From Kirobara to Onbara along the Gonokawa

 

After visiting the huge stump of what used to be a sacred tree I carried on upstream on the south/east bank of the Gonokawa River.

So far, on the third day of my walk upriver, more people seem to live on the opposite bank.... something I believe holds true at least as far as Miyoshi.

At some point I cross the border from Kawamoto Town into Misato City, not really a city but a collection of villages and small towns collected together administratively...

Misato has a total of 14 bridges, both rail and road, that cross the Gonokawa. That number may now be reduced as the rail bridges get dismantled since the line closure...

The first of these bridges ( or the last if you are coming downstream) is the Minato Bridge.

As with everywhere in Japan, small Buddhist altars can be found by the roadside.

Then it was Take Station, the next station on the former Sanko Line. Not dismantled and demolished like some on the line....

In England it would be called a Halt rather than a station as there were no buildings and never had any staff.

Of course Take means bamboo....

Up ahead, Mount Sanbe, the active volcano that is 1,126 meters high, and the highest point in Iwami. The river heads towards it for a bit more, todays destination, and then does a 180 turn and heads away from it.

There is not much else to see until the next settlement, Onbara.

It is kind of divided by a hill into two parts....

I chose to walk through the village rather than stay on the riverbank...

The last set of photos are just shots of things that attracted my eye before reaching the village shrine.

The previous post in this series documenting the third day of my walk up the Gonokawa River to  its source was on the sacred tree and shrine in Kirobara.

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Chogen, the Saba River, & the Rebuilding of Todaiji Temple

 

Chogen was a Buddhist monk in the 12th century who spent time in China not just studying Buddhism but also architecture and civil engineering.

He was given the task of overseeing the reconstruction of the great Todaiji temple in Nara which had been burned down during the Taira no Shigehira Rebellion in 1180.

The district of Tokuji in the mountains of what is now southern Yamaguchi, belonged to Todaiji Temple and so at the age of 66 Chogen visited the area to find lumber for the reconstruction.

The Todaiji that he was to rebuild was even bigger than the one standing today which was the biggest wooden building in the world until fairly recently.

The lumber to build an even bigger Todaiji needed to include a lot of massive trees, which apparently were in short supply in the Kinki area.... no doubt because of all the temples and palaces built there...

One tree that Chogen is said to have harvested from around here was one 30 meters tall with a diameter of more than 1.5 meters.

Getting lumber of this size to Nara involved first getting it down the Saba River to the coast, about 25 kilometers.

About 70 labourers were involved, with huge ropes made of wisteria vine. In places the river was too shallow so Chogen created channels lined with stones to ease passage.

Stone baths used by the workers are found along the river banks. Also trees were planted on the banks to serve as mile-markers...

I reached the Saba River where the Shimaji flows into it, right where the monument to Chogen in the top two photos is.

I walked downstream a few kilometers before crossing and heading west along Route 376, which closely shadowed the Chugoku Expressway.

The previous post in this series on day 22 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on the nearby Kumano Shrine.

I have no idea what this building was but it seemed to be in the grounds of a shrine I visited next.

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Zuiganji Temple Garden

 

Zioganji is a Rinzai Zen temple in Tokushima City on Shikoku.

It was founded in 1614 by Hachisuka Shigenobu, the first lord of the domain.

I have posted earlier on a visit during the Autumn colours time....

The garden at the temple, dating to the early Edo Period, not long after the founding of the temple, is quite famous.

However in recent years it has often been closed, and photos of it are hard to find....

It is built at the base of Mount Bizan and is a stroll-type pond garden..

Compared to most Japanese gardens it has a wilder feel, as most of the greenery is not heavily pruned and trimmed...

Within the garden is a vermillion, three-storey pagoda, seen later in the post.

It also features two teahouses, Shiwatei and Kishoken, which are visible in photos towards the end of this post.

I found the garden intriguing and it felt more like exploring...

There is a famous spring in the garden but I didn't notice it....

I also didn't notice the Kirishitan Toro, the stone lantern base with carving of Mary disguised on it.

I would think the garden is excellent in the Autumn, though it was closed when I visited at that season..

The previous post in this series on Tokushima was on the garden at the castle ruins.

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Tokujihori Kumano Shrine

 

The mist has long since all burned off as I drop down into the Shimaji River valley and come into the biggest settlement since leaving Kanyoji Temple the previous afternoon.

There seems to be quite a few Kumano shrines in this area...

The main kami are listed as Izanagi, Izanami, Hayatamano, and Tagirihime.

The tin covers a thatched roof....

Not much else to report... other than the remains of some old wooden zuijin.....

The previous post was on the early morning walk I took to get here....

if you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the most recent posts.