Fukuyama Castle

 

Fukuyama Castle Park is, in my opinion, one of the under-rated tourist spots in western Japan.

Not so much for the castle itself, although it it is somewhat impressive, but rather for the number of interesting sites within the castle grounds, like a park, a garden, two big museums of art and of history, and a multitude of shrines.

All within a few minutes walk of a major railway station....

The castle itself was built between 1619 and 1622 after the daimyo of the area, Mizuno Katsunari deemed that the current castle, Kannabe castle, was unsuitable.

Katsunari was given support by the Shogunate so that the castle would be large and strong enough to impress and hopefully intimidate the Tozama daimyo that were in the surrounding domains

Parts of the castle including the main gate were brought from the dismantled Fushimi Castle.

The southern part of the castle and its moats have been lost to city development, including the shiunkansen station, but the northern part still remains and just outside of the grounds are numerous large temples and shrines.

The 5-storey keep was one of the few that were not destroyed in the early Meiji years when most castles in Japan were dismantled.

However, it was destroyed by air raids of WWII. The current keep was built in 1966.

Since I visited the northern side of the keep has had black iron plates attached to replicate its original appearance.

It originally was quite an intimidating castle, with 10 gates and 23 yagura.

The only structures remaining from the original are the Fushimi Yagura and Sujigane Gate, both of which are Important Cultural Properties.

In 1710 the domain passed to the Abe Clan who held it until the dissolution of the domains in the first years of the Meiji Period.

The penultimate Abe daimyo was Abe Masahiro who as a senior minister in the government signed the treaty with Commodore Perry.

The park around the castle is, like so many castle parks in Japan, planted with lots of cherry trees, and so is a popular viewing spot.

The reconstructed keep is home to the castle museum and has an entry fee as does the big art museum and history museum in the park, but the park itself is free to enter.

The previous post in this series on my walk on day 9 of the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the Tamashima Historic Preservation District.

Shuzenji Temple 25 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Starting day 2 of our walk along the Sasaguri Pilgrimage and it is already promising to be filled with hundreds of statues of Fudo Myoo, just like the first day yesterday.

Even before reaching Shuzenji, temple 25, there was a strange roadside "chapel" that had a couple of Fudo statues ( photos 2 & 3 )

Shuzenji was a small, unmanned temple up the narrow road leading up the mountain to Ichinotaki Temple.

Shuzenji is a Shingon temple and was relocated to this spot in 1960.

The honzon is a One Vow Jizo that does not grant multiple wishes, rather just your one most important wish. Photo 13.

It is said the statue came from Shinshoji, the 25th temple on Shikoku.

Since I visited the statue, which had become dark from numerous goma fires, has been restored and is now very colourful.

There are numerous smaller, "folk" stone statues of Fudo, as well as a larger tableau with two attendants, shown below.

The temple also has a Toyokawa Inari Shrine.

Just about every single small "temple" on this pilgrimage so far has had dozens of statues on display, an inordinate amount of them being Fudo's....

The previous post was on the first stop of the day, Yamate Kannon-do, temple 52,  just a few hundred meters down the road.

Tamashima Historic Preservation District

 

Tamashima is an area in the western part of Kurashiki City in Okayama that gets virtually no tourists, but yet is intriguing and with some sights well worth a visit. One of the delights of walking a pilgrimage is encountering surprises, the unexpected. Of course I realize that kind of goes against the grain nowadays when everything is organized and planned with the help of smartphones to avoid the unknown...... but Tamashima was completely unexpected and I only discovered it by walking through on my way to Entsuji Temple.

Three sections of the town are registered as a Preservation District by the prefecture, but not as the Groups of Traditional Buildings like the nearby Bikan District.

In the late 17th century Tamashima became a major port for the Bitchu Matsuyama domain and connected to the castle town via the Takahashi River.

Originally some small islands, the local lord built embankments and gradually reclaimed land until they became part of the mainland.

However, the boom times didn't last forever, and after a few generations the ports fortunes began to decline due to several factors.

Some trade continued, and the area still has some largish merchant properties and warehouses as well as sake breweries etc.

Unlike the nearby Bikan District, you will not find cafes, gift shops, or other tourist infrastructure, rather a more authentic glimpse of a former prosperity. However, the Yunoki Residence is open to the public and with free entry and is well worth a visit.

The area has been included in the Japan Heritage site connected to the kitamaebune and other Inland Sea maritime trade routes.

The previous post was on Entsuji Temple, a delightful, thatched Zen temple with a garden on a hillside overlooking Tamashima. Other sites of interest in the area are the Former Yunoki Residence, a wealthy merchant property with gardens, and Haguro Shrine, with remarkable decorations.

Ninomiya Shrine Kobe

 

Ninomiya Shrine is a small shrine in the heart of Kobe, not too far from Sannomiya Station. Ninomiya and Sannomiya means "Second Shrine" and "Third Shrine", and was a ranking system used in ancient Japan that has held over into modern times. The area around such shrines often were named after them.

According to the shrine legend, Empress Jingu stopped here on her way to what is now Ikuta Shrine, the most important shrine in the area and also said to have been founded by the mythical Empress.

Just inside the grounds is a small shrine, Mukuhakuryusha. It is a modern shrine being founded in 1955 and enshrines a white snake, a common motif in dreams and carrier of oracles from the kami.

There is also a small Inari Shrine. While Inari is well known as a kami of rice, it is also really popular among businesses, but not so well known is that Inari was the tutelary deity of women working in the "pleasure quarters". Until the middle of the twentieth century the area around the shrine was one of the many red light districts of Kobe.

The main building eshnrines Amenoohihomimi, the first of the 5 male kami created when Susanoo spat out after chewing Amaterasu's jewels, and the supposed direct ancestor of the imperial lineage. The shrine is known locally as Masakatsusan which come from a different reading of the kamis name, in that form known for success and victory.

The main building is quite new and I suspect may have been built after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 95. One thing I dislike is the modern chigi on the roof, first photo. Chigi were originally the cross pieces that helped hold down thatched roofs but became architectural decorative details of shrines. When the end pieces were cut horizontally it indicated that the primary kami of the shrine was female, and when cut vertically the shrine was for a male kami. The type of chigi here is somewhat curved and has a diagonal cut.

I visited at the end of my third day walking the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage. The previous post was on nearby Ikuta Shrine.