.

My route for a few days will be roughly SW, inland from the coast, down to where Iwami ends , then up the coast back towards my area of Gotsu.

After leaving the pottery I head over a pass and drop down into the Shimoko River valley and head upstream.

Heading upstream I start to pass numerous ruins of a "ghost railway", the Imafuku Line of a raiway that was planned to run over the mountains to Hiroshima.

It was started in 1933, then halted by the war, and never completed and opened.

Since I first moved here 20 years ago, they have started to turn it, somewhat successfully,  into a tourist attraction.

In Utsuicho I stop in at the local shrine, an Otoshi Shrine.

There are quite a lot of Otoshi shrines in Iwami. Otoshi was a son of Susanoo and is a kami of agriculture and rice.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage was on Fukusenji Temple in Arifuku.

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.