Early Morning Along the Toishi and Furoko Rivers

 

November 7th, 2014, and I head off on day 15 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.

With the days getting shorter I head off before sunrise to cover as much distance as I can.

I love watching the day begin, especially in the autumn and winter, and especially in rural areas.

My route today will be walking up the Toishi River, a tributary of the Kurose River, and then up a tributary of the Toshi, the Furoko River. This will take me pretty much due west and then I cross over a line of hills/mountains into the Kumano River valley.

The first hour or so of the day is known as the "golden hour" for photographers, for obvious reason.

I stopped in at any shrines I passed, one of which will get its own post next....

Was impressed with these dragons adorning the storehouse.... this kind of plaster relief is called kote-e and I have covered it in previous posts....

Ebisu and Daikoku, 29 percent of the Seven Lucky Gods....

It seems to be a fairly wealthy area, at least compared with my area... I guess the proximity to a metropolis must help....

Many of the shrines were flying banners, indicating that matsuri is about to take place, or has just taken place....

Cities and fishing communities usually have their matsuris in the summer, but in the country side they happen after the rice has been harvested....

I have encountered quite a few small planes used as advertising in the countryside... no idea what this one is about....except it is a Beechcraft 50 Twin Bonanza.

By late morning I reached the pass and looked down into the Kumano Valley...

The previous post was on Azumako Falls

Garden & Teahouse at Matsue History Museum

 

The Matsue History Museum is just across the moat from Matsue Castle and opened in 2011.

It was built on the site of the residence of the senior retainer of the domain and was built to resemble a high-ranking retainers residemce. The museum is fronted by the original Eco-Period Nagayamon.

Matsue is known as one of the three centres of Tea Culture in Japan, thanks to Fumai Matsudaira, the daimyo and tea master.

The museum has extensive displays on Fumai and the tea ceremony as well as the history of the town and castle.

The cafe of the museum, where matcha with traditional sweets is the main offering, looks out on a small traditional garden.

Though modern, and built for the museum, it is a traditional Izumo-style garden, one feature of which is stepping stones raised higher than in other parts of the country.

Like most gardens it is planted with seasonal plants so changes throughout the year. These photos were from a couple of different visits at different times of the year.

The top of the castle keep can be seen from within the cafe.

From the cafe a corridor leads to an old teahouse with links to Sen no Rikyu.

I had always thought this was a replica, but apparently not, it is the oldest teahouse remaining in Matsue.

It was designed either by Sen no Rikyu, or under his guidance, in the late 16th century and ended up in Matsue. In the Meiji Period it was dismatled and stored at the Yakumo Honjin.

The previous post in this series exploring Matsue and Izumo was on the gardens at the Prefectural Office next to the castle.

Shukkeien Garden in Early Autumn

 

Shukkeien Garden is the big Japanese garden located between the castle and the main station.

As I was arriving a young, recently married couple were arriving for their wedding photo shoot. Every time I have been to Shukkeien, there has been a couple doing this. It's a bit of a pain in the ass as they will dominate the most photogenic spots for an hour or two.

The garden was originally built in 1620 as a villa for the first domain lord of Aki Domain, Asano Agaakira.

It was designed by Ueda Soko who also designed the garden at Tokushima Goten Palace, which I will cover very soon,a nd the garden at Wakayama Castle Nishinomaru.

Remnants of the original garden can be found in the western half of the current garden.

Hiroshima suffered a devastating fire in the mid-Edo Period and the garden was extensively renovated and remodelled by Kyoto gardener Shimizu Shichiroemon between 1785 and 1788.

This was when the Koko-kyo Bridge, now the symbol of the garden, was originally built.

Built of white granite, it is one of the top 100  Bridges of Japan.

Amazingly it survived the atomic blast.

Three tress in the garden are also remaining from before the bomb, everything else being planted since then.

The numerous sukiya style buildings around the garden were reconstructed from old drawings and paintings of the garden.

It is a pond stroll-type garden with many named viewpoints set around the course.

In my humble opinion, it is a much more enjoyable garden than some of the more famous ones, though on my most recent visit back in June it was the most crowded I have ever seen it

There is a good pamphlet and map in English, and I was quite surprised to learn there is free entry for the over 65's.....