Ninotaki Temple 14 Sasaguri Pilgrimage

 

Ninotaki Temple is yet another of the temples on the Sasaguri Pilgrimage that has a waterfall for ascetic training and numerous Fudo Myoo statues.

Ninotakiji is a Koyasan Shingon temple.

The honzon, like its counterpart of the original Shikoku Pilgrimage temple 14, is Maitreya, the Future Buddha.

Sometimes known as Miroku in Japan, he is sometimes said to be a Buddha, sometimes a Bodhisattva.

It is a fairly large temple complex by the standards of most of those on the Sasaguri Pilgrimage.

The main hall was built in 1998.

It is unusual in being built completely out of Teak brought from Myanmar.

Other halls within the grounds are a Daishi Hall, a Kannon Hall, a Jiko Hall, a Benten Hall, and Inari Shrine, and a Sorei Hall.

The Jiko Hall enshrines Jiko, the nun who founded the temple.

However, for me, the most interesting was the multiple Fudo's around the two waterfalls...

The previous post in this series on day 2 of my walk along the Sasaguri Pilgrimage was on temple 20, Nakanokawachi Jizo-do.

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Ryushintei Garden at Sorinji Temple

 

When I arrived at Sorinji Temple in the outskirts of Ube, Yamaguchi, the day was ending and the temple was in shadow with light fading fast.

I caught a glimpse of colour behind the buildings and upon investigating, was stunned to discover an amazing garden....

It is said to be the oldest garden in all of Yamaguchi.

Sorinji Temple was founded in 1670, but it was built on the site of a much older temple.

The original temple was called Fusaiji, and was founded in 777 by a monk from China.

It is believed that the garden dates from the mid to late  14th Century, although the great garden designer and scholar Mirei Shigemori suggests it might be even earlier

In 1983 the garden was designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty.

It is a pond garden, with a couple of features that, while not unique, are quite rare.

The pond has two straight lines of stones. They are called Yodomariishi, and represent boats at anchor in a harbour.

They are said to be "treasure ships" on their way to Horai, the mythical Daoist home of the immortals.

The other unusual feature is the areas of pebbles laid on the edge of the pond. See the third and fifth photos below.

This is said to represent the ebb and flow of the tides.

Another feature I didnt notice but read about later is a section of the railings along the porch overlooking the garden ahs a section with the lower railing removed.

This is so you can sit on the porch with your legs dangling over...

I hope to be able to return to Sorinji and see the garden in sunlight one day...

There is also a small "courtyard" garden between the buildings.

I visited at the end of day 24 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage. The previous post was on the unpleasant part of my walk earlier that day.

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Shiogahara Pond in Futatabi Park

 

After visiting the surprising Dairyuji Temple, I carried on further north on a mountain trail towards the next temple on the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage.

Futatabi Park is a mountain park including Shiogahara Pond.

It was a very plesant and unexpected interludr....

On this crisp winter day it was picturesque, but I imagine a little earlier with full autumn colours it must have been spectacular.

There is not much in the way of facilities. A couple of cafes that open on weekends and holidays. No barbeques allowed, no fishing, and no camping, so just a place for strolling.

Within the boundary of the park is the Kobe Foreigners Cemetery.

The previous post was on Dairyuji Temple.

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Walking While Foreign

 

A little way after visiting Kitakata Hachimangu, I turned off the old Sanyo-do and took a more modern, rural bypass type road that has few houses along it but wide sidewalks. Up ahead I spied a couple of guys standing around, leaning against the metal railings. As I drew level with them they stepped out into my path, flashed ID's, and demanded to see my papers. As I put down my pack and went into my pockets for my wallet a patrol car pulled up and was waved away by one of the plaincothes cops. It was then that I realized this was an "operation", not a random stop.

I have been stopped by the cops in Japan many, many times. One of the reasons I walked pilgrimage routes wearing pilgrim garb was because I had thought that would mean I would get stopped less while exploring rural Japan on foot. I had never been stopped by plainclothes guys before, and they had obviously come some distance. Usually it was local koban cops responding to phonecalls from nervous citizens who had seen a suspicious activity, someone walking while foreign.

many time the young cops don't even ask to see ID, just ask where I am going. In Japanese I explain I am on a pilgrimage, or looking for a local shrine. Often I will ask an obscure question about a local shrine or some local history that they have no idea about and that seems to satisfy them.

Occasionally there will be an asshole who goes in for a long interrogation. According to the law, cops must have reasonable suspicion to be able to stop someone and ask for ID, but in truth, racial profiling is the norm. They can lock you up for 28 days with no phone calls or lawyers allowed, so I am always polite. In almost every case it has been that someone has found me suspicious and called the cops. The only suspicious activity I can think I exhibit is walking while foreign.

Not long after arriving on these shores, Japan held the Football World Cup. In their expectation of hordes of foreign hooligans, every home in Japan was leafletted with requests to call the cops if they saw something suspicious. There is a meaning, recently echoed by the new prime minister, that making Japanese feel uncomfortable is suspicious. Japanese are, in general, uncomfortable with difference, hence it means that walking while foreign is a suspicious activity.

After checking my ID and finding I was legal and with nothing to arrest me for they let me on my way.

I was deeply sad and feeling somewhat uncomfortable. I have yet to find a Japanese person who finds anything wrong with racial profiling by the police.

A little further and I turned off the main road and headed down a narrow lane. Googlemaps assured me this was a shortcut along a hypotenuse that would save me some miles. A couple of K downhill and the road kind of petered out. It seemed to become a track that ended at a house, or possibly went right next to the house. There was no-one around and no other houses nearby for me to ask about the map and route. I sat in a shed next to a small local shrine and pondered my choices while it rained. I was afraid that if I went right past the house I would alarm any resident and they would call the cops. A little ways back up the road there was a new road being constructed.... logic suggested that it would go where I wanted, but again I worried that walking an empty construction site would be cause for arrest. I decided to go back the way I had come, a couple of kilometers uphill. Not much further along the main road was a bus stop and the timetable showed a bus soon, so to get to the next temple and nearby hotel before dark I hopped the bus.

The previous post in this series on walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on Kitakata Hachimangu Shrine.

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Tokujoji Princess Chujo Temple

 

Tokujoji, a Jodo sect temple on the Kiiji Route of the Kumano Kodo is commonly known as Chujohime Temple.

Sometimes referred to as the Japanese Cinderella, the folktale of Chujohime, Princess Chujo, has some connection with historical legends and numerous versions exist. I will give the version based here at Tokujoji.

The princess was born in 747, to a court noble, Fujiwara Toyonari. her mother died when she was three and her father remarried. Her stepmother disliked her and when she was 13 had the princess abandoned in the mountains near here. The stepmothers servant was supposed to hill the prinvess but took pity on her and built her a hut for shelter.

While in the hut the princess copied a thousand copies of a sutra over three years. her hut was named Anyo-in. Centuries later it was renamed Tokujoji. It was moved several times until 1628 when it ws moved to its current location.

The main hall dates to 1752. There is also the Kaisan-do housing statues of Chujohime and her husband.

The metal walkway in photo 3 is used for a ceremony, unique to the temple,  with a parade of Bodhisattvas, young women wearing golden masks....

The temple owns several artworks said to have been created by Chujohime. They were donated by Taimadera, a temple connected to another version of the Princess Chujo story.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Saigoku Pilgrimage and Kumano Kodo was on the nearby Itoga Inari Shrine.

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