Maruyama Inari Shrine

Located on a hilltop adjacent to Oasahiko Shrine in Naruto, Tokushima, Maruyama Inari is a massha of that shrine.

To get to it you pass the German Bridge, so named as it was built by prisoners of war during the First World War. Most of the prisoners were German, though there were also Austrian and Hungarian prisoners at the nearby POW camp.

Fairly typical of Inari shrines, the path leading up to it is flanked by red banners...

... and of course a "tunnel" of vermillion torii....

Fukuoka

The design of Fukuokas manhole cover is modern and abstract. It is meant to convey the dynamism of Fukuoka. The design incorporates buildings, birds, and a yacht.

It was the winning design of over 700 submitted for a competition.

Fukuoka is actually my favorite city in Japan. It feels quite different from all the others. A little more open and cosmopolitan.

It has lots of interesting architecture as well as history that goes back much further than many places in Japan due to its connection with the mainland of Asia....

Gokurakuji Temple 2 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage

The second temple on the pilgrimage route is only a short walk from the first. Gokurakuji translates as Pure Land or Paradise temple and like most it belongs to the Shingon sect.

Like many of the 88 temples, the legend says it was built by Gyogi in the eighth century, but there is no historical evidence that Gyogi ever visited Shikoku, and historical evidence suggest the temple was established in the thirteenth Century.

The main deity is Amida Nyorai and the statue was reputedly carved by Kobo Daishi, though again experts date it later in the Heian Period. According to the legend such a bright light emanated from the statue that it interfered with fishing in Naruto bay so the fishermen built an artificial hill to block the light.

A story from the Meiji period tells of an Osaka woman who after suffering several miscarriages undertook the pilgrimage travelling counter-clockwise and when she reached this temple successfully gave birth. The temple is now visited by expectant women to pray for safe childbirth.

The giant cedar tree in the grounds is reputedly 1,200 years old and is said to have been planted by Kobo daishi. Also of note are the giant carvings of the Buddhas footprints.

The main buildings are at the top of a flight of steps, but the lower level has plenty of garden landscaping and statuary.

disturbed at breakfast

Walking down Route 55 along the SE coast of Shikoku early one morning I disturbed a troop of monkeys in the trees along the roadside.

I guess there was about 30 in total. I stood still for a minute and gradually they reappeared and carried on with their breakfast.

Interesting stuff on the WWW

Here is a smattering of interesting sites and blogs Ive come across recently

Walking Through Japan is a blog being written by I believe a Swiss gentleman who is partway along a walk from the northern tip of Hokkaido down to the southern tip of Kyushu. The blog is in English but I think there is also a german and a japanese version.

Kyoto Gardens , not surprisingly, is about temple gardens in Kyoto. Whats nice about it is that one can "walk" through and around the gardens

Shimane Mask maker is a recent article from the Japan Times about yours truly....

Ex-SKF is a great site for anyone wanting to keep up with the news (and disinformation) about the ongoing nuclear crisis. The author is Japanese and he translates all the Japanese news articles as well as tweets and blogs from workers at the nuclear plant. Most importantly he "connects the dots" between the scattered bits of information coming out as well as offering his readings of the meaning......

Andante Photography is an Osaka based Japanese photographer. Simply good photos.

Jenna Pollard is a young woman over here for a year teaching English in local schools so her blog does cover Iwami and surrounding areas.

Iwami Travel Guide is written by students at the University in Hamada.

Enjoy

Manidera

Manidera is a mountain temple on Maniyama not far from Tottori City and the Tottori sand dunes.

Established on the top of the mountain in 834, it was later rebuilt a little lower.

 

After parking the car there is still a lot of steps to climb. The temple is one of 4 "special" temples of the Chugoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, though it is not numbered. So really there are 37.

 

Hideyoshi destroyed the temple in the late 16th Century as part of his campaign against the local Mori Clan. Later when Tottori was established as a castle town the Daimyo rebuilt Manidera as the Kimon of the castle to protect the castle from the spiritually dangerous NE direction.

 

The Temple belongs to the Tendai sect, and the main enshrined deities are Senju Kannon, the thousand-armed Kannon, and Taishakuten, originally a Hindu deity that once incorporated into Buddhism is known as the commander of the Shitenno, the four heavenly kings.

 

The water flowing around the base of the statue of Kannon in the courtyard is known as healing water and people come from far and wide for it.

Whereas women were forbidden from entering many temples, ie Enryakuji on Mt Hie or Koyasan, women were allowed here so was particularly popular.

 

Partway u the stairway to the temple you pass through an impressive Niomon gate with guardian statues.

Nishinomiya Shrine

Nishinomiya Shrine is just outside the grounds of the Oasahiko Shrine near Bando in Tokushima, and is a massha of that shrine.

The kami enshrined is Amaterasu, and my guess is this shrine was created in the Meiji era as that is when many shrines to Amaterasu were created as part of State Shinto.

Amaterasu is often referred to as the highest of the kami, but that is more an ideological viewpoint rather than historical fact.

The two small komainu were very unusual....

Nio of Kunisaki

If you have been following my posts on the Kunisaki Peninsular in northern Kyushu then you will probably have realized by now that stone is predominant in the sacred art. Nio, the temple guardians, are almost always wooden, but it should not be surprising that in Kunisaki they are carved in stone.

Something else unusual is that whereas in the rest of Japan the Nio were removed from shrines during Shinbutsu Bunri, the seperation of Buddhas and Kamis, and were usually replaced with zuijin, but in Kunisaki they still remain at shrines as well as temples. These first two are at Kibe Shrine on the north coast.

These next couple are at Iwato-Ji, to my mind the most atmospheric of the many mountain temples dotted over the slopes of the conical peninsular. Notice the torii. The distinction between Buddhism and "Shinto" is blurred here, as it was everywhere in the pre-modern days.

These last two Nio were at the entrance to Monjusen-Ji, a little higher up in the mountains.

Matsue City

The design on the main manhole design in Matsue City is a view of Shiomi Nawate Street which runs along the moat to the north of Matsue Castle.

This was one of the areas around the castle where samurai lived, and it is now one of the most popular tourist sites in the city.

There are some shops and a restaurant or two....

And an old samurai house, complete with mannequins, that is open to the public...

Lafcadio Hearns former residence is also here and open to the public, as well as a small museum on him.

Ryozenji Temple 1 of the Shikoku Pilgrimage

Located in Naruto, not far from Tokushima City, Ryozenji is now classified as temple 1 on the pilgrimage route because it is located closest to the port where pilgrims from Kyoto/Osaka would arrive on Shikoku.

The name translates as Vulture Peak Temple, and according to the legend it was founded by the famous priest Gyogi in the 8th Century and visited by Kukai in the 9th Century.

Like most of the pilgrimage temples it belongs to the Shingon Sect. The main deity worshipped here is Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha.

The temple buildings date from 1964, and like many temples in eastern Shikoku is was destroyed by the warlord Chosokabe Motochika in the 16th Century and was burned down again in the late 19th Century.

I think most pilgrims start from here, and also quite a few return at the end of their pilgrimage to "close the circle". Also it is close enough to Tokushima that many people do a sample of the pilgrimage by walking the first half a dozen.

The temple has all the products and supplies you would need to do the pilgrimage.

The Niomon gate and the pagoda are particularly delightful. Like many of the temples there are dozens and dozens of statues of many Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and other deities.....