Fukushoji Temple Cherry Blossoms, Sacred Waterfall, & Tengu Legend

 

After crossing over the small Kamo River in  Kitsumoto, the Kiiji Route of the Kumano Kodo starts to head uphill towards the next pass, but a huge swath of cherry trees in full bloom beackon to take a small detour.

The climb up to Fukushoji Temple was well worth it, as evidenced by the large group of day-walkers also there...

Not only a ton of sakura, but great views, and a sacred waterfall....

I have to say that this section of the route, from Yuasa to Kainan, was one of the best sections of the Kumano Kodo for me....

The falls are named Urami no Taki, given that name by Yorinobu Tokugawa, the first daimyo of the Kishu Domain.

It is possible to walk behind the 20 metre high falls.....

It is said to be a bit more spectacular after a period of heavy rain, when it can be up to 30 meters wide.

Not sure when the temple was founded, but it is recorded that Kobo Daishi visited the temple in 804 and performed rituals in preparation of his upcoming trip to China.

The honzon is a Thousan-armed Kannon, but there are also a a Kokuzo and a Fudo Myoo.

The main hall dates to at least 1512, maybe earlier. The Gumonji Hall dates to 1650 as does the Bell Tower. All three are Important Cultural Properties.

The legend about the tengu is as follows..... One lived in one of the huge sacred trees behind the temple, but as it was cold in winter a local family allowed him to stay in their storehouse.

The daughter-in-law of the family would bring the tengu food, and he would respond with requests to be able to offer something in return as it was driving him crazy just taking and not being able to repay the kindness...

Eventually the daughter-in-law suggested that the uncle of the family was old and now bedridden but had always wanted to visit the Kumano Sanzan, and so the tengu carried the old man on his back down the pilgrimage trail to Kumano.

There is the imprint of a tengu foot in the floor of the veranda of the temple, though I didn't notice it...

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Saigoku and Kumano Kodo Pilgrimages was on a couple of nearby shrines connected to the introduction of mandarins into Japan.

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Tsuchida Hachimangu

 

Tsuchida is a small coastal village between Kamate and Okami on the Iwami coastline in western Shimane.

I stopped in at the local shrine while walking up the coast on day 34 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

It's a fairly standard village shrine, a Hachimangu.

It is said that the shrine was moved to this spot in "ancient" times. There are numerous secondary shrines in the grounds but no info available.

The current building has two dates from the 18th century engraved into some beams. This version of Hachiman has Ojin, Jingu, and Tamayorihime. It also lists Kotoshironushi as a primary kami.

Being a Hachimangu, there still remain some Buddhist statues in a small shrine next to the stairs.

The previous post was on the scenic harbour at Kamate..

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Torin-an & Yuku-an Temples 49 & 50 Shodoshima Pilgrimage

 

December 28th, 2015, and I begin day 5 of my walk along the Shodoshima Pilgrimage with a couple of small hermitages close to each other.

Both are located to the NE of Tonosho, the biggest town and main port of the island. Most pilgrims start in Tonosho and go around the island clockwise. I, however, started in the SE of the island and roughly started at temple 1 and went clockwise, so I am approaching Tonosho for the first time.

I ended up taking 8 days to do the pilgrimage, and as this is thye start of day 5 I have technically passed the halfway point.

Number 49, Torin-an, was in the past a fully-fledged temple called Manganji, but now is downgraded to a hermitage. It's primary statue is a wooden Jizo. As with all these tiny, community supported establishments, there was a well kept undercover seating area for pilgrims.

Very close by in number 50, Yuku-an, with a large lotus pond in front, though at this time of the year no sign of the lotus plants.

Yuku-an is a little more substantial than Torin-an. Its main statues is a Yakushi Nyorai, though it has several other statues inside and a large stone Jizo outside...

The Jizo is probably a Kosodate Jizo.

Flanking the Nyorai, which is a "hidden Buddha", is a statue of En no Gyoja, photo 11, the legendary founder of Shugendo.

With so many mountain cave temples on the pilgrimage, this points to its origins with shugenja and yamabushi.

The final photo shows the remains of last year's lotus plants....

The previous post in this series was on the final two temples of yesterday, Tamonji and Enmanji

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Kamate

 

The fishing harbours at Kamate are located in a small bay that is divided by a small island that is now connected to the land.

Coming up the coast from the southwest, the first part of the bay has what looks to be the original little harbour.

There is a small shrine here, though not marked on the maps and with no signboard.

My guess would be an Ebisu Shrine....

At the mouth of the little harbour are a few groups of rocks with form two tiny islands.

These are the islands mentioned in Kushirogahime Shrine that I visited the day before.

They are where the male-female pair of kami sometimes meet....

The tiny harbour has been reinforced with plenty of tetrapods.....

The other side of the bay has now been turned into a large harbour by the construction of four huge concrete piers and breakwaters...

On a day like today,... cloudless and windless, the water inside the harbour is as flat as a mirror...

The island that is now connected to the land has a big shrine on top, but on this trip, I didn't climb up to visit.

The previous post in this series on day 34 of my Chugoku walk was on the walk here from Tsuda.

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