Showing posts with label saigoku. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saigoku. Show all posts

Saturday, February 24, 2024

From Kirime Oji to Tsui Oji along the Kumano Kodo Kiiji

 


On day 6 of my walk along the Saigoku pilgrimage, I started at Kirime Station in Ninami Town, and headed north. For the first week or so of the walk, I was following the Kumano Kodo, in reverse. This section from Tanabe up to Osaka, is known as the Kiiji.


I crossed the Kirime River and soon came to the first stop of the day, Kirime Shrine, or Kirime Oji.


Oji were the 99 shrines along the Kumano Kodo that pilgrims would visit. Many have long since disappeared, some have monuments where they once stood, and a few still have structures.


Kirime is one of the 5 most important oji. Hosshinmon Oji, which I visited on day 3, and Takijiri Oji, which I visited on day 4, are another 2 of the 5.


Believed to have been established long before the Kumano Kodo became an imperial pilgrimage route, enshrined here include Sarutahiko, Kanayamahiko, Susano, Kotoshironushi, Ebisu, etc with the main deity being Emperor Ojin, therefore Hachiman.
 

Retired Emperor Gotoba composed poetry while here, and Prince Moriyoshi, son of Emperor Godaigo had a vision while staying here.


Not far further along, I passed by the site of Tomi Oji, also known as Ikuraga Oji, and said to be one of the oldest Oji.


I carried on along the coastal Route 42 and crossed the Inami River and by Inami fishing port.


Behind the port I passed through a torii and up a small path to the site of the former Tsui Oji.


According to some sources Tsui Oji was originally at a different place, but was moved here during the Edo eriod and became known as Kannon Oji.


Without any buildings, but with a small Buddhist statue and a rack of ema votive plaques, the site was well maintained by local people.


The previous post was on Kashima Shrine in Minabe



Friday, December 29, 2023

Kashima Shrine Minabe

 


I came into Minabe at the end of a rainy fifth day of my walk. I was on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, claimed to be the oldest of the major pilgrimage circuits of Japan. For this first week, the route also followed the Kumano Kodo, though in reverse. This was the Kiiji section which runs from Tanabe up to Osaka and Kyoto.


The main shrine was a Kashima Shrine, with numerous secondary shrines and a small Inari shrine at the entrance.


According to te shrine history it is a branch of the famous Kashima Shrine up country, brought here in the early Nara Period.


However, it was located on a tiny uninhabited island just offshore and was known as Kashima Myojin.


During the Meiji Period, possibly 1909, the kami was transferred to the land and the shrine built, which explains the somewhat "meiji" feel of the shrine.


The main kami is Takemikazuchi, although Amaterasu and Susano are also listed. That may be a Meiji addition.


In the grounds are a Tenjin, Ebisu, another Inari, and a couple of other shrines.


The previous post in this series was Kozanji Temple in Tanabe.


Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Kozanji Temple Tanabe

 


Kozanji is a popular temple complex with large cemetery and grounds in Tanabe, Wakayama.


It is said to have been founded by Kobo Daishi, though another source suggests it was founded much earlier during the time of Shotoku Taishi.


The Tahoto, Shingon-style pagoda, has become the symbol of the temple. It was built in 1816 and is dedicated to Prince Shotoku.


Other buildings include 2 Yakushi-do's, a Daishi-do, a Fudo-do, and a Kannon-do.


During the Warring States Period, in the late 17th century the temple was destroyed during Hideyoshi's invasion of the area, but was rebuilt later and in the Edo Period changed its name to Kozanji.


It was pouring with rain when I visited on my way out of Tanabe heading north along the Kumano Kodo towards Osaka on the 5th day of my walk along the Saigoku Pilgrimage.


Many people visit Kozanji to pay respect at the grave of Ueshiba Morihei (1883-1969), a locally-born  man who is known as the founder of the martial art called Aikido.


With millions of practitioners in more than 140 countries world-wide, some make the pilgrimage to his grave here.


Another of Tanabe's famous sons buried here is Munakata Kumagusu, an eccentric scientist who is gaining in notoriety and is sometimes referred to as the first environmentalist in Japan.


As well as being the site of his grave, the grounds of the temple were a place he spent a lot of time collecting specimens, and where it is believed his campaign against the government program of shrine closures took form.


The previous post in this series on the Saigoku Pilgrimage was the former residence of Minakata Kumagusu.


Sunday, August 20, 2023

Minakata Kumagusu Residence

 


Minakata Kamagusu was a Japanese eccentric and maverick who is considered by some to be Japan's first environmentalist. The house he lived in from 1916 until his death in 1941 is open to the public right next door to a modern museum to him in Tanabe, Wakayama.


In the previous post on the memorial museum, I wrote a little about him, but in this post I want to concentrate on the topic that made him famous, the shrine closure program of the government that began around 1910.


The shrine closure program only ran for a few years, and some areas resisted it quite strongly, but somewhere between 35 and 45 percent of all shrines throughout Japan were closed down. These were all local, nature-based deities that were moved, often quite some distance, to a "national" shrine.


Previously during the Meiji Period the government had "separated" the kami and the buddhas, destroying more than a millenia of religious development and in the process installing imperial connected kami in place of deities with Buddhist, Taoist, or non-imperial identities. They also began a program of creating major imperial shrines, some of which, like Meiji Jingi, Kashihara, and Heian, are now very popular.


The shrine closure program was part of this effort to create a new imperial-centered religion but also had a couple of secondary aims. One was to reduce the number of festivals that Japanese celebrated as this interfered with the industrial-oriented work ethic that the state wished to create.


Another factor was the"resource-rich" forest land that these traditional shrines encompassed. There was a lot of valuable timber on these lands when one considers the massive deforestation that the castle and town building of the Edo Period had created. It was this final point that caused Minakata to get involved, although he went on to argue an ecological viewpoint that included the destruction of culture in the formation of the state and national identity. For a more detailed look please click this recent online journal article about him.


The house is shown as it was when he lived there, thanks in large part to his daughter who kept all his possessions, research papers etc which can be accessed in the museum next door.


Sunday, June 18, 2023

Minakata Kumagusu Museum

 


While doing my initial research, many years ago, on any interesting spots to visit in Tanabe to visit I came across the Minakata Kumagusu Museum and was instantly attracted to the architecture.


I have not been able to find out who designed it, but it reminded me somewhat of Ando Tadao's wooden temple in Shikoku, Komyoji.


I had never heard of Minakata Kumagusu, but since visiting I have come across him in various books and he has become more and more intriguing. He is often portrayed as a naturalist, and specifically an expert on slime mould, but he is also credited with being  Japan's first environmentalist. Certainly he was a maverick and an eccentric.


He was born in Wakayama in 1867. He studied at a school in Tokyo and passed the entrance exam to university but instead chose to travel to the U.S. and study independently in 1886. He enrolled briefly at an Agricultural College, but, as would occur repeatedly throughout his life, incidents caused by drunkenness meant he didn't stay long. He studied by himself and traveled to Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, and other countries to collect samples. After 6 years he moved to London and spent a lot of time at the British Museum. He continued to study and became well known among many scientists and other public figures and published extensively in the journal Nature. In 1900 he left London and returned to Japan.


He lived a few years in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, continuing his research and collecting. In 1904 he moved to Tanabe and in 1906 married and started a family. He continued to publish in both English and Japanese and became a well established authority and at one point gave a lecture to Emperor Hirohito. He never did graduate from university and continued to get into trouble through his drinking. He passed away in 1941 and is buried in nearby Kozanji which is where another famous Tanabe resident, the creator of Aikido, Ueshiba Morihei, is also buried. I will cover Kozanji later.


When his daughter died she left a massive collection of notes and research materials to the town and they built this place as an archive of his materials, a museum about him, and as an ongoing research facility.


Next door is the house he lived in and it is also open to the public. When I post on that I will delve into the most intriguing aspect of Kuagusu, his fight against the shrine closure movement of the early 20th century which was his legacy which is why he is considered an environmentalist.

I visited at the start of the 5th day walking the Kumano Kodo as part of the Saigoku Pilgrimage. The previous post was on Tokei Shrine, part of the Kumano Kodo World Heritage sites and linked with the family of Benkei.

Friday, April 21, 2023

Tokei Shrine Tanabe World Heritage Site

Tokei Shrine Tanabe World Heritage Site


Tokei Shrine is the main shrine of Tanabe, Wakayama, known as the gateway to the Kumano Kodo.


In 2016 the shrine was added to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, most commonly known as Kumano Kodo.


The shrine grounds are home to many ancient Camphor trees with the oldest estimated to be 1200 years old.


The famed warrior-monk Benkei, known primarily as the sidekick of Yoshitsune, was born in Tanabe and a statue in the shrine depicts him with his father and some chickens.


According to the story, Benkei's father was asked for support from both sides of the conflict known as the Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto clans. Unable to decide, he staged a series of cock fights between cocks with red and white feathers, representing each side of the conflict. The cocks with white feathers won and so he chose to support the Minamoto.


According to the shrine, it was founded in the 5th century, which seems very speculative to me, however the shrine rose to prominence in the 11th century as a branch of the Kumano Sanzan shrines. Pilgrims would pray here for a safe journey into the interior, and in some cases, because the pilgrimage route was at times heavily traveled by bandits and robbers, pilgrims would go no further and "worship from afar" here.


Tokei Shrine enshrines all the kami that are enshrined in the Kumano Sanzan, the three big shrines of Hongu, Shingu, and Nachi, that are the focus of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage, which is why there are so many hondens.


There are also a wide variety of sub-shrines scattered throughout the grounds. many festivals take place throughout the year including the massive  Tanabe Matsuri held in July and also a Benkei Festival.


I arrived here at the end of my 4th day walking the Saigoku Pilgrimage. The previous post in the series was Takahara to Takajirioji on the Nakahechi.