Azumako Falls

 

The Azumako Falls are located on the Kurose River as it heads south through Higashihiroshima.

It is not a very deep waterfall, with a 15 meter drop followed by a second 5 meters drop.

It splits into two falls, the eastern one called Metaki and the western one Otaki.

It is however somewhat dramatic because of its width, and more like the kind of waterfall you would have to head into the mountains to find.

There is a legend connected to the falls.

In 1180, following his defeat by the Taira, Minamoto no Yorimasa committed suicide in Uji.

His concubine fled west with his three-year-old son.

While stopped here at the waterfall, the child died and his mother composed a poem that gave the waterfall its current name.

It s said the grave of the child lies just to the west of the falls.

The previous post in this series on day 14 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, was on the nearby, impressive Mitsujo Keyhole Tomb.

This was my last stop for the day as my room for the night was nearby.

Mitsujo Keyhole Tomb

Japanese History

Heading south out of Saijo I stopped in at the Mitsujo Tombs, a cluster of ancient burial mounds inlcuding a rather large "keyhole" tomb.

Saijo Brewery Street Details

 

The wabi sabi of aging metal signs, with their multiple layers partially revealed by the passage of time, is a favoroute photo subject of mine....

In this series I will look at some of the details found while exploring the Sake Brewery Street in Saijo. I refer you to the earlier post for details about the area.

A sugidama hanging outside one brewery. In November, when I was there, all the sugidama were brown after having hung since the spring.

Kazaridaru are the decorative sake barrels that are donated as offerings to shrines. Of course they also serve as advertising. Some can be seen at the local shrine which I visited a little earlier.

Most of the breweries have rooms for groups to listen to talks, see demonstrations, or watch videos...

And of course, plenty of opportunities to taste.....

Nowadays most sake seems to be brewed in large, metal barrels, but plenty of traditional wooden ones can be seen...

Red brick chimney plus sugidama. Unusually, a Shachi ornaments the roof.

Most of the breweries have displays of historic materials....

The spring water used in sake production is highly valued.

Often a small shrine will be found associated with them.

The previous post was on the architecture and history of the Saijo Sake Brewery Street.

Saijo Sake Brewery Street

 

Saijo, in the mountains of Hiroshima, is one of the three great sake-brewing centres in Japan. Fushimi in Kyoto, and Nada in Hyogo being the other two.

Of course, sake is brewed just about everywhere in Japan and while the number of small, family-run sake breweries is somewhat declining, you dont have to look far to find one.

What Saijo represents is large-scale sake brewing, and it is home to seven such breweries, all located close together in what is now named Sakagura-dori, Sake Brewery Street.

All the breweries have sections open to the public for sales, tasting, and various levels of tours.

The town hosts an incredibly popular sake festival in October when around 200,000 vistors descend on the town.

The oldest exisiting sake brewery dates back around 350 years.

Saijo lies on the main, ancient highway, the Sanyo-do, and the feudal lords would be provided accomodations in honjin when they travelled the road.

The owner of a honjin started brewing sake for the guests, and this is now the Hakubotan Sake Brewery.

Nestled in a mountain basin, the climate of the area, cold and dry in the winter, is perfect for sake brewing.

The area also has an abundant supply of good spring water, another major ingredient.

However, Saijo did not become a major sake brewing centre until the modern period.

Saijo lacked the rivers that could power waterwheels, the premodern power for industrial scale polishing of the rice for sake brewing.

In 1896 a local man who was  a sake brewer and an engineer, invented a mechanical rice-polisher that revolutioned the large-scale production of sake.

Most, but not all, of the breweries in Saijo were founded after that.

The architecture of Sake Brewery Street is quite distinctive with white plastered walls and the red rooftiles of this part of Japan.

Red brick chimneys are another indicator.

Many of the walls are known as Namako style, referring to the diagonal white plaster grid on a dark, tile background.

This design is fairly common on storehouse walls. Namako is the sea cucumber and the raised, rounded, white plaster is said to resemble it.

There are free guided tours of the area, or you can pick up a map from the nearby tourist information office and wander by yourself.

The previous post in this series on my visit to Saijo while walking along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the delightful zen garden at Entsuji Temple.

Entsuji Temple Garden

 

The karensansui rock garden at Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto is almost certainly the most famous example of what are commonly called Zen gardens.

Five clusters of rocks on moss "islands" in a 300 square metre "sea" of raked gravel....

At Entsuji Temple in Saijo, Hiroshima, is a garden that while not quite an exact copy of the one at Ryoanji, is more than modelled on it.

It was created in 2001 by the head priest who received permission from Ryoanji to measure their garden. Entsuji and Ryoanji both belong to the same sect of Rinzai Zen.

The shape of the garden is a little different to that of Ryoanji, but it was made to be the same total area.

The rock clusters and their spatial relationship with each other seem to coincide with Ryoanji. Since taking these photos it seems the garden has been changed a little by the addition of pure white gravel areas around each rock cluster contrasting with  the sandier coloured gravel of the rest of the garden.

The full name of the temple is Fukujuin Entsuji and it is believed that Shotoku Taishi trained here.

It fell into disuse multiple times over the centuries but was revived as  Rinzai temple in 1706 and the current main hall dates to that time.

The honzon is an Eleven-faced Kannon. The temple is one of the 24 Flower Temples of Sanyo and so is worth visiting in Spring and early Summer when flowers such as azaleas, hydrangeas, and lilies are blooming.

The previous post in this series exploring Saijo while walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on Aki Kokubunji, the ancient provincial temple....

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.