The Mountain Trail to Tairyuji Temple

 

After leaving Venus Bridge, I headed north further into the mountains towards Tairyuji Temple, 

Day 4 of my walk along the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage, and its the first time I have left the urban environment.

The Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage is a fairly modern one, being set up in the late 20th century, therefore there are no long established walking routes, although some individual temple, like Tairyuji, are loicated in the mountains and so have always had mountain path routes to reach them.

It is late December, 2017, and while the snow and really cold weather has yet to arrive, Autumn is over and the trees are bare of leaves.

One of the things this means is that the woodland is light .... I suspect in the summer it is dark and shady...

It seems to be a popular walking and jogging trail as I pass several people...

Shojo Ike, a fairly large pond along the trail.

The trail connects with a small mountain road and there is even a cafe-restaurant along the way.

Mountain paths to temples have many statues along the way....

The path brings me to the flight of steps leading up to the Niomon.

The previous post in this series on day of my walk along the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the Venus Bridge.

Mitakidera Temple 13 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage Part 2 Up Above

This is a continuation of a previous post on the lower parts of Mitakidera, a beautiful temple complex near Hiroshima City centre.

The top waterfall is behind the main hall, and then the water runs underneath the main hall and come out as a small purification waterfall.

So, of course there is a Fudo.

On the same level as the Hondo is the Mikigongendo, with a pair of large, wooden tengu  flanking the entrance. It is a branch of Miki Daigongen established by Kobo Daishi on Mount Misen on nearby Itsukushima Island in 806.

With a pair of Tengu as companions, Miki Daigongen is three "demon gods", Tsuichokishin, a trace of Dainichi, Jibikishin, a trace of Kokuzo, and Marakishin, a trace of Fudo Myoo. I believe that Mt. Misen and here are the only sites connected to this deity. It is said that Japan's first Prime Minister, Ito Hirobumi, was a devotee of Miki Daigongon.

The main hall as seen from the the Mikigongendo.

There are a lot more statues scattered around the grounds at this upper level.

Many of the statues in this part of the temple grounds appear to my eyes to be Indian in style

Some even look more Southeast Asian in style....

Inrerestingly, on my first visit to Mitakidera many years ago, I marvelled at the flowers in front of the many, many statues. I imagined how much work it must be to keep freash flowers on so many statues. A little later I noticed they were plastic.

To my untrained eye this looks Chinese or Thai...

The highest of the three waterfalls is Yumei no taki.

These are a kind of toba, a kind of memorial tablet usually placed on graves and tombs. I have not seen them purified in water like this before...

On the veranda of the Main Hall is a really interesting pair of statues. This first one has fangs like Fudo Myoo, one up, one down, and he is holding a Jaki, a kind of small demon. Usually it is the four Shitenno who are depicted holding down Jaki under their feet, but I have never seen any of the Shitenno with fangs and I don't remember seeing them holding the Jaki.

I wonder if this is a statue of one of the Mikidaigongen enshrined nearby. The one that is considered a trace of Fudo?

There are also a pair of Nio on the veranda too.

The other statue with them is also unlike anything seen before, with great spiky hair or head.

It is flinging a Jaki, again something I have not seen a Shitenno do, nor does it look like any Shitenno I have seen. Could this also be one of the Mikidaigongen? If anyone has a clue, please let me know.

The previous post, which included another 28 photos, focused on the lower part of the Mitakidera complex.

Sakagawa Shrine to Itoga Inari Shrine Over The Itoga Toge Pass

 

After leaving Yuasa I continued north on the Kumano Kodo Kiiji Trail, first up river and then into the mountains.

First stop was Sakagawa Shrine, site of the Sakagawa Oji.

The main kami enshrined here are Izanami, Susano, and Hayatama. 

Versions of the three kami of Kumano,...... not surprising

From here a small, narrow road that later becomes a track, then a trail, heads up towards Itoga Pass.

I am heading into "orange" country. While oranges are grown in many places in Japan, in the mountains in this area the crop dominates....

Beacuse so much of the natural forest has been cut down to make way for the orange orchards, there are more views over the surrounding area....

The path is not so steep

I believe that nowadays a few more people are walking this section of the Kumano Kodo, but back in 2016 when I walked it, I didn't pass a single other walker/pilgrim.

Orange farmers tend to work on very steep slopes, so the preferred method of carrying things is small, motorized monorails. Construction workers also use such things when working on steep slopes.

Itoga Pass, 190 meters above sea level, used to have a couple of teahouses servicing the multitudes of pilgrims who passed this way in the Edo Period.

The way down to the Arida River is steep.

This was the end of March, so the colours are not of approaching Autumn but the pink and red of cherry blossoms forming.....

I very much enjoyed this section of the Kumano Kodo..... I found the most popular section, the nakahechi, a little bit too over-touristed, somewhat pretentious, and too much of it covered in sugi tree farms.....

Coming into Itoga on the south bank of the Arida River, I spied Itoga Inari Shrine, so headed over to investigate. The previous post in this series on my walk along the oldest pilgrimage route in Japan, the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, was on the birthplace of soy sauce, Yuasa.