HITOHAKU Museum of Natural History & Human Activities in Sanda

 

The next pilgrimage temple on the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage is in Sanda, a small city in the mountains of Hyogo, not too far from Kobe and also Osaka.

However, my first stop after arriving in Sanda was a huge museum complex in a park.

It seems to be mostly a Natural History Museum and is aimed at kids.

However, the complex is huge and contains other institutions including research facilities.

Obviously my interest was in the glorious glass facade....

This actually the rear of the museum, facing a big park....

The entrances are on the other side.

I have been unable to find out who the architect was, although I believe it is an adaptation of an existing building.

It opened in its current form in 1992...

Particularly special for me was the section that had mirrored ceiling as well as walls...

Of course the pools of water only added......

I was hard-pressed to reduce the number of photos I used in this post from the more than 70 I took....

I will cover the interior in the next post in the series....

The previous post in this series on the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the unusual Rakan statues at Tamonji Temple.

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Reikoji Temple Misumi

 

Coming into Misumi after passing the huge power station at Okami, I stopped in at Reikoji Temple.

It is quite a bit more substantial than many local village temples, with some nice greenery, and it is now a Jodo Shinshu sect temple with a statue of Shinran, the founder of the sect.

I suspect it may have been a different sect in the past. It is one of the Hamada Domain Kannon pilgrimage temples, and Jodo Shinshu usually have Amida as honzon, so may have inherited the Kannon when it changed sects.

The carvings of the komainu on the gate were quite special, as was the small hillside landscaping. I can find no other information, unfortunately.

The previous post in this series was on Tsuchida Hachimangu Shrine...

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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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