The White Fox of Yuda Onsen

Images and statues of a white fox appear all over the place in Yuda Onsen, a spa resort next to Yamaguchi City, even on the drain covers.

The reason is that local legend has it that the hot spring and its healing properties were discovered by a white fox.

A priest from a nearby temple saw an injured white fox bathing itself and from then there have been spas in the area.

This occurred in the Muromach period, about 800 years ago.

In 1707 the spas closed down as an eruption of Mt Fuji caused the springs to dry up, but they reopened 3 years later.

Since the onsen boom of the 1980's the number of ryokans and spas has increased dramatically, most of them leaning toward the expensive price range.

The waters have a reputation for healing rheumatism, neuralgia, and dermatitus.

Radio Controlled Pest Control

I was woken this morning by the whine of the village rice paddies being sprayed with insecticide. The area to be sprayed is not huge,.... I reckon a single person with a sprayer on his/her back could spray the paddies in a good long day, but why do that when expensive, hi-tech, labor-saving devices are available? Surely it costs much more to hire a team of 4 men with an obviously expensive piece of equipment than to pay 1 man a days labor?

There is an obsession in Japan with hi-tech toys that I still cannot quite grasp. Automatic doors, escalators, toilet seat covers that raise automatically when you enter the room, electronic corkscrews,... there are miniature diggers that look like oversize Tonka toys that people will rent when a pick and shovel could do the job at half the price.

They are developing robots to take care of the elderly.... surveys show that old people would prefer to be taken care of by Japanese robots rather than foreign care workers....... I understand the logic, though I disagree with it, that producing crap that is not needed, using up resources and producing pollution, is "good for the economy", and one of the first things I observed when I came to Japan was the blind worship of "the economy", but I still can't figure out why Japanese people have this need to play with the latest gadgets.

Korean Forge Shrine

Karakama Shrine (Korean Forge) is not an easy shrine to reach, First you have to find the way along narrow mountain lanes in the mountains north of Izumo Taisha. Once you find the old wooden torii it is then a climb up into the mountains.

 

Once you get up close to the shrine one further hurdle must be crossed.... to reach the shrine one must squeeze through a narrow crack between rocks.... and it is no exaggeration to say that overweight people will not get through.

 

Despite its remoteness, the guest book at the small shrine attests to its popularity. The shrine enshrines Susano, and clearly links him with Korea and the introduction of metallurgy,

 

The nearby river Karakawa (Korean River) gives its name to the local settlements, and further underscores the link between this part of Japan to Korea.

 

Between Karakama Shrine and Hinomisaki Shrine on the coast once stood Karakuni Shrine (Korean Country). It was moved to within the grounds of Hinomisaki during the Meiji Period. Hinomisaki Shrine itself is believed to have been built upon the site of a much older shrine to Isotake, the son of Susano who came with hime from Shiragi (Sila)

Sesshu and the Rat

Sesshu & The Rat

The artist and Zen monk who is known by the name of Sesshu is one of the greatest Japanese artists of all time. Born in Akahama (now part of Soja, Okayama Pref.) in 1420. The son of a samurai family, at the age of 10 he was packed off to the nearby Zen temple of Hofuku-Ji to train as a monk, and it was from this time that a famous story about him is set.

Apparently he was not a good novice, preferring to spend his time drawing rather than chanting the sutras, and one day as punishment for his misbehaviour he was tied to one of the pillars in the temple hall.

Later when a monk (or abbot) came to check on him he was startled by what appeared to be a rat on the floor in front of the bound Sesshu. On closer examination it turned out that the rat was a very life-like drawing done by Sesshu using his toe to draw in the dust of the floor with his tears.

His artistic talent being recognized he was encouraged to follow his heart and so became the great artist he is known as today.

There is another version of the story that says that the rat drawing was so life-like it actually became real and chewed through the ropes binding Sesshu and freed him.

The Most Beautiful View in Japan

Not according to me it isn't!

And not according to the Japanese.

It's the opinion of a diplomatic emissary from Korea who stayed at Fukizenji temple in Tomonoura in eastern Hiroshima. I-Pan-On stayed here in 1711 and he claimed it was the most beautiful view in Asia.

The temple and Tomonoura have made good use of his opinion in advertising the town though.

The views from Tomonoura are good I have to admit, and the centerpiece is the island of Bentenjima.

I really enjoyed Tomonoura, it was not too crowded with tourists like nearby Kurashiki, and has a nice feel to it. There are lots of Edo-period buildings in the narrow streets and alleys, and a high concentration of shrines and temples.

To get the best views it is worth climbing the hill to Io-Ji temple, claimed to have been founded by Kobo Daishi.

Shoki a la Peckinpah

I thought I would post a slightly longer video of Iwami kagura. A dance usually last 45 minutes, but for now I post the final sequence of Shoki by my local kagura group Tanijyugo Shachu.

In the synopsis for the dance it says that Shoki subdues the demon with his ring of miscanthus reed and then stabs him and kills him.

In this version I counted more than 20 stabs!!!

The hoop of miscanthus reed is still used today and is called a Chinowa. Passing through the ring is supposed to protect you from communicable diseases.

Omiya Shrine, Udo.

Just a couple of kilometers along the coast from Sagiura is another tiny fishing village with a shrine that was both mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki and listed in the Engi Shiki.

The village Omiya Shrine enshrines a male-female pair of kami, Shinatsuhiko and Shinatsuhime.

According to the ancient creation myths, after Izanagi and Izanami created the Japanese islands they were covered in mist, so Izanagi created Shinatsuhiko to blow the mist away, therefore the pair are known as gods of wind. In the village they are known as gods for safe travel by sea.

This whole section of coast is really quite wild and beautiful with just small fishing settlements in the occasional cove. reminds me of Cornwall in many ways. According to the Kunibiki myth this section of the peninsular was created by taking land from Shiragi, the Korean kingdom known as Sila in English

Hamada Childrens Museum of Art (inside)

Here in Shimane we have more museums and galleries per capita than any other Prefecture bar one. This may partially be due to the continued haemorrhaging of the population to the big cities, Shimane's population is decreasing faster than anywhere else, but it is most probably due to the massive influx of construction money from Tokyo. Shimane continues to vote LDP.

One person who has benefited from this influx of construction money is local-born architect Shin Takamatsu, the designer of the Hamada Childrens Museum of Art.

Architecture, modern or otherwise, lends itself easily to photography that leans towards the anstract, as does mine.

In the late afternoon and evening the sun creates fantastic patterns of light and shadow.

While all the big cities in Japan have their fair share of interesting modern architecture, its fun to explore the rural areas of Japan to find such things.

Singing Grasshopper

During the evenings usually the only light on in the house is a small lamp above my desk.

It tends to attract all kinds of bugs.

The other night this guy came and hung around for a while and didn't mind me poking a camera lens at him/her.

Its a Kirigirisu, a Singing Grasshopper.

During the Edo period they were sold in small bamboo cages as pets, something that still goes on today.

Ther are a lot of bugs in Japan, so its no surprise that they are still collected by boys.

Witchcraft in Kyoto,

Went to watch some kagura last night and was very excited to see a dance I had never seen before. The Kifune dance tells the story of a Kyoto wife whose husband has left her and she visits the Kifune (Kibune) shrine north of Kyoto to seek help getting revenge.

At the shrine she is given instructions as to how to transform into a demoness and then be able to curse her ex husband. Just to remind you, the female parts in Iwami Kagura are played by males. I thought this guy did an excellent job.

The dance is based on a Noh drama called Kanawa (the headress she is wearing with three lighted candles on it) and it is based on a tale in the Heike Monogatari about events in the eigth Century.

The next part of the dance concernes the afflicted husband who visits Japans most famous wizard Abe no Seimei for help ridding himself of the curse. This part of the dance is played as pantomime and one of the tools used by Abe no Seimei is a vuvuzela!!

This is now a rare dance as it was banned in early Meiji as the subject matter of witchery and magic was considered "superstitious" and primitive. Teaching that the Emperor was descended from the sun, on the other hand, was the basis of the new State Shinto.