Misaki Shrine Aruki

 

Heading southeast out of old Kurashiki I follow the Kurashiki River towards the next pilgrimage temple on my walk.

In Aruki I stop in at the local village shrine that seems to have a somewhat honorable past.

Said to have been founded in the 12th century by a Moritsuna Sasaki, a retainer of the Minamoto during the Genpei War, he defeated a Taira army nearby in the Battle of Kojima.

The most curious thing here was this ceramic figure on the roof. Does not appear to be an Onigawara, nor a tengu, and my wife has not seen anything like it before. Any info would be appreciated.

In 1611 the shrine was moved to its current location. The primary kami is listed as Onamuchi, a variation of Okuninushi, but the signboard also lists Kibitsuhiko, as well as Ojin and Jingu. There were also multiple secondary shrines in the grounds.

The previous post in this series on day 8 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on Achi Shrine in Kurayoshi.

Osaka Museum of History

 

The Osaka Museum of History is located to the SW of Osaka Castle.

It occupies the top floors of an elliptical tower 83 meters tall.

It was completed in 2001.

It shares an entrance in a shared atrium with the NHK building next door.

Both buildings were constructed at the same time.

It is said to have been designed by Cesar Pelli, though I can find no reference to it on the Pelli Associated website.

Pelli is more well known for his design of the Osaka Museum of Art. I will be posting on oy a little later.

My favorite Pelli building in Japan is the Kurayoshi Park Square in Tottori.

From the Museum of History there are great views across to Osaka Castle.

The previous post in this seriers on maodern architecture of Osaka was on Umeda Sky Building.

Achi Shrine Kurashiki

 

Achi Shrine is located on a hilltop overlooking the Bikan Historic District in Kurashiki, and is now the pre-eminent shrine of the area.

The chinowa, the circular "rope" of grass for purification can be found at different times of the year at diferent shrines. Here it was mid August.

It is believed that in ancient times this was the site of a garden belonging to the local ruling clan and there is supposed to be remnants of a cran and turtle island stone arrangement from that time.

Around tye time the area started to develop as a political and merchant centre, a Myoken Shrine was moved here from a nearby temple.

Until 1868 it was known as Myoken-gu and changed the name to Achi Shrine at the time of Shinbutsu bunri.

The first shrine buildings were built in 1620.

The three main kami are now said to be the Munakata Princesses, Tagirihime, Tagitsuhime, and Ichikishimahime, collectively known for marine safety.

Myoken was a very popular shrine in Japan, dedicated to the Buddhist deity of the North Star. When most Myoken shrines were changed in 1868 they switched to a pair of obscure kami from the Kojiki. Why they chose the Munakata Kami here is a mystery.

There are a wide variety of secondary shrines and kami in the grounds including a Susano shrine that also brought in several other local shrine kami in the so-called shrine mergers of 1910.

A Tenmangu shrine also enshrines Yamato Takeru, Sarutahiko, and Omononushi as well as Sugawara Michizane. Curiously there were lots of Daruma dolls at this shrine.

Another sub-shrine enshrines Okuninushi, Kotoshironushi, and Homusubi.

There is also an Inari shrine brought here from nearby in the early 20th century. The shrine grounds has quite a famous Wisteria, and a Noh stage also.

I visited at the start of day 8 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage as I headed south out of Kurashiki towards the next temple, Rendaiji. The previous post was on Kurashiki Silhouettes the evening before.

Oki Islands Kagura

 

I'm a big fan of kagura, the traditional performing art of japan that is the least well-known. In my area, Iwami in Shimane, kagura is hugely popular,but over the years I have been fortunate to see some different styles of kagura in Izumo, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Oita, and Miyazaki, and, as shown here, on the Oki Islands.

Nowadays normally only performed during the summer festivals, I was able to see a short performance of three dances put on for a group of tourists on Nishinoshima Island, and the style is Dozen Kagura as opposed to Dogo Kagura. One unusual feature of Dozen kagura that differed from all the others I have seen is the involvement of Miko, shrine maidens.

Miko Mai, or the dance of shrine maidens is probably the most common form of what was once kagura, though it is not usually called kagura nowadays.

The second dance was called Sakibarai or Sakiharai. The dancer represents Sarutahiko and the dance is a protective purification dance.

Traditionally Sarutahiko leads matsuri processions, purifying the path as he goes.

The instruments are the same as other types of kagura I have seen except there is no flute here.

The third dance was Kiribe, but unfortunately I know nothing about the character or meaning of the dance.

I don't know much about the technicalities of music, but a source says that here with dozen kagura it switches between 4/4 and 3/4 which is rare in traditional Japanese music but common in traditional Kprean music. Also worth noting is that the space the dancing is performed within is quite small compared to say Iwami Kagura.

The previous post in this series on the Oki Islands was on Uzukamikoto Shrine.

Kurashiki Silhouettes

 

Around sunset I settled down with a view of the iconic bridge over the river in the Bikan Historic Quarter of Kurashiki.

Over the next hour or so a succession of people passed over the bridge.

Many stopped to enjoy the view.

many took selfies or posed for photos....