Yokomineji Temple 60 Shikoku Ohenro Pilgrimage

 

At 745 meters above sea level, Yokomineji, temple 60, is the highest of the pilgrimage temples in Ehime, and the second highest of all the 88 pilgrimage temples.

I visited in February about 11 years ago and in the autumn there had been a major storm that severely damaged the trail up the mountain.

On the lowest slopes of Mount Ishizuchi, Yokomineji is one of the Henro Korogashi.... hard to reach temples, and with the path blocked by storm debris it was even more so ......

Said to have been founded by famed and legendary founder of Shugendo, En no Gyoja, in 651.

Gyoki, nd then a century later Kobo Daishi, also visited.

Almost to the shrine you pass the Furubo Jizo-do. There used to be a small settlement in the area as during the Edo period this was a well travelled road.

Yokomineji has quite a complex history not made easier by the reconfiguring of the Jaoanese religious landscape in the latter half of the 19th century.

When Enno Gyoja founded it he carved a statue of Zao Gongen, the main deity of what is now Shugendo. Later when Kobo Daishi came he carved a Dainichi statue and made it the "main image".

What seems certain is that it was a syncretic site with both kami and Buddhist elements. A report from the 17th century writes of a Zao Gongen main shrine, and a Kaisan-do dedicated to Sekisen, and a hall dedicated to Dainichi and Kobo Daishi.

In early Meiji all the Buddhist elements were removed and a new temple hall built near the Niomonto house them. This was called Omineji.

What was Yokomineji Temple became a branch shrine of Ishizuchi Shrine and a temple at the base of the mountain became the 60th pilgrimage temple.

By 1909 it was reinstated as Yokomineji Temple, though the observant notice that the architecture remains shrine-style.

The statue a few photos above is a Hoshiku Daishi. Holding a sword, I believe this represents Kobo Daishi performing a star ritual when he visited here. It stands on the site of the former Kaisan-do.

I did not spend much time exploring as it was very cold and there didn't seem to be anyone around. I certainly saw no other pilgrimas.

As I was about to leave it started snowing. 

On the way down I stopped in at Tsumashiro Daimyojin Shrine.

The guardian deity of the temple, many of the crude torii had rotted and collapsed.

The previous temple on the pilgrimage was Koryuji, the 10th bangai temple.

Ichikan-kyo on Mount Shirataki

 

Mount Shirataki is a 227 meter high mountain in the north of Innoshima, one of a group of islands un the Seto Naikai, the Inland Sea between Hiroshima and Shikoku.

With outcroppings of bare rock, it was exactly the kind of place that yamabushi used to practise their austerities in what became known as Shugendo.

It also offered great views over the surrounding waters and channels between the islands and so the Murakami Clan, who used  Innoshaima as one of their bases, built a small Kannon Hall near the top and used it as a watchtower.

There are several small shrines and halls scattered around the summit.....

But the biggest remains the cluster of buildings around the Kannon-do.

Behind the Kannoin-do a path leads up to the observation tower on the very summit, and here are found about 700 statues, including the 500 Rakan I posted about previously.

As a nod to its Yamabushi history, there is a triad of Tengu relief carvings....

Almost all the statuary on the mountaintop is owed to one man, Denroku Kashiwara.

He was born on the island in 1781. He became relatively wealthy as a merchant,

At the age of 42 he is said to have attained enlightenment and practised zazen on the mountaintop.

With a disciple and stonemasons from Onomichi he began erecting statues in 1823 but seriously began a few years later.

He founded a new religion that was named Ichikan-kyo which is no longer active.

Ichikan-kyo combined Buddhism, Shinto, Confucianism, and Christianity, with Christianity itself being outlawed.

In 1828 he was "interrogated by domain authorities but released.

He died shortly afterwards, generally believed to have been poisoned by the authorities.

His disciples carried on and all the statues were completed in 1830.

I visited on my way to the next island to visit the next temple on the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, so came up the eastern side of the mountain,

I left down the western slope which is the main entrance and so passed through the Nio gate when leaving.

The previous post was on the 500 Rakan statues on the mountain, and the post before that was on the 360 degree views from the mountain.

Shointei Garden Tsuwano

 

Saronoki is a comoex of buildings in the old castle town of Tsuwano, known as a "Little Kyoto".

Mostly a souvenir store Saranoki also has a fast food restaurant with ice cream, and a more traditional restaurant and coffee shop with views of a traditional garden known as Shointei.

The property is inside what was the samurai quarter of the town, and this site was the residence of the highest-ranking retainer of the local lord.

The owner of the establishment was kind enough to take around some of the private, family areas of the complex and so we were able to viewthe garden from many other angles.

 

It is claimed that the garden has some kind of national recognition,though as a scenic spot or what I don't know,

In fact none of the sources I use for traditional garden information has any info at all.

The previous post in this series on Tsuwano was on the Morijuku Museum and its gardens,,,