Fujishiro Toge... the Final Pass

 

The final leg of the day's walk along the Kiiji route of the Kumano Kodo from Yuasa to Kainan was over the Fujishirotoge Pass.

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable day, and one of my favorite sections of the numerous Kumano Kodo trails I had walked in the previous week or so....

After leaving Fukusho-ji temple and its glorious display of cherry blossoms, the route heads uphill and offers a view back down on Shimotsu.

Jizobu-ji temple is located at the foot of the steepest part of the trail over the pass. The current building dates to the early 16th century.

The trail now enters a bamboo forest.....

Not exactly sure what this is.... I think it is a rock that the local daimyo thought looked like a giant inkstone and so had a stonecarver "enhance" it....

The bamboo forest was delightful....

Not manicured like the famous bamboo forest in Arashiyama, but better for not being so....

After the pass Kainan comes into view.....

Quite an industrial port, ENEOS has an oil terminal here...

Kainan is the start of the large urban area that spreads out from Wakayama City...

The previous post was on Fukushoji Temple.....

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Giant Juniper Tree & Temples 51, 52, & 54 on Shodoshima

 

This huge Juniper tree is well deserving of its ranking as a National Natural Monument. It is in the grounds of Hoshoin Temple, number 54 on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage.

It is almost 17 meters tall, with a circumference of more than 20 meters at the base and 17 meters at chest height. It is believed to be about 1600 years old and legend has that it was planted by Emperor Ojin. Using the mythical dates of the Kojiki and Nihongi as historical dates, which many continue to do, made the tree 2,000 years old and therefore the oldest in the world, but no reliable sources do that anymore.

There are two other "temples" of the pilgrimage within the grounds of Hoshoin.

The one closest to the Juniper tree is number 52, officially called Former Hachiman Shrine. It was moved here in 1868 with the separation of Buddhas and Kami, from the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine to the south.

Tomioka Hachiman is a huge hilltop shrine, so what I suspect ths small hall enshrines is what was, before 1868, the goshintai of the shrine. In this case a statue of Amida.

Many shrines had Buddhist statues as shintai, and Hachiman shrines in particular have always been quite Buddhist. Some years ago I was told by a fervent Shintoist that Hachiman was not truly shinto, but Buddhist.

The large temple is Hoshoin, number 54.

It is a Koyasan Shingon sect temple, and the honzon is a Jizo.

The third pilgrimage temple at the site is number 51, Hodobo.

Hodobo was the main temple at Tomioka Hachiman, so it was destroyed in 1868 and the honzon, an 11-faced Kannon, was moved here.

The previous post in this series on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage was on the two previous temples, 49 & 50.

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Komyoji Temple 26 Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Komyoji is a small temple downstream from Ankokuji, and almost adjacent to Ikan Shrine.

It is a Shingon temple, and the honzon is an Amida triad. Other than that, I can find no info on its history.

It is known for having a collection of roof tiles and roof ornaments from the old Kokubunji which no longer exists, although I didn't see them.

Not sure what the seashells were about. Also, very unusual to see a kagura mask in a temple. This one looks a lot like Predator, but the mask is much older than the movie...

The previous post was on Ankokuji, temple 25 nearby.

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Ankokuji Temple 25 Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Ankokuji is not far from Tadaji, temple 24, and even closer to Komyoji, temple 26, and is located in Kamiko, a little upstream from Shimoko.

I was surprised by how substantial a temple it was, and then I learned that it has the tombs of several generations of the Masuda Clan, who ruled the area. They were descendants of the Fujiwara governor Kunikane, who changed their names. They later moved from this area, where the national government offices were located, to the area where the city of Masuda is now located.

It was originally called Fukuenji and was said to have been founded in the early 8th century. It fell into disrepair but was revived in the early 12th century as a Tendai Temple and flourished under the patronage of the governor Fujiwara no Kunikane.

It again fell into disrepair after a big fire but was revived as a Rinzai Zen temple in the early 14th century by the wife of Masuda Kanenaga to pray for her deceased father.

In 1348 the temple was chosen to be the Ankoku Temple for Iwami Province.

In 741, the emperor ordered the building of a Buddhist monastery called Kokubunji in each province. It was an attempt to impose central control over the country. These Kokubunji were usually built at the site of the government offices of each province. The Iwami Kokubunji and government offices were located in this area of Shimoko.

In 1348 Ashikaga made Ankoku Temples in each province of the country for similar reasons. Whereas the traditional Buddhist sects were dominated by the Imperial court and their related families, when the warriors took over the country they usually chose Zen temples as they were new sects not yet under the control of the old guard.

There is a fine pair of ceramic komainu.

The hillside behind the main hall is planted with azalea bushes.....

Mu guess is that the red shrine in the pond is a Benzaiten shrine...

There is also a small karesansui garden in the front...

Shachi and other roof ornaments from earlier versions of the temple....

The previous post was on the interior sights of nearby Tada-ji Temple.

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