Yunotsu: World Heritage Site & Historic Preservation District

 

After a short walk along the Ginzan Kaido from its start, I take a diversion into the main part of the hot spring town of Yunotsu.

Dominating the lower part of the town, the Naito Residence has been the headmans residence for centuries. I believe the family "own" the hot water that fuels the numerous public and private onsens in the town.

Their sprawling property, which has a stone lantern in the garden gifted from Hideyoshi for the family's support during the invasion of Korea, is mostly in need of repair, and recently the property was given Japan Heritage status, so funds are now available and work has begun.

As you head uphill on the narrow street towards the ryokans, you pass Tatsu no Gozen Shrine.

The shrine is where one hour, 2,000 yen Iwami Kagura performaces are held every Saturday. Sorry, but I would rather watch 8 or 9 hours of kagura for free.

A huge rock shaped like a dragons head is above the shrine.

Onamuchi (Okuninushi), Sukunahikona,and Toyotamahime are the main kami. Shrine records were lost in a fire in the 18th century, but an inscription in the main hall dates to 1601.

In the middle of the town, a large temple with impressive gate. Eikoji is a Nichiren sect temple dating to the 16th century and has the tombs of many merchants who profited from the Kitamaebune trade.

In the gate, rather than the typical Nio there are a pair of the Shitenno instead.

At the top of the town the two public "day" spas....

On the way out of town to rejoin the Ginzan Kaido I pass the pottery with its huge noborigama, climbing kiln. I have photos of it in operation and will post eventually.....

The previous post in this series on day 38 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the Okidomari port and the start of the Ginzan Kaido.

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Nankobo Temple 55 Shikoku Pilgrimage

 

Nankobo is located in downtown Imabari, and the first noticeable thing is that instead of Nio guardians, the main gate houses the 4 Shitenno.

For a brief explanation of the shitenno I suggest a post I did on the biggest shitenno in Japan.

Nankobo has a very long and complex history and it took a lot of digging to get a basic understanding. The vast majority of sources are ambiguous and misleading. It begins in the very late 6th century with the establishment of a shrine on Omishima Island between Shikoku and Honshu. This is now known as Otamazumi Shrine and was always important.

24 temples were established as part of the shrine complex, Nankobo being one of them. Like most religious sites in ancient Japan they were Buddhist-"Shinto"-Daoist complexes. In the early 8th century a direct branch of the shrine on Omishima was established here in Imabari, and is immediately adjacent to the current Nankobo. This was done as it was feared that bad weather made crossing to Omishima a problem sometimes.

Around 1200 eight of the 24 temples on Omishma, including Nankobo, were moved to the branch shrine here in Imabari.

Without getting into the history of exactly when the 88 temple Shikoku pilgrimage actually began, it is known that temple 55 was at the shrine temple complex on Omishima, and not on Shikoku until relatively recently.

During the anti-Buddhistm movement of early Meiji the history gets complex again with the honzon of Nankobo, an unusual Buddha named Daitsu Chisho Nyorai, being safely hidden in the shrine next door and then later moved to the Yakushi-do. This then became Nankobo. Incidentally, it seems that this Buddha was also the main "kami" of what is now the Oyamazumi Shrine. Nankobo is the only temple of the 88 to have this Buddha.

The previous temple is a few kilometers away, Enmeiji Temple 54.

The Art of Taisanji Temple

 

Like most of the temples on major pilgrimages, Taisanji, temple 52 on the Shikoku pilgrimage has plenty of art adorning the buildings and grounds.

The Nio Gate is about 600 meters from the temple grounds. Rebuilt in 1305,at  the same time as the main hall, it contains 2 striking Nio guardians.

At the next gate, at the entrance to the main temple complex, there are 4 statues of the Shitenno, the four heavenly kings.

It is not uncommon to find temple gates with the four shitenno

Inside the bell tower are paintings depicting Enma and the other judges of hell and scenes of the tortures and sufferings awaiting those going to hell...

Ema, votive plaques, are a religious practice common to both shrines and temples. There were a variety of different designs at Taisanji, but I was attracted to theFudo.....

traces of pigment can still be seen in this example of relief carving....

Not sure who this statue is, but to my untrained eye it seems to be almost an Indian-style statue...

Small statues of Daikoku, one of the Seven Lucky Gods, can often be found at the ends of roof ridges, or, like here, on a wall toed with kawara.

To me, this final statue aears to be done in Korean style.

The previous post was on the architecture and history of Taisanji Temple.

Onsenji Temple

 

Onsenji is the guardian temple of Kinosaki Onsen in Toyooka, Hyogo, and is located halfway up Daishiyama Mountain overlooking the hot spring town.

According to the legend it was founded in 738 by Dochi Shonin who spent 1,000 days in ascetic practise before a spring arose. It was traditional for visitors to visit the temple before heading to the healing baths of Kinosaki.

There are some temple structures at the base of the mountain where the steps up to te main temple begin, and the temple also has its own stop of the ropeway that goes to the mountaintop where the okunoin of the temple ( photo 8) is adjacent to the ropeway station.

The main hall of the temple dates back to the late 14th century and is the oldest wooden building in the former province of Tajima.

The honzon is a "secret buddha" and is only shown to the public once every 33 years. It is a Thousand-Armed Kannon built from a single piece of wood said to be from the same tree as the honzon of the famous Hasedera Temple in Nara.

Set among some giant trees, the temple has a Tahoto, a Shingon-style pagoda, was rebuilt in 1767.

Though the honzon is not shown, the main hall does have some nice statuary and the settings and architecture of Onsenji are quite picturesque. I will cover the main gate and lower buildings in a later post. The previous post in this series on Toyooka was the Kinosaki Onsen Ropeway.

Daion-ji Temple Nagasaki

 

Continuing north along Teramachi from Daikoji Temple, the next big temple is Daionji.

It was founded in 1614 and belongs to the Jodo, or Pure Land Sect, founded by Honen, and the honzon is another Amida.

During the Edo Period, the temple was considered one of the Three Major Temples of Nagasaki. The priest who founded it, Denyo Sekitotsu, was another of the Five Nagasaki Monks.

The temple buildings survived the atomic bombing, but were destroyed later by arson. A small brick arch dates back to about 1868.

The Sanmon Gate houses statues of the Shitenno rather than Nio.

Other than the colorful Shitenno statues and a lovely weeping Plum tree in full bloom in mid February, there is not a lot to see. For the historically minded the cemetery has the grave of Yasuhide Matsudaira, the Nagasaki Magistrate who committed suicide to atone for allowing an English ship into Nagasaki in 1808.

The previous post in this series on day 60 of my Kyushu Pilgrimage was the neighboring Daikoji Temple.