From the Shimoko River to Yasaka

 

I find it almost impossible to not find beauty somewhere in my view, no matter the place or time. Colours, shapes, angles, shadows, contrast..... everywhere. Of course that doesnt necessarily mean anyone else  sees it. I wonder what is going on in the minds of people who say they are bored. Which is a long-winded way of saying that every kilometer I walk in the backcountry of Japan,... and it has been many, many thousands, there is always something of interest, something to photograph, something that prompts questions...but I am quite sure that they may not be at all interesting to anyone else....

Carrying on up the Shimoko River after visiting the Otoshi Shrine, I passed this unusual house. It seems to have been converted from a kura, the thick-walled storehouses that contained all the treasures of a family to escape the frequent house-burnings. Never did figure out chimneys.....

Passed another of the derelict tunnels for the ghost railway that was never completed....

I then pass under the Hamada Exressway. Like many rural sections of expressway in Japan, it is a simple two lane affair, one in each direction..... and it is a toll road.... costs to use it....

And then another tunnel from the ghost railway, though I believe this one did get some use as a road tunnel for a while....

Around Sano I head off from the Shimoko River as it veers east, and I continue south...

I take a narrow, mountain road over a pass and drop into the valley of the Hamada River. I follow it upstream.

I continue to slowly climb....

It is the second of May, planting time in the paddies.....

I climb out of the Hamada River valley and cross over into the Sufu River valley...

I soon arrive at Sufugawa Dam, and after following the bank of the reservoir for a while, I once again head into the forst and over the mountains and descend into the approach to Yasaka and the next temple

I am now entering an area of the mountainous interior of Iwami that I completely unfamiliar with..... exploring new country,.. something getting harder and harder to do without going further and further from my home...

The previous post in this series on day 8 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage was on the first part of this days walk from Arifuku.

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Hirohata Hachimangu

 

An hour or so after setting out from my hotel on my walk from Ine to Akiyoshidai I came across the first shrine of the day.

Yet another Hachiman Shrine.

This one was said to be a branch of the original Hachiman Shrine, Usa Hachiman, in what is now Oita. The date given is 732.

The shrine has been at its current site since 1660. It had moved several times before.

In 1221, following the Jokyu War, a new samurai lord took over the area. Unusually, he chose to make this Hachiman shrine his tutelary shrine, rather than establish a new one, which was normal.

The kami are Ojin, Jingu, and the three Munakata Princesses. This seems to be the norm for Hachiman shrines in this area.

In 1752 a Tenmangu Shrine was established within the grounds....

The main shrine was rebuilt in 1769, and in 1770 the shrine grounds were expanded and reforested.

The previous post was on the walk from Mine to Akiyoshidai, during which I stopped in at this shrine.

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Kominka Cafe Hanpei

 

Just around the corner from Iwamotoji Temple, one of the Shikoku Pilgrimage temples, in Shimanto Town, Kochi, is this delightful old house.

It seemed open to the public and there was no etry charge so I went in to have a look.

At that time one of the rooms was being used as a cafe but the rest of the house was open and explorable...

As I understand it, the cafe has expanded a little but the situation is still that visitors can explore the rest of the hose...

It was built as a second home / villa in 1901 for a local businessman Hanpei Tsuzuki.

As far as I can tell, the second building seen in some of the photos with a tarp-covered roof no longer exists.

There are some nice features on the interior including  the ranma, the carved panels above te room dividers that allow light and air to curculate...

When I visited there were several ikebana displays....

The gardens, while not stpendous, were nice enough...

The previous post was 25 photos of Iwamotoji Temple.

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A Walk From Mine to Akiyoshidai

 

I set off long before the sun rose on day 27 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage. Not because I had a long distance to cover that day, only 15 kilometers,  but because there was a lot I wanted to explore at today's destination, and being only a week after the winter solstice, the days were very short.

There was a bit of frost on the ground and vegetation, but real winter had yet to arrive this winter.

On the way out of town I passed the entrance to the cement factory. When I arrived yesterday afternoon, there was no smoke either from the tall smokestacks, nor from the power plant, yet this morning bboth were belchimg smoke....

I pass several of these roadside stones with thick shimenawa circles around them..... must be a local tradition...

I stop by a couple of quite large shrines on the way and will cover them in upcoming posts...

I am still quite taken by these heavily pruned junipers....

I cross the Koto River, the biggest river I've seen in the last 24 hours...., and then I catch a glimpse up ahead of my destination, the unusual landscape of the Akiyoshidai Plateau.

The previous post was on the interesting little town of Mine with its couple of decent museums and history of mining. Got very few views for some reason or other.

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