Rokusho Shrine

Rokusho Shrine

Not far from Kamosu Shrine is Rokusho Shrine, one of the 6 Shrines of Ou and the main shrine of the Provincial Government Offices in the Nara Period.

For me, however, the most interesting thing here is the 5 different Kojin altars with their serpents made from rice straw. An earlier post on the Kojin here.

The vast majority of shrines in Izumo have at least one Kojin altar. The five here would have been brought in from nearby areas during the "shrine consolidation" program of the late Meiji government.

The Kojin here are not as impressive as some of the ones at Adakaya Shrine, a few kilometers away, but still have the stylistic head and jaws. In Iwami, the similar kami is called Omoto, and our serpents have much smaller heads and narrower bodies.

Rokusho means "six shrines" and refers to the six kami enshrined here: Izanami, Izanagi, Amaterasu, Susanoo, Tsukiyomi, & Okuninushi.

There appear to only three secondary shrines other than the Kojin altars, but in ancient times when the provincial government was in operation Rokusho Shrine was the Soja Shrine wherein all the kami from the shrines in the province that the governor should visit are collected together in the Soja Shrine so he didn't have to travel.

Behind the shrine is a historic site where the layout of the government offices can be seen.

The previous post was on Kamosu Shrine with its National Treasure main hall.

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Karube Shrine the boobs shrine

Karube Shrine

Karube Shrine near Soja in Okayama is known locally as Oppai Jinja, with oppai being a Japanese slang word, used largely by children, to refer to female breasts.

Originally established on top of the mountain in the early 14th century, enshrining the three kami of the Kumano Sanzan, it was destroyed several times before being moved to its current site in 1678 after having a further two kami added, Amaterasu and Kunitokotachi.

For about 400 years, until 1940, there was a huge weeping cherry tree in the grounds that became known as a kami for ample breastmilk and safe childbirth and it was this tree that is the origin of the current tradition of offering votive plaques with representations of breasts on them, not any of the kami actually enshrined here.

It was not known at all outside the local area until being featured on a national TV program, but since then has drawn visitors from all over.

Many of the votive plaques are a standard design that can be bought online or from several local establishments, however some are hand-made and unique. The plaques can now also be found at several other shrines and temples.

Nowadays almost half the ema are prayers for relief from breast cancer, and most of the rest for ample breast milk and safe childbirth.

The rate of breast cancer in japan has doubled in the past 50 years.

Until the modern era womens breasts in Japan were not considered sexual or erotic, but a few of the plaques are asking for large breasts for "cosmetic" reasons....

The previous post in this series on day 7 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the nearby Hofukuji Temple.

Goods From Japan

Hofukuji Temple in Soja

 

Hofukuji Temple is an historic Zen temple in Soja, Okayama.

It is most well known as being the temple where Sesshu trained as a child.

Sesshu, or Sesshu Toyo, was born around 1420 to a samurai family in what is now Soja City.

He went on to become a zen monk and one of the greatest Japanese painters.

He is also known for his gardens.

The most famous story connected to his time at Hofukuji was the story of Sesshu and the Rat

It is not known exactly when the temple was founded, but was originally of the Tendai Sect.

In 1232 it was converted into a Rinzai Zen temple, one of the first in the area.

It received Imperial patronage and grew powerful with more than 50 sub-temples and 300 branch temples at its peak.

In 1575 almost the whole temple was burned down during the Bitchu War, but the 3-story pagoda survived. It has been reliably dated to 1376 and is an Important Cultural Property and the oldest structure still standing here.

The rest of the temple was restored during the Edo Period. The main hall dates to 1735.

Other treasures include the 15th century temple bell, and several silk paintings.

There are two small gardens, a karesansui raked sand one, and a small pond garden.

Hofukuji is a great spot for autumn foliage.

At this time, the Hojo, the Abbots living quarters, are open to the public and paintings by Sesshu and other items relating to Sesshu's time at the temple are on display.

On this visit I was at the start of my 7th day walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

The previous post in the series was on Shorenji Temple in Takahashi.

Sesshu is one of my favorite garden designers, and over the years I have visited almost all of his gardens that still exist, but have not posted many on this blog.

His biggest garden is in Yamaguchi and I did recently post a lot of photos of it in full autumn foliage.

Soja Shrine

Part of the fascination for me in visiting shrines around Japan is to discover the differences and varieties. Architecture, layout, styles of shimenawa and statuary all vary by region, and the first thing I noticed about the larger shrines in southern Okayama is that they all have covered entranceways.

Soja shrine in Soja City gave its name to the town. "Soja" roughly translated means "all the kami shrines", and when the shrine was founded towards the end of the Heian Period the town changed its name from Hachiba to Soja.

Enshrined here are 324 kami!!!! Apparently the local bigwig found it rather tiresome to have to travel around and visit all the shrines in his jurisdiction every year so he gathered them all together in one place, hence the name Soja Shrine.

The two main kami enshrined here are Onamuchi, which is one of names Okuninushi goes by, and one of his wives, Suserihime, a daughter of Susano.

This area of Okayama, formerly the province of Bitchu, still continues a tradition of kagura, so in front of the main shrine were a lot of fine, wooden masks. The mask in the middle with the snot pouring from his nose is apparently Inasehagi!

A very partial list of some of the other 324 kami enshrined here is

Tenjin
Inari
Numata Sha
Ebisu
Gion Sha (Susano and family)
Ikegami
Kinoyama
Okami
Itsukushima
Kotohira (Konpira)
Various Aragami

The entrance to the shrine is right next to the Soja Local History Museum, not far from Soja Station. Soja is a good place to start or end a trip on the Kibi Bike Path.