Hachiman Shrine & Makio Shrine in Yasaka

 

Day 9 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage and during the morning I stop in at two noteworthy shrines.

Iwami is a remote region, and the area in the mountains now collectively grouped together as Yasaka Town is a remote part of that region. Though I have lived here for decades, this was an exploration for me...

The first shrine I reached was the Hachimangu in the area called Nakayasu after thebfamily that were installed in the area as local  administrators in the mid 14th century.

They served under various different lords until the mid 16th century when the Mori attacked and defeated them, then took over.

This Hachimangu was established as a branch of Usa Hachiman in the mid 15th century to protect the nearby castle. It became the tutelary shrine for ten villages in the area.

There are a pair of huge Sugi trees flanking the stairway, and a third up near the shrine buildings.

They are big enough to be protected and registered as Natural Monunments by the prefecture.

An older Tenmangu shrine was moved into the grounds in early Meiji.

With its Ryobu-style Torii, Makio Shrine, much further south, is quite picturesque. (top photo above)

Said to be founded in the early Heian Period, making it about a thousand years old, it was relocated to its current location in 1582.

 

Unusual is the combination of main kami, Izanagi, and Otoshi. Izanagi, well known as the male of the creator-kami pair with his sister/wife Izanami. Otoshi, one of Susano's sons, with association with rice harvest and Korean clans.

There is a kagura den, but it looks like it has not been used in a while....

The previous post was on the last temple I visited yesterday, and the place I stayed the night.

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Dark & Stormy Kuroshio Coast

 

December 2nd, 2011, and day 21 of my walk around Shikoku on the Ohenro Pilgrimage begins under a cloudy sky, though the rain of yesterday has abated.

Kuroshio is the name of a north Pacific current that passes along the Pacific Coast of Japan.

Here at the southern extreme of Shikoku, where the current passes, there is also a town called Kuroshio, where I will mostly be today.

As usual I tried to stop in at every shrine I passed, but this one was too far off the main road so gave it a miss.

On this section of coast the sea was much calmer than yesterday evening when I reached the coast.

Passing through Ida Port I did visit the next shrine.

It is a Tenmangu enshrining the ancient courtier, Sugawara Michizane.

Often used by students praying for exam success, Tenmangu shrines increased somewhat in the late 19th century as a preferred "national" shrine....

There was no signboard so have no info on the history.

Nearby was Kannonji, a very small temple.

There was a tsuyado here, free lodgings for walking pilgrims, and I had thought about staying here but it got dark too quickly yesterday so instead of chancing it I stayed in a henro hut.

Next up a small Ebisu shrine. As kami for fishermen, Ebisu is very common on the coast.

While it is not actually raining, the air is more than damp.

The way ahead looks like darker , windier weather....

It costs a lot to have old cars disposed of in Japan, which is why in the countryside you can often see abandoned cars slowly begining to decompose...... very slowly....

This small shrine is a Yaku Shrine..... no details....

The Sunahama Museum is a little free museum on the beach.

The skeleton of a Minke whale was impressive....

Across the Minato River....

And then across the bigger Fukigami River...

The previous post was yesterday's walk over the mountains to reach the Kuroshio Coast.

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Kairyuzan Toda Hachiman Shrine

 

Depicting doves, rabbits, and monkeys, the ceramic roof ornaments at Toda Hachimangu are fairly unusual, though I have seen some on the tile roofs of walls around houses in Tsunozu.

Located close to the sea among rice paddies, Toda Hachimangu has three toriis. The third being Ryobu style. The name Kairyuzan is  Shingon related, and with the Ryobu torii indicated a strong Buddhist connection.

On the path from the shrine to the torii on the beach is a small Inari shrine.

There are also secondary shrines to Kakinomoto Hitomaro, the legendary ancient poet who possibly died nearby. Toyokehime, Kotoshironushi, Otoshi, and the sea kami Wadatsumi, enshrined here before the shrine was converted to a Hachiman shrine in 899.

The shrine was completely destroyed by the tsunami of 1026, which also destroyed Kushirogahime shrine that I had just visited.

The tengai, the sacred ceiling below which kagura dances are performed, was composed of an unusual set of plants I had not seen before. Usually they are pine or sasaki.

As tutelary kami for samurai, Hachiman is often called a god of war. As such, samurai often donated their swords after success in battle. One sword was donated here in the late 16th century by a local samurai who had success in Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.

Incidentally, the dove is the messenger of Hachiman which may explain the decorations on the roof. Also it adds some confusion to the imported notion of doves being symbols of peace.

The version of Hachiman here is Ojin, Jingu, and all three Munakata kami.

The previous post in this series on day 33 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on Kushirogahime Shrine nearby.

if you would like to subscribe by email just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published and made public. I post new content almost everyday, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.