Kitakata Hachimangu

 

I don't think I have ever seen an arrangement of three torii like this before.

Kitakata Hachimangu is located in Ajisu, Yamaguchi,  on the old Imperial Highway, the  Sanyo-do.

It is said to have been founded in 751, which is around the time Usa Hachiman spread from Kyushu due to its part in the building of the great Todaiji Temple in Nara.

Later, in 1233 the shrine was split into two with a north and a south. In 1255 the two shrines were moved to their respective current locations.

In 1408 the buildings were destroyed and rebuilt except for the tower gate.

It was rebuilt in 1571 under the rule of the Mori Clan.

Once again the buildings were heavily damaged and were rebuilt between 1608 and 1637.

There are a fine pair of zuijin and komainu in the worship hall...

A large secondary shrine in the grounds is Akazaki Shrine.

I can find no information on it ecept that one source says three female kami are enshrined here.

Curiously, the Yamaguchi Jinja Honcho webpage says that the three Munakata Princesses are "companion kami" to the main Hachiman kami of Ojin et al. Maybe it is referring to Akizaki Shrine but the website would usually list a secondary shrine and its kami.

A small, Gokoku Shrine.... in essence, a branch of the infamous Yasukuni Shrine.

The previous post was on a Kumano Shrine and a Kochi Shrine I had visited earlier in the morning.

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Shukkeien Garden in Spring

 

Shukkeien is the daimyo garden connected to Hiroshima Castle.

Not so long ago I posted a sequence of photos taken in the autumn, and so this time I post on a trip there last Spring.

I have visited Shukkeien quite a few times, and my appreciation of it has grown each time.

It seems to me to be quite an underrated garden....

For details on the garden and its history, I refer you to the earlier post.

In spring, green dominates almost completely....

On this trip I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there is free entry to over 65's...

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Renge-ji Temple 44 Shodoshima Pilgrimage

 

At around 250 meters above sea level on Mount Yufune, temple 44, Renge-ji, looks down on the Nakayama Rice Terraces.....

Set in a forest of huge trees and with a sacred spring that feeds the terraces, Renge-ji is quite a small temple.

The temple bell, donated in 1669, is said to be the second oldest on the island.

It is said the temple was founded in the 14th century.

The honzon is a Thousand-armed Kannon.

The tem@le was abandoned in the Meiji Period but revived later.

The small mixed forest around the temple has some huge trees and is a Prefectural Natural Monument.

The spring is one of Japan's Top 100 waters.

The shrine below is a Kumano Gongen Shrine, said to be the only shrine on the island to Kumano Gongen.

The previous post in this series on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage was on the Nakayama Rice Terraces.

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