Spring Reflections

I've been wandering the back country up in Izumo the last few weekends. A little later than usual but the paddies are flooded and those that are not yet planted are in the process of being...

....all very photogenic.....

Mostly it was old people out in the paddies, but I did see a few three generation families out working and even one 4 generation family....

I've been walking the Izumo 33 Kannon Temple pilgrimage, and while many people I encountered have been kind I do have to say that I am absolutely sick and tired of being stopped by the police and forced to show ID and then be interrogated, all because I don't look Japanese. But then what could one expect from a country where racial discrimination is perfectly legal.

Vacation 2011 day 15, last day of the trek

The last day of our trek in southern Morocco began with a steep climb up the ridge and over into the next valley. I headed off alone before the rest of the group. I preferred to climb slowly and not have to keep up with everyone. I also prefer hiking in the desert in solitude. Chatting is for meal times and evenings.

The next valley was narrow with a running river so was lined with villages all the way down.

We followed the river while the cook and his mobile kitchen took the road so he could get ahead and have lunch waiting for us at a shady spot downstream.

We actually got to see a rose. We were still in the Valley of the Roses but it would be a few more weeks until they would all be blooming.

For the last evening we were once again in a gite. From the roof it looked as if rain was coming.....

Time to say bye and thanks to the muleteers who had taken good care of us for the past 9 days.....

Japanese Pirate Ships

Looking, in some ways, like a viking ship, the draincover for Imabari on the northern tip of Ehime in Shikoku depicts some ships belonging to the Murakami Suigun, sometimes described as a "navy", but more often described as pirates who operated in the Inland Sea between Shikoku and Honshu. On the island of Oshima just off the coasst of Imabari and now a part of Imabari City is a big museum devoted to the Murakami Suigun.

On Innoshima, another island in the Inland Sea, now a part of Onomichi City, Hiroshima, is the Murakami Suigun Castle, a base for the "pirates". The ships have quite a different style.

The town of Miyakubo on Oshima has a depiction of one of the pirates on its draincover. Just like everybody in Japan and Japanese history he is happy and cute. No robbery, murder, pillage or rape for these pirates.

Kobe fashion Plaza

The futuristic-looking Kobe Fashion Plaza is located on Rokko Island, a man-made island connected to Kobe in Hyogo

The complex houses  the Kobe fashion Museum, Kobe Artists Museum, Orbis Hall (an auditorium), a shopping Mall, Atrium, and a hotel.

It opened in 1997 and was designed by Show Sekkei.

It is next to the Island Center station of the Rokkoliner.

Shikoku 88 Temple 10 Kirihataji

Approaching Kirihata-ji, temple number 10 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, the pagoda can be seen protruding from the forest on the hillside. The pagoda was built originally at Sumiyoshi Shrine in Osaka by the second Tokugawa Shogun,  Hidetada, in the early 17th Century but was dismantled and reassembled here in the early years of the Meiji period during the seperation of the buddhas and kami.

After climbing a narrow lane lined with establishments serving pilgrims the temple is then reached up 380 steps.

It belongs to the Shingon sect and the main deity is Senju Kannon, the Thousand-Armed Kannon

The name Kirihata means "Cut Cloth" and refers to the legend that has a young woman giving Kukai some cloth to make new robes. There are many versions of the legend, and the most detailed has the young woman being of noble birth. Kukai ordained the woman as a nun and so another name of the temple is Tokudozan, the Mountain of ordination.

From the main hall it is another climb to reach the squat, 2-storey pagoda, and from there one can see south across the Yoshino River to where the next temple is, about 10k away on foot.

Ceramic Torii

Torii, the entrance gates most commonly found at Shinto shrines, are usually made of stone or wood though concrete and steel have been used in the 20th Century. A few are made of bronze, and some even of plastic, but I have never before seen a full-size one made of ceramic like this one at Yuga Shrine, made of the distinctive local Bizenware.

The komaiun flanking the torii were also made of Bizenware, and are unusual in that they sit askew on one of their haunches. Don't remember seeing that before either. Bizenware is known for being very hard due to its high iron content and is unglazed with a distinctive reddish hue. Bizen is an area near the shrine in southern Okayama.

The shrine is part of the shrine-temple complex on Mount Yuga that includes Rendai-ji that I posted on yesterday. There were several other interesting and unusual sculptures within the grounds.

The Biggest Fudo Myo-O

My favorite of all the Buddhist deities in Japan is Fudo Myo-O, and so I had a very pleasant surprise a few days ago when I stumbled upon what is believed to be the biggest wooden  Fudo Myo-O statue in the world!

The sculpture, including the base and the surrounding flames is almost 8 meters tall. Fudo himself is exactly 366 centimeters,... one for each day of the year with an extra one to take you into the next year. It was completed and installed in 2006 at the mountain temple of Rendai-Ji in southern Okayama. The statue was carved by Kyoto sculptor Araki Keiun.

In front of the altar was a big wooden hand with a cord attached to it. The cord was made of five threads in the 5 sacred colors and it was connected to 5 colored ribbons.....

..... held in the left hand of Fudo. Never seen that before....

Rendai-Ji is part of a big shrine-temple complex on Mount Yuga. The site was once an important place of pilgrimage as pilgrims heading across the channel to Konpira-San would stop here first. After the Edo Period its popularity faded, though Konpira's didnt. The temple is now number 6 on the Chugoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

A Walk from Honshu to Shikoku Day 2 (morning)

I woke before the sun and headed off around the north coast of Ikuchijima and enjoyed the sunrise lighting up the surrounding islands. I got into the town of Setoda by 8 and my plan was to stop in at the Kosanji complex that opened at 9 so I sat on a bench and watched the town come to life around me. I had been to Kosanji before, but this was a different time of year, a different time of day, I had a new camera, and I was a few years older, so plenty of chances for new photos. earlier posts on Kosanji can be found here

On top of the hill at the sculpture garden known as The Heights of Eternal Hope for the Future, the brilliant white marble was dazzling in the bright sunlight.

After Setoda the coast road heads south to Sunset Beach, a really nice beach with an Onsen nearby that I had planned to stay at but as it was only lunchtime I decided to push on and try and get over to Omishima and then to Hakatajima.

 

Ikuchijima is home to the "Island Wide Art Museum" which is a series 17 sculptures placed in public places around the island. Near Sunset Beach there were three that I found, including this one, Calm Time-Red Form / Inclination, by Keiji Uematsu.

 

Ikuchijima is connected to Omishima by the Tatara Bridge,the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world when it was built.

Kannon-in, Tottori.

The Sanmon (main gate) of Kannon-in, a Tendai sect temple in Tottori City. Built originally in 1632 it was moved to its current location in 1639.

The temple was built for the Ikeda family who had been installed as Daimyo of the Tottori Domain.

The main deity is Kannon and supposedly the temple was given a statue of Kannon carved out of local rock by Gyoki in the 8th Century.

It is temple number 32 on the Chugoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Route.

The main reason to visit the temple, if you are not a pilgrim, is for the garden.....

Gosho Shrine

Gosho Shrine is located on a hillside not far from Kumadaniji in Awa City, Tokushima. It was originally located closer to the Yoshino River but a flood in 1699 caused it to be moved. Gosho means imperial palace and is named after a palace built in the area by ex-Emperor Tsuchimikado who is one of the two main kami enshrined here. the other is Susano. A strange combination.

Tsuchimikado was born in 1196, the first son of Emperor Gotoba. He ascended the throne in 1198 at the age of 3 (4 by the Japanese way of counting age) after his father abdicated. At the ripe old age of 16 Tsuchimikado abdicated in favor of his younger brother. The real power behind the throne was the retired Gotoba, but this was the time of the rise of the Kamakura Shogunate and in the Jokyu war of 1221 fought between Gotoba and the Hojo, regents of the shogunate, Gotoba was defeated and sent into exile on the Oki islands. Tsuchimikado was exiled to Shikoku, first in what is now Kochi, and then later here to Awa.

In 1227 Tsuchimikado built a palace somewhere near here and in 1231 he died at the age of 37. I have been unable to find out how he died, but I would guess that he was assassinated as it was not usual for emperors or ex-emperors to be enshrined unless they had died of political violence. Death under such circumstances would result in an "angry ghost" that would need placating. It was not until the modern period that most of the emperors who are now enshrined as kami became enshrined.

Ther were quite a few old paintings in the main hall of the shrine, and I love the way that the pigments have faded and allow the woodgrain to come to the fore........