Tokosan Dainichi-ji

Tokosan Dainichi-ji is an urban temple in the old castle town of Saiki on the coast of southern Oita in Kyushu. I visited it on my 16th  day of walking along the Kyushu 108 temple pilgrimage which is composed of only Shingon temples.

It was founded in the very early 17th Century and was connected to the ruling family of the castle. It was never a big domain. The honzon is , not surpringly, Dainichi, the Great Sun Buddha.

I believe this is a statue of Binzaru, though it is in much better condition than many Binzaru statues which are normally rubbed by petitioners for healing purposes.

I believe this chubby figure is a Kannon, though back in those days I was not paying as much attention to the names of many of the statues I encountered,,,,,

This is probably a shrine to Dakiniten, the deity that played a large part in the formation of the popular kami Inari.

Minimal Geometric Abstract 3

Another photographic interlude of some of my favorite photos. Diagonal, shadow, and rust.... can't go wrong with that combination.

Architecture is an obvious choice of subject for the kind of imagery I am attracted to. Japanese tile roofs are a goldmine of pattern.....

Yin and Yang, positive and negative,..... not sure why but I seem to have a knack for seeing such things ....

curves and shadows......light and pattern....... of course sunsets, flowers, landscapes and such are beautiful, but we are surrounded by beauty in the man-made and natural world.....

Reflection, another subject that can't fail to produce....... my photography (and hence my "eye",... even my self) is very very simple.....

BTW I now have a large format photo printer so if anyone is interested in purchasing prints please let me know.... :)

Midsummer Kagura

Back in June we took some friends to a nightime outdoor kagura festival, the first time in a long time that I had watched some kagura.

I was delighted to see a dance , Iwagami, that I don't remember having seen before. It was performed by a group from Misumi, and so was Masuda-style with a couple of masks that I had also not seen before.

Some of the special effects were also new to me and so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The demons also had a mask change which also pleased me.

There were about 6 dances in total and they were all enjoyable. The event was free, which also pleases me. I recently saw some adverts for some Iwami Kagura performances in Tokyo, and the tickets started at 5,000 yen. Suckers!

Onigawara of Shikoku part 2

Onigawara, "DemonTiles", are the , usually ceramic, tiles decorated with the face of a demon usually found on the roofs of temples, and sometimes shrines and private dwellings.

Meant to protect the building by warding off evil, my own fascination with them is in their diversity, so I seek them out whenon my travels and am always looking for unique ones.

All of these I encountered while walking the Shikoku Pilgrimage known as Ohenro. The first photo is from Fujiidera, the 11th temple on the pilgrimage.

The second photo is from Jurakuji, temple 14, and the third is from a small Chinese style chapel nearby.

The 4th is from Kokubunji, temple, number 15, and the final photo is from Kongochoji, temple 26.

Saiki Reflections

In the early evening I was heading to my minshuku and crossed the river. The strong light and fairly calm surface produced some quite nice reflections.

That's all. No more words, just pics. The final photo is cherry blossoms.....

Kanmon Bridge

The Kanmom Straits, one of the entrances into the Seto Inland Sea, separate Honshu and Kyushu, and at its narrowest is only about 800 meters wide.

The Kanmon Bridge was one of the biggest suspension bridges in the world when it opened in 1973 to carry road traffic across the straits from Shimonoseki to Kitakyushu.

The central span is just over 1,000 meters. Prior to its construction there was a road tunnel beneath the water, as well as a tunnel for trains and even a pedestrian tunnel.

Ferries still connect the two sides as they have for centuries.