I live on the banks of the Gonokawa River, the longest river in Western Japan, and yet it's less than 200K in length. Geologically speaking it's a very young river, not yet having had time to create an estuary. Like all Japanese rivers it is now dammed and a lot tamer than it used to be. The river was sometimes navigable all the way upstream into Hiroshima Prefecture, and that was the route the silver from Iwami Ginzan was shipped out. My village, Shimonohara, is about 18 K upstream from where the river enters the Japan Sea at Gotsu. These photos were taken from almost the same spot about 1K upstream of where I live. The top photo was taken in November.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Dawn over the Gonokawa
I live on the banks of the Gonokawa River, the longest river in Western Japan, and yet it's less than 200K in length. Geologically speaking it's a very young river, not yet having had time to create an estuary. Like all Japanese rivers it is now dammed and a lot tamer than it used to be. The river was sometimes navigable all the way upstream into Hiroshima Prefecture, and that was the route the silver from Iwami Ginzan was shipped out. My village, Shimonohara, is about 18 K upstream from where the river enters the Japan Sea at Gotsu. These photos were taken from almost the same spot about 1K upstream of where I live. The top photo was taken in November.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Nishigamo Mura-sha
After leaving Kamigamo shrine I set off t0 explore the foothills of the edge of the city to the west of Kamigamo in Nishigamo. On my walks I hope to discover the little-known "folk" shrines that were the norm in traditional Japan before the creation of State Shinto in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Sure enough, I found one at the top of one of the villages in the area. This one is called Mura-sha, which simply means "Village Shrine". It had this wonderful natural wood torii.
Due no doubt to its proximity to Kamigamo Shrine, the hondens at the rear each had a pair of tatesuna, but unlike any other tatesuna I've seen, these each had a stone protruding from the top. I havent been able to find out what these stones represent, but my guess is that they represent Iwakura , (stone seat), which are rock outcroppings usually on the top of mountains where the Kami descend to earth.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tsuwano Koi (carp)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Kamigamo Shrine
Kamigamo Shrine is situated in a quiet residential area in the north of Kyoto, and is a little off the main tourist routes and therefore often less-crowded than shrines in the city centre, though no less impressive.
The shrine is a designated World Heritage site, and most of the shrine buildings are classified as Important Cultural Properties.
Both shrines were built by the powerful Kamo family who moved to this area from Yamato (
On September 9th the shrine holds the Crow Sumo ceremony, where young boys from the neighborhood compete at sumo to entertain the gods. Before the sumo, shrine priests perform rituals while emulating the call and movements of crows, hence the name.
Entrance to the shrine is free, but at
With advance notice, groups can book a tour of the shrine with a lecture in English, plus view some of the shrines treasures not normally open to the public.
Kamigamo Shrine can be reached by Kyoto Bus numbers 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39, or Kyoto City Bus numbers 4, 46, and 67.
See more photos of Kamigamo here
Review of a book on Kamigamo here
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Iwami Kagura video
I've been experimenting with different ways of putting videos on the blog, and so far embedding youtube seems to be the best.
This video was shot last November in Oihikonomikoto Shrine, down the river from my village in Oda village, matsukawa-cho. It was at the annual matsuri. The dance is Kurazuka, and later in the dance the dancer becomes a fox. Kurazuka is an interesting dance because every kagura group does a different version,and usually there is some improvisation. All dancers in Iwami Kagura are male.
See lots of Iwami Kagura photos HERE
Monday, May 19, 2008
The village: Shimonohara
I live in a hamlet of less than 100 people, called Shimonohara, which means "lower field". About 150 years ago, when the modern state of Japan was created, Shimonhara was incorporated into the village of Tanijyugo, which means "inhabited valley". Tanijyugo was later incorporated into the town of Sakurae, which means "cherry inlet". 2 years ago Sakurae became incorporated into the city of Gotsu, which means Go Port, Go being the name of the river that enters the Japan Sea at Gotsu.
Shimonohara is about 20kms upstream of Gotsu on the bank of the Go.
My hamlet is further subdivided into 3 sections, Upper, Middle, and Lower. Each of these sections is composed of 5 household units called "Gumi". Gumi were created by the rulers of Japan as a form of political control. Each 5 household group was held collectively responsible for any crimes or misdemeanors committed by any member of the 5 households. This goes a long way to explain the extreme "interest" Japanese have in their neighbor's behaviour!The gumi as a unit still function, though there is no longer any collective punishment! If there is a death, it is the gumi that is responsible for the funeral and the complex set of rituals connected to it.
Japan has a very aged population, and in the rural areas the younger people have moved to the cities for "convenience", so most people in Shimonohara are much older than me. Unusually, there are no empty houses in Shimonohara. Most villages I walk through have 30 - 50% of the houses empty. In the mountains there are many small communities that have been reduced to just one household.
The houses are built against the steep mountainside, around the large central area of rice paddies.
The road ends here, so there is no through traffic.
See more photos of Shimonohara
Red Hanya mask
Red Hanya mask
For the past couple of years, I've been making masks in the Iwami Kagura style. Iwami kagura is the local form of sacred dance theatre that is almost unknown in the rest of Japan, but round here people are fanatical about it. My masks are of course for sale, so if interested, please contact me.
The masks were originally carved from wood, but about 100 years ago new methods using paper and ground seashells began to be used. Like most Japanese crafts, making masks involves dozens of steps and can take several weeks to complete.
As well as being used in kagura, the masks are also put up in the entrance of people's houses to drive away evil spirits and bad luck.
The body language used to suggest someone is becoming angry or jealous is to put your hands to the side of your head with the forfingers extended to imitate horns.
To buy this or any other masks please email me.
I will be posting more images of my masks, and lots of posts on Iwami Kagura.