A Walk to Suga. Part 3

This is the third and final part of a walk I took last May up in Izumo. The previous 2 posts can be found in the links below this post.

Walking along any road, in a city, in the country, or up in the mountains, you can't go far without passing a buddhist altar by the side of the road. Sometimes there is a single statue, usually Jizo, and sometimes several. Even in the most remote locations one can see signs of recent offerings.

May is a wonderful time to go walking in the countryside. The paddies have been filled and the reflections make for wonderful mirrored scenes.

This day there were a lot of snakes on the roads..... the filled paddies bring out the frogs, and the frogs bring out the snakes.

I passed several small shrines to Kojin, the land-god represented as a snake.

Also passed a nice shrine with many secondary shrines in the grounds. Unusually all the secondary shrines had signboards

Finally I arrived in the village of Suga, and here was my destination, Suga Shrine.

It was here, according to legend, that Susano and Kushinada settled after the defeat of Yamata no Orochi. It was here also that Susano composed what is considered the first Tanka.....

Many clouds rise up
clouds appear to form a fence
holding this couple;
They form layers of a fence
Oh, the layers of that fence.

Because of its out of the way location Suga Shrine does not receive so many visitors, but enough that a Miko is on duty most days.

Like many shrines there are a pair of giant cedar trees straddling the entrance.

I carry on down the road towards Daito. I have a sleeping bag with me, but I see that there will be a bus in a few minutes that will take me back into Matsue in time to catch a train home, so I decide to leave Daito to another day.

I walked about 25k in 7 hours and visited 12 shrines......... another good day...

Otoshi Shrine, Inome

The Otoshi Shrine in Inome, a fishing village on the coast directly north of Izumo Taisha, is unusual in that it has a double honden. Double hondens will often enshrine a male-female pair of kami, but in this case both hondens enshrine the same kami, Otoshi. One is called upper shrine and the other lower shrine, so I am guessing that originally they were seperate shrines.

Otoshi is a son of Susano and is associated, like his brother Ukanomitama, with grains.

Like his father, and many of the older kami, Otoshi had a multitude of "wives" and produced an inordinate number of offspring. Many of Otoshi's offspring are kami that have strong associations with immigrant groups.

Kamakiri. Japanese praying mantis

The most common name in Japan for the praying mantis is "kamakiri" which means "sickle cut" referring to its front legs that look to the Japanese more like someone cutting weeds than praying. Like the names for many animals in Japan, there is a multitude of regional variations.

 

I often find them inside the house, and we have lots in the garden where they help keep down the bugs as they are carnivorous. The spikes on their front legs are used for catching prey.

Unusual among insects, the kamakiri can rotate its head 180 degrees....

If you liked this then have a look at my post on Mukade, the Giant Japanese Centipede

Fukuoka City Museum (inside)

The Fukuoka City Museum has a large hall with galleries running off either side.

Designed by the AXS Satow company it is located in the Momochihama District.

It is open from 9:30 to 5:30 and entrance for adults is a mere 200yen.

Byakko matsuri

The Byakko Matsuri takes place during the first weekend of April in Yuda Onsen, Yamaguchi.

Children dressed as white foxes parade through the streets carrying torches.

The matsuri is in honour of the sacred white fox that discovered the local hot spring.

Tarumi Shrine

Tarumi Shrine is a fairly standard village shrine located in Kawashima, the fishing village at the base of the mountains below Gakuen-Ji.

I once spent a night onboard a small yacht in Hawashima harbor during a typhoon.... but thats another story.

Izumo-style komainu are recognizable by their stance,... with their butts in the air.

The main kami of the shrine is Tagitsuhime, one of the 3 Munakata Sisters. Daughters of Susano, they were protective deities of the sea journey between North Kyushu and the Korean Peninsular, and so have associations with protection at sea.

I have visited the head shrine of Tagitsuhime, on the small island of Oshima just off the coast at Munakata.

her name seems to be derived from "rough water"

There is a secondary shrine to Inari, and a small Aragami shrine.

More Gakuen-Ji

Gakuen-Ji is among the oldest buddhist temples in Japan.

According to the story it is connected to Empress Suiko who ruled from 592CE to 628CE.

Another emperor linked to Gakuen-Ji is Emperor G0-Daigo who stayed at the temple after his escape from exile on the Oki Islands.

Probably the most famous person connected to the temple is the legendary warrior-monk Benkei. Every year at the end of October the temple holds a Benkei Matsuri complete with many people dressed as Benkei to commemorate his carrying a bell 100 kilometers from Mt Daisen to Gakuen-Ji. Until recently the festival included a walk from Daisen, but that has been discontinued.

While the legend of the temples founding is linked to a crocodile, some historians suggest that this is to do with the legendary figure Wani (crocodile) who brought chinese writing and Confuscianism from the mainland.

The crocodile of Gakuen-Ji as well as the crocodiles in the Inaba Rabbit story suggest connections between this part of Japan and the introduction of foreign knowlege.

There is no public transport to Gakuen-Ji, so to get there involves an expensive taxi ride from Hirata, or a walk over the mountains from Izumo Taisha if you dont have your own transport.

Ive always said this was my favorite temple, but I just got back from visiting a couple of mountain temples in Izumo, Mine-Ji and Kezo-Ji, both very, very, old, both remote, and both previously sites of Shugendo training, so........

Gakuen-Ji

My favorite temple, Gakuenji, like most larger temples is guarded by a pair of Nio statues.

Once the largest temple in the province of Izumo, and during medieval times a massive complex of building scattered over the area, Gakuenji is now very much off the beaten track and rarely visited outside of the maple-viewing season at the end of November.

Most of the buildings have long since disappeared, though a huge thatch-roofed nunnery was only demolished a couple of years ago. Not sure what this building is, but it is well on the way to becoming a haikyo.

The treasure house, a modern concrete structure, is well secured, though it is a case of "after the horse has bolted". The temple is so remote and rarely visited that a couple of years ago persons unknown drove in with a van, jimmied open the treasure house door and drove off with a priceless statue.

Gakuenji is one of the temples on the Chugoku 33 temple kannon pilgrimage as well as the Izumo 33 temple Kannon pilgrimage. It is also located on the Chugoku Nature Trail.

The name Gakuenji means "crocodile pool" and refers to the pool at the base of the waterfall behind which is built a small temple. Legend has it that Benkei stayed at Gakuenji for a long time and performed ablutions under the falls.

Legend says that the founder of Gakuenji, the priest Chishun Shonin, accidentally dropped something into the pool and a crocodile popped up and returned it to him.

A walk to Suga part2

This is a continuation of a previous post

Lower Imbe is a small hillside village that is cut off from the main road (Route 24) by a small resevoir created on the Imbe River. Here I found one of the things I am always on the look out for, a sacred grove of trees with a Kojin shrine. You can see the rope snake wrapped around the tree in the back.
These shrines are never marked on maps as they are "folk" shrines, and there are hundreds of them but you have to go looking for them. I imagine this sacred grove and shrine has been here since the village was first settled.

Carrying on up the valley I stick to the side road that runs along the hillside above the main road. The road follows the ins and outs of the hills so mean longer to walk, but the sound of rustling bamboo and the occasional farm machine is preferable to the buzz of traffic.

In the village of Imbe is the main shrine for the area. At the top of a long flight of steps.

In the Heian period 22 local shrines were gathered together here, and then again in the Meiji period more local shrines were transplanted here making a large complex.

I chatted with a young man carrying his daughter. I noticed he was carrying a flute so I asked if he played kagura. he said no, but that he played in the shrine as he was the priest. Priests, like policemen, seem to be getting younger and younger :)

The valley narrows and the road steepens as it gets closer to the pass. No more settlements. only an occasional hillside farm.

At the pass there was a small folk altar in the weeds at the side of the road. The beckoning cat is not a religious symbol, but "folk" practises make use of anything. The bottle of sake left as offering and the gohei mark it as a shrine.

Over the pass and I can now look over the eastern part of the Hi River watershed. This is Okuizumo, Inner Izumo, and is home to all the legends concerning Susano and the 8-headed serpent Yamata No Orochi.........

I am pleased that my way is now downhill.......

Matarajin Shrine

Matarajin Shrine is located next to the main hall in Gakuen-Ji Temple, though the shrine originally stood behind Izumo Taisha.

It was dismantled and carried up into the mountains probably in the 16th Century.

Matarajin ( or Madarajin or Madarashin) was brought back from China in the 9th Century by the Tendai monk Ennin as a protector of the Amida Sutra, and so has strong links with Tendai. Gakuen-Ji is a Tendai temple.

Attached to the front of the shrine is a buddhist building that houses 2 statues. The building is opened once every 33 years.

Some old statues of Matarajin have 3 heads, Dakiniten, Shoten, and Benzaiten.

Dakiniten is one of the constituent influences on the kami Inari, and next to Matarjin Shrien is a small Inari shrine.