Kotohira Shrine, Imbe Shrine, & more Tanuki Shrines

 

The Kotohira Shrine on the hillside overlooking the southern part of Tokushima City was relocated to this spot in 1616 by Hachisuka Iemasa as a tutelary shrine of Tokushima Castle.

At the bottom of the hill by the steps leading up to the shrine is the largest stone lantern in all of Japan. Standing 9.8 meters tall, 10.24 including the base, it was created in 1839.

It was donated  primarily by Indigo merchants.

In the grounds of the shrine are a couple of ceramic lanterns which reminded me of Tozan Shrine in Arita.

Like all Kotohira Shrines, it was called Konpira until Meiji when the name and the kami were changedto fit the new national ideology. All Konpira/Kotohira shrines are branches of the original not too far away in Kagawa.

There are numerous secondary shrines within the grounds, including several shrines to Tanuki, including Oyotsu Daimyojin which seems to be the most well known.

There are dozens of shrines to Tanuki in the Tokushima area, including several I visited earlier in the day at the Hachiman Shrine.

All the structures on the hillside were burned down during bombing raids of WWII and so are fairly recent, concrete, reconstructions.

A little above the Kotohira Shrine is an Imbe Shrine, which has ancient roots but was only located here in the late 19th century.

The Imbe were a powerful clan in ancient Japan and ruled over this part of Shikoku.

They were producers of hemp and nowadays still produce hemp for use in Imperial rituals.

The original shrine was lost in history, but several nearby shrines claimed to be the original.

The government made a decision and established the shrine here, although it was temporarily located within the Kotohira Shrine.

Soem sources claim the kami enshrined is Futodama, but other sources say it is Amenohiwashi. The Imbe wrote the 9th century Kogoshui, which offers an alternative version of some of the history written by the Nakatomi in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.

The previous post in this series on Tokushima City was on the large Kannonji Temple down below the shrines.

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Tomita Hachimangu & Kunitamahiko Shrine

 

The Tomita Hachiman Shrine is one of a cluster of shrines at the base of Mount Bizan not far from the bustling downtown of Tokushima City.

To the right of the Hachiman Shrine is the Kunitamahiko Shrine, pictured above.

It was established in 1806 by the feudal lord Haruaki to enshrine his ancestor, Iemasa, who built Tokushima Castle in 1587.

In 1871, when the last lord, Shigeaki, moved to Tokyo, he enshrined a further 90 ancestors and assorted military and literary figures in the shrine.

The Hachiman Shrine was detroyed by a fire in 1967, although the Zuijinmon (last two photos) survived. It was rebuilt in 1986.

The stepped, square "platform" the shrine is built upon seems quite unusual.

I had trouble findong any information at all about the Hachiman Shtine and its history, however there were plenty of signboards about the numerous smaller shrine withon the grounds...

Moved into the grounds after the war, Yabe Daimyojin is said to be a kami of tootache relief.

Several of the small shrines had signboards put up by the Awa Tanuki Support Association, which suggest that some of the kami are Tanuki...

Unsurprisingly, there was a small Inari Shrine...

Another "tanuki" shrine was the Boroku Daimyojin, said to play pranks but effective for safe transportation and fulfillment of wishes..

Rokubei Daimyojin Shrine was located in a shopping street before being moved here. Said to be good for business prosperity and passing entrance exams.

Oiwa Daimyojin was also moved here. It was originally located under a rock at a hotel and restaurant. Also known as a prankster, prayed to for success in the entertainment industry.

The numerous Tanuki shrines may relate to a major local legend that took place somewhat south of this srea. The Awa Tanuki War.

The previous post in this series on the sights of Tokushima was the Tenjin Shrine not far away.

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Kawai Springs Chiburijima

Chiburijima is the smallest of the four inhabited islands that make up the Oki Islands of the coast of Shimane. With only 600 residents there are not a lot of shrines or temples, and one of the most popular sacred spots is the springs just outside the village of Kawai.

Springs will often have a statue next to them, but here there are lots including a Fudo Myo I was glad to see. There were numerous other Buddhist figures, but the most were of Jizo including a large one and multiple smaller ones.

To say that Japanese culture has an obsession with ranking things would be an understatement. The spring here is classed as one of the Top !00 Exquisite and Well Conserved Waters of Shimane.

Also unusual for the Oki islands is the statue of a tanuki. They are not native to the islands and Chiburijima is the only island with some because of an accidental introduction about 60 years ago. They are said to now outnumber the humans by three to one.

Diverse statuary at Kosenji Temple

Kosenji Temple in Ebino, Miyazaki has a wide range of statues on display inside and out. Flanking the large Fudo MyoO statue were a pair of very stylized Tanuki statues, the one on the left being obviously male.Not sure of their relationship with Fudo though.

There were several "child-like" Jizo. Known as guardian of deceased children, many have this child-like appearance, but seems to me to be more a part of the general "kawaii" culture that is such a large part of contemporary Japanese culture....

There was a fairly standard statue of Kannon, a deity which has many forms. One forms sees young children around her, but here there were frogs.

The frog is called kaeru in japanese, which is also the same word for "return", so commonly frog statues are a kind of good luck charm for returning safely from a journey etc....

Meet the Neighbours

The noise of my neighbours in the forest behind my house yesterday has prompted me to post some photos of some of them. earlier posts have lost their photos and it is too much trouble to have to go through and edit and repost.

Many of my neighbours, members of my community, are not human. There is a big troop of monkeys that visit regularly. It has been entertaining to watch them and learn a little of their habits and behaviours, but their tendency to treat my garden as a supermarket does tee me off sometimes.

Tanuki are also very commonly seen, these were photoed right outside my living room. They are fairly shy and cause no damage to my life. Often I will also see badgers, foxes, and civets passing through by my house on their rounds.

Several species of frog and toad are welcome visitors. In the garden they eat bugs, and they in turn are eaten by snakes and birds. When tilling I will often disturb ones hibernating in the cold weather. When the rice paddies are flooded in late spring the noise of their calling reverberates within our narrow, steep valley and can be quite deafening.

Mostly living below the house, though regularly found running around inside, are giant centipedes. They are quite poisonous so I will usually kill them at the request of my wife. Usually traveling in mated pairs, when one has been caught it is best to be extra vigilant until its partner is found.

Two Tanuki

For a couple of months I have been enjoying the daily visit to my backyard by the local badger.

A couple of weeks ago there was an enormous fight right outside my window. It was dark and the weeds were high so I was unable to see what was fighting.

Since then the badger has not been seen, but each afternoon or early evening we get a visit from a pair of tanuki. I'm guessing it was they who fought the badger and won, though I am surprised. I would have thought the badger was stronger, but the tanuki are faster and there are two of them....

I'm guessing they are a mating pair as fall is the mating season. In English they are called racoon dogs. They look a little like racoons but are unrelated. They are related to dogs and foxes.

They are common to see, though its unusual to get to see them so close. They are the most common form of roadkill.