A Glorious Sunrise Under a Sea of Clouds

 

Unkai is a Japanese word describing a late Autumn, early Winter weather phenomenon whereby valleys fill with clouds. From high points it looks like a sea of clouds.

Of course, in the valleys it looks like mist. And so it was as I began day 22 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

As the dawn approaches, the mist burns away in places....

And then I was treated to fifteen minutes of a glorious sunrise,.... the kind that makes getting up in the dark worthwhile.

So that is all there is to this post,... a sunrise experienced in the remote valleys and mountains of central Yamaguchi.

The previous post was on the previous evenings walk....

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A Sunrise Walk Down the Matsuura River

Monday, March 24th, 2014, and I take the first train out of Sasebo heading north.

The sun comes up as I am approaching Hizen Nagano from where I will continue on with day 72 of my walk along the Kyushu pilgrimage.

These very early morning walks are often one of the highlights of these walks I do.

Heading north along the Matsuura River, the valley is initially covered in a mist which somehow makes the light very bright. A white light rather than the warm yellow of sunrise light.

The Matsuura River starts in the mountains near Arita and heads roughly north until reaching the sea at Karatsu, my destination for the day.

Though there is a railway line running down the river valley, there are no big settlements, and nothing of note to visit until I reach Ochi, about two hours later.

Here I will have to head up a tributary of the main river to visit the first pilgrimage temple of the day.

The previous post was on my visit to Sasebo port the evening before.

Nagaura Sunrise

 

Friday, March 7th, 2014, day 65 of my walk around Kyushu and a wonderful sunrise.

I spent the night at a minshuku right on the water's edge in Nagaura on an inlet of Omura Bay.

I once lived in a place where I could see the sunrise and sunset every day, but for the past twenty-some years I have lived in a narrow valley so normally see neither...

So please excuse my indulgence...

The previous post was on the shrines I had visited the previous day

Sunrise wallk to Dainichi-ji Temple 94 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 

Sunday January 5th 2014. Day 56 of my walk around  Kyushu on the Kyushu Pilgrimage. This will be the last day where I base myself in Kurume, an interesting town that I had never heard of before coming here but which has been my home away from home as I have explored the region.

As I am walking across the bridge to Nagatoishi on the north side of the river the sun comes up behind me.

 I find the first temple, Dainichi-ji, easily enough and it is yet another structure indistinguishable from a house. The ground floor is two open car parking spaces, the second containing some statues and the entrance to the stairs that I presume lead up to the “main hall”.

It was founded in 1985 and at that time was surrounded by rice paddies, though now it has become a suburb of Kurume. In 2010 it became temple 94 on the pilgrimage.

The honzon is Dainichi Nyorai, and there is also a Dainichi statue outside in the entrance area. Inside is said to be a Yakushi, Kobo Daishi, Fudo, and numerous other statues alongside the Dainichi.

There is no reason why a temple must conform to a pre-determined idea of what a temple should look like, but it is disappointing nonetheless. It is also a little too early in the morning to ring the bell and go in so I pay my respects to the statues at the entrance and head off.

Sunrise from Osakikamijima Island

It was cloudy when I woke up on the third day of my walk along the Aki Nada island chain in the Inland Sea in Hiroshima, but it was still a delightful sunrise.

I had slept out at 425 meters above sea level, the highest point of the island.

It is pure coincidence that I am posting so many sunrise and sunset pics recently.

I occasionally do topical posts, but mostly I am sequentially going through my folders of photos from my walks around Japan, and posting chronologically from them.

Ibusuki Sunrise

One of the delights of walking pilgrimages in japan is that you need to get up before the sun and head out. This means you get to see the "Golden Hour", that period of time around the sun rising when the light is golden and the shadows strong.

On the 33rd day of my walk along the Kyushu Pilgrimage, I headed out from Ibusuki and the sun was rising over the Osumi Peninsula to the east.

I have mentioned before that where I have been living for many years now is in a narrow valley and that therefore I normally do not get to see either sunrise or sunset, so for me they are really special as I used to live seeing both everyday. Sorry if these sunrise pics are boring to you.

On this day I would be passing the southernmost point of my walk around Kyushu. The southernmost point of Kyushu is across the bay on the opposite peninsula. I will be stopping at the southernmost railway station in Japan. As yet I am not near the halfway point of the walk.

Sunrise at Shirahige Shrine

Shirahige

Shirahige Shrine is located on the western shore of Lake Biwa in what is now Shiga. It is home to one of the famous "floating torii", shrine gates set in water and a place where many people gather to watch sunrise.

It is said that on the equinoxes the sun rises through the gate, though I was here a few days before the winter solstice so it rose to the north of the gate. I was surprised how many people came before dawn to such a relatively remote spot.

Shirahige Shrine is the head shrine of about 300 Shirahige shrines across Japan, but this was the first time I had visited. I had visited other Shirahige shrines before and was intrigued by its origin. This area, called Omi in ancient times, was heavily settled by immigrants from the Korean Peninsula, like the area that later became Kyoto. Shirahige was a Korean deity, and the name means "White Whiskers"

15 years ago this information was easy to find, though nowadays it seems harder. Most sources don't mention the Korean origin anymore. Maybe a result of the dumbing down of the web that now overwhelms us with "popular" and  simple facts, clickbait, and the information and disinformation that  powerful forces in society prefer spread.