From Innoshima Island to Ikuchijima Island

 

I came down the west side of Mount Shirataki and reached the road running along the shoreline of Innoshima Island.

I then headed south to the bridge that would take me over to Ikuchi Island

I have covered the Ikuchi Bridge previously when I walked the Shimanami Kaido, so if you want any specs please check this link.

To get to the path for pedestrians and cycles to access the bridge meant passing under the bridge. Fortunately for pedestrians there was a short-cut so I didn't have to follow the very long and shallow-sloped cycle path.

An unusual little "park" made by someone local methinks.

Ikuchi Bridge only has one level so pedestrians are are in the open and can enjoy the views a bit better.

Once on Ikuchijima I headed around the north coast of the island, avoided the main attraction of the island, Kosanji, and headed towards Kojoiji Temple, my destination.

The last two photos in those post were not at a religious site, rather outside a stonemasons factory....

The previous post in this series on day 12 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the hundreds of statues atop Mount Shirataki.

Ichikan-kyo on Mount Shirataki

 

Mount Shirataki is a 227 meter high mountain in the north of Innoshima, one of a group of islands un the Seto Naikai, the Inland Sea between Hiroshima and Shikoku.

With outcroppings of bare rock, it was exactly the kind of place that yamabushi used to practise their austerities in what became known as Shugendo.

It also offered great views over the surrounding waters and channels between the islands and so the Murakami Clan, who used  Innoshaima as one of their bases, built a small Kannon Hall near the top and used it as a watchtower.

There are several small shrines and halls scattered around the summit.....

But the biggest remains the cluster of buildings around the Kannon-do.

Behind the Kannoin-do a path leads up to the observation tower on the very summit, and here are found about 700 statues, including the 500 Rakan I posted about previously.

As a nod to its Yamabushi history, there is a triad of Tengu relief carvings....

Almost all the statuary on the mountaintop is owed to one man, Denroku Kashiwara.

He was born on the island in 1781. He became relatively wealthy as a merchant,

At the age of 42 he is said to have attained enlightenment and practised zazen on the mountaintop.

With a disciple and stonemasons from Onomichi he began erecting statues in 1823 but seriously began a few years later.

He founded a new religion that was named Ichikan-kyo which is no longer active.

Ichikan-kyo combined Buddhism, Shinto, Confucianism, and Christianity, with Christianity itself being outlawed.

In 1828 he was "interrogated by domain authorities but released.

He died shortly afterwards, generally believed to have been poisoned by the authorities.

His disciples carried on and all the statues were completed in 1830.

I visited on my way to the next island to visit the next temple on the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, so came up the eastern side of the mountain,

I left down the western slope which is the main entrance and so passed through the Nio gate when leaving.

The previous post was on the 500 Rakan statues on the mountain, and the post before that was on the 360 degree views from the mountain.

Art of Hashikuraji Temple

 

Hashikuraji is a mountain temple in the mountains that border Tokushima and Kagawa on Shikoku.

It was the "inner temple" of Konpira-san, once a major pilgrimage destination in its own right, and since Meiji Konpira became a shrine.

While not all temples have komainu guardian statues, Kashikuraji has quite a few. It also has several shinto torii gates. The top photo is the older type of komainu, wooden and kept indoors.

There are also plenty of carvings adorning the buildings at Hashikuraji. In fact when I was there I noticed free worksheets for kids available at the temple that encouraged kids to explore and find all the examples of animals, including mythical ones, at the temple.

Hashikuraji was a major centre for Shugendo and yamabushi and so has a pair of big wooden Tengu masks.

As is fairly typical, there was a pair, one of the long-nosed Tengu, and one of the Karasu Tengu with beak;

The honzon of the temple is a Konpira Daigongen, though it is a secret buddha and the last four generations of head priest have not even seen it.

There are a few statues scattered around the rounds though.

One of the newer ones is a Bokefuji Kannon. prayed to for protection from dementia and Alzeimers, this is a new version of Kannon that is becoming very common. Typically the standing Kannon will have a small, elderly couple at its feet.

There is a large outdoor altar to Fudo Myoo, and in fact this was what I had come here for, while walking the Shikoku Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage.

The previous post was on the temple buildings and the temples history.

Inori no Sato Religious Roadside Attraction

 

Coming down from Unzen Hot Springs towards Obama on the coast of Tachibana Bay, the road is steep and without any settlements until just above the town.

Inori no Sato is sometimes described as a park, sometimes as a roadside rest area, but it looks like some kind of religious roadside attraction with a wide range of statues and altars, and yet is not a temple or shrine.

It is sometimes referred to as Unzen Daibutsu Inori no Sato because of the Buddha statue seen in photo 2, which was made by the same sculptor who created the Ushiku Great Buddha in Ibaraki.

That was a standing figure 120 meters tall, whereas the statue here is a seated figure only 3 meters high including the base.

There are several statues of Kannon, photos 3 & 7, and several Fudo Myo statues, photos 6 & 14.

Under a gazebo in the middle of the park is an impressive statue of a Dragon grasping a golden sphere, photo 5, with a smaller version, photo 8. This is a common symbol across East Asia. The Secven Lucky Gods, shichifukujin, also make an appearance, photo 4.

Various figures from the world of Yokai make an appearance, including a Kappa Pond, photo 9, and a giant red Tengu mask, photo 10.

No overview of Japanese popular religion would be complete without an Inari Shrine, photo 11, a small collection of monkey statues probably related to the Koshin cult, photo 13, and a statue of Shotoku Taishi, photo 12.

There seems to be an emphasis on praying for good luck, success, and other "this worldly benefits", known as genze riyaku in Japanese.

Not shown in these photos is a miniature Shikoku Pilgrimage with 88 small statues, and a pair of "sexual" statues based on Dosojin.

There is no entry fee, though offertory boxes stand in front of all of the statues, and no sect or religion is being pushed. The whole thing was funded by a local businessman, Mr Takujima.

It seems he is the chairman of a successful construction company and Inori no Sato is his attempt to contribute to the well-being and perhaps revitalization of the local area.

The previous post was on the Unzen Hells.