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.

Fukuoka City Museum

The Fukuoka City Museum is located in the Momochi district, an area of land reclaimed from the sea in western Fukuoka City.

It was opened in 1990 and was designed by the AXS Satow Company.

The museum has permanent displays that showcase the history and culture of the region as well as changing special exhibitions.

Probably the most famous object on display is the gold seal given by the Chinese Emperor to the "King of Na"

The exterior of the building is clad in mirrored glass, which makes for interesting photography.

Fukuoka has a lot of interesting and innovative modern architecture, so I will be posting a lot from there for a while.

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.