Mizuki Shigeru Road

 

Sakaiminato, the small town and fishing port in the very west of Tottori, is the childhood home of Mizuki Shigeru, a manga artist who concentrated a lot on yokai, a term that covers all manner of otherworldly creatures and forces from ghosts and poltergeists to demons and gods.

In his work he revived many of the myriad yokai that have been around Japan for centuries, but he also created some new ones of his own, the most famous being Gegege Kitaro, the character who has featured in big screen movies along with a whole cohort of new yokai.

There is a museum in Sakaiminato dedicated to Mizuki Shigeru and his work, and the street that leads from the train station to the museum has been renamed Mizuki Shigeru Road.

Dozens and dozens of bronze statues of yokai line the street, and I have covered many of them in three earlier posts.... Gallery of Yokai 1, Gallery of Yokai 2, and Gallery of Yokai 3.

So in this post, some of the bronze statues I have not posted before, and some of the other yokai artwork along the street...

The first photo shows one of the many streetlamps made to appear like Daddy Eyeball, the father of Gegege no Kitaro. The second photo, in black and white, is Gashadokoro, a yokai from a village in Hiroshima that is the collected resentment of all who died working in the fields. Photo three is a tableau called Kappa Spring and feature a variety of yokai, predominantly kappa.

Photo four is of a couple of stainless steel sculptures with the shape of yokai depicted as a hole. There are many of this type of sculpture in the park that runs along the beach from Yumeminato Pavilion and Tower. The fifth photo is of ema hanging at Yokai Shrine, not registered with any religion, but said to be a power spot. Sixth photo is of Iju, a yokai from the Niigata area. When given food it carried a mans heavy pack for him.

Number seven is a painting set in the sidewalk depicting a variety of yokai. Sakaiminato has a bunch of manholes with yokai designs that you can view in this earlier post. Not at all sure what the next painting is of, but it was on the wall outside a shop.

The yokai above is Makuragaeshi, a yokai that moves your pillow while you are asleep.

Numerous stores sell yokai merchandise like the masks above, and even a bakery sells buns with yokai faces and shapes.

The Kubire Oni in the painting above is formed from the malice of people who died by hanging and cause depression and suicidal thoughts in people.

Above is Nononba and a young Mizuki. She lived near to him and introduced him to many yokai stories.

Tsuchikorobi, pictured above, seems to be a harmless yokai that rolls down a hill ahead of you.

Above is Harionago, a beautiful woman with disheveled hair that has hooks at the ends to catch and carry men away.

Above is Kajuu from Nagano, which can walk but not swim.... 

Above is Iwami no Ushio, a yokai from my region of Iswami. It has the face of a cow and a body of an Earth Spider and attacks people on beaches. Below are a group of small Daddy Eyeballs, and the final picture is of Kajiga Babaa, a yokai from Kochi. A blacksmith's wife got lost at night and was eaten by wolves. Her spirit possessed one of the wolves and began to devour travellers.

Every time I visit Sakaiminato, there are many new yokai sculptures added, so if you have an interest in yokai it is well worth visiting or revisiting.

The previous post was on the nearby Ferry Terminal.

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OCAT Osaka City Air Terminal

OCAT Osaka City Air Terminal

Osaka City Air Terminal does have buses that run to both Kansai Airport and Itami Airport, but in reality it is a multi-use business and commercial complex in Namba.

As well as the bus terminal, which was the biggest in all of west Japan at one point, the complex hosts government offices, commercial offices, and a variety of retail establishments.

I rarely visit cities, so for me they are somewhat similar to safari parks... the chance to see exotic, possibly dangerous, creatures in their natural habitat.

As many of you know, I am also a sucker for modern architecture, and that is usually where my gaze falls....

Two floors of OCAT are below ground, and one of the underground passageways was the subject of the previous post.

I have been unable to find out who created the large metal sculpture in the underground entrance...

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Another Time XX by Antony Gormley

Another Time XX is a cast-iron sculpture by British artist Antony Gormley situated on a remote mountaintop in the Kunisaki Peninsula in northern Kyushu.

Installed originally as part of a 2014 arts festival, the statue can only be seen by hiking a mountain trail after driving a very narrow mountain road.

Made from a cast from the artists body, it is one of a 100 similar statues placed in unusual locations around the globe. Made of iron, the statue is already showing signs of deterioration and will eventually disappear.

The statue weighs more than 600 kilos, and it turned out that using a helicopter was not possible so it was moved   to its location by manpower. Down below the statue is the Fudo Chaya, a renovated teahouse that has displays of how the statue was moved into position.

I have read that there is some opposition to the statue, but the head priest is supportive. My guess is any opposition is fed by narrow-mindedness and has no basis in history or culture.

I visited after passing through the Kyu Sentoji Temple area down below and just before visiting the Fudo Hall just above the statue. The views are fantastic, over the north side of the Kunisaki Peninsula and to Himeshima Island just offshore. The statue is facing East.

Yamata no Orochi

 

Yamata no Orochi is a mythical serpent with 8 heads that appears in the Izumo cycle of ancient Japanese myths set in the time before the descent of imperial lineage.

In the myth, Susano defeats the serpent and marries a local princess who was to be sacrificed to the serpent, and so and begins the rise of Izumo culture that predates and later contributed to Yamato culture.

All these photos are of a modern sculpture depicting Orochi outside the Okuizumo Tatara Sword Museum, in Yokota, Shimane. Orochi appears everywhere throughout Izumo, on draincovers and giving its name to many products, including the tourist train I took to get here.

Yokota is on the River Hi which runs through Okuizumo and it is generally held that the 8-headed serpent refers to the 8 tributaries of the river that is at times violent and dangerous. Some commentators suggest that Orochi represents a tribe that fought the Izumo, but so much evidence suggests it was the river. Near here is the shrine for Kushinada, the princess saved from the serpent, and downstream are shrines to her parents. Nearby also is one of the sites said to be where Susano "descended", and spots downstream said to be Orochi's nests are found in narrow gorges where the river would have been particularly dangerous.

The idea of sacrificing humans to a river is fairly widespread around the world as well as here in Japan. I found a riverbank monument to a local lord who was praised by locals when he switched from burying live humans in the river bank to burying clay figures, and stories of human sacrifice to protect new bridges and castle walls are fairly common.

The museum here is on the ancient method of making iron and swords, and Okuizumo was a major centre. In the Orochi myth Susano discovers a sword in the tail of the dead serpent and this went on to be one of the Three Imperial Regalia.

Tatara, a kind of forge used to make iron from iron sand, the method used in Japan, was said to be introduced from mainland Asia, and once again the myths suggest that it was Susano who brought the technology over from Korea. A shrine south of here near Izumo Taisha attest to this.

later I will post on the fascinating history of iron and swordmaking on display in the museum, but in the meantime you may enjoy a wild and dramatic display of Orochi in videos of our local kagura.

The previous post in this series exploring Okuizumo was the Yokota Folk Museum.

Tadao Koga Sculpture Forest

Tadao Koga Sculpture Forest

Within the grounds of what was Saga Castle, adjacent to the reconstructed palace, are the Saga Prefectural Museum and the Saga Prefectural Art Museum. Between them and the moat is the Tadao Koga Sculpture Forest.

Tadao Koga (1903-1979) was a Japanese sculptor born in Saga and many of his works are on display in this outdoor exhibit. I suspect there is more of his work inside the art museum but I did not go in to find out.

The works on display are larger-than-life bronzes that reminded me of socialist art of the mid-20th century.

Other than a statue of Saigo Takemori in Kirishima, he does not seem to have produced anything of note, though he was chairman of the Japan Sculpture Society.

The top piece is Hoshin, 1960. The second is Spring Cloud, 1963, the third is Gamecock & Man, 1958. The fourth is Limit, 1965. The fifth is Grow Next Generation, 1956.  The sixth is Factory Night Watchman from 1938, and the final photo is Three Fishermen from 1954.

It's a nice, free, public art space that is worth a look if you are visiting the castle.