Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Nio at Hasedera Temple in Izumo

Nio temple guardian statue

This pair of Nio, temple guardians, stand guard at the entrance to Chokokuji temple in Taisha Town. near Inasa beach, not far from Izumo Taisha.

Nio temple guardian statue

Sometimes called Kongorikishi, this pair features quite detailed painting.

Nio temple guardian statue

The one on the right, with his mouth closed is called Ungyo, the one on the left with opened mouth is called Agyo.

Nio temple guardian statue

Nio were introduced into Japan in the 7th or 8th century from China. Originally based on Hindu deities, it is suggested that they may even have been influenced by Heracles, the Greek God.

Nio temple guardian statue

Other photos of Nio can be seen here

Monday, June 7, 2010

A Walk to Suga

suga5751

The weather during May remained unseasonably cool, so I talk advantage and went on another exploratory walk. I started in Nogi, now little more than a suburb of Matsue. A cookie-cutter town of convenience stores, pachinko parlors, and drab, utilitarian buildings.

My route was to roughly follow Route 24 up the Inbe River and over into the watershed of the Hi River around Suga.

suga5756

After about 30 minutes I was in the foothills on narrow lanes with mostly older, more traditional houses. The person in this house is obviously really into bonsai!

As usual I stopped in at all the shrines along the way.

suga5767

In the village of Noshira I found this that looks like a shrine, but is in fact a "kyo", translated as "church". Its a branch of Izumo Yashirokyo, a religion started by the then head priest of Izumo Taisha in the late 19th Century when the state basically told priests to stop preaching or dealing with "religious" matters. If they wanted to deal with religious issues they should found their own churches. The state had appropriated the Torii symbol, so only "shinto" shrines could have a torii, so many of the shinto-based Kyo simply use a simple gate with one crosspiece.

suga5775

Also in Noshira I found an interesting shrine with a huge mask of Uzume or Otafuku. As Uzume is one of the kami enshrined here it is most likely her.

suga5777

And then, paydirt!!!!! I found 2 examples of something I search for and hope to find on my backcountry explorations, a pair of Phalli!

I chatted for a while with a lady visiting the shrine, but she professed to not know anything about them, which may be true, but its more likely that she didn't want to talk about them with a foreigner.

I have an extensive collection of photos from small fertility shrines I've visited, but I've hesitated to post any as about half the visitors to this blog are from a certain North American country wherein many citizens react strangely to such topics. They either get offended and indignant, or they react like giggling Elementary schoolgirls.

Anyway, to have found these two really made my day and my steps had more spring to them.....

suga5780

Route 24 is a fairly busy, 2 -lane road, that has been straightened a lot and bypasses many smaller settlements. I chose to walk the old sections of road that snake along the river. Its a longer walk, but there is almost no traffic, often the things to be discovered are in the small villages, and I'm more likely to meet friendly people. Sure enough I soon came upon a small unmarked shrine to Kojin with the rope serpent wrapped around the base of a tree. It looked like nobody had visited the shrine in a few years.

suga5784

There were a lot of snakes of the non-rope variety out and about. This one was a bit over a meter in length. No idea what species it was, though if it was a 4-lined Rat snake I wouldnt be surprised.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Takano-Ji inside

taka1097

Inside Takano-Ji is like stepping into another world. The ceiling is painted with bright murals of dragons.

taka1102

All the colums and architectural details are also brightly painted.

taka1101

If this was in Kyoto there would be a hefty entrance fee and crowds of people.

taka1100

Above the main altar a huge mandala.

taka3762

There are some amazing statues. I think this must be one of the Shitenno, the four heavenly kings.

taka3754

There is also a collection of paintings.

One could easily spend hours taking it all in.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Takano-Ji above

taka1091

Takano-Ji, founded almost 1200 years ago, is also known as Iwami Koyasan, as the kanji for takanoji can also be read that way.

taka1089

It's one of my favorite temples, partly due to the fact that it is so far off the beaten track that it is always quiet.

taka1088

There are lots more statues up around the main hall, and a sign commemorating that here was a huge, magnificent bell until it was melted down to make cannons. This bell links Takano-Ji with my own village through the Enko legend.

taka1095

When I first saw the covered walkway that climbs the hill from the priests quarters to the main hall I thought "wow" the peasants get to climb in the rain but the priests are protected", but of course it is not the priest whi is protected but the sacred things he carries.

taka3750

There are some wonderful carvings of dragons on the outside of the main hall, with outspread wings, something I've not seen elsewhere.

taka1093

There are some nice views down from the main hall. Behind it a path goes to the mountaintop where there is a small shrine, and half way up a small building where Kukai supposedly spent time.

The real surprise of Takano-Ji though is to be found inside.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Takano-Ji below

taka1067

Takano-Ji is a wonderful old mountain temple in the middle of nowhere just north of where I live. Its not on any main roads, and only has a small handpainted sign pointing to it.

taka1070

The 2 Nio guarding the entrance to the temple are not intricately carved, but quite vivid.

taka1072

The temple was founded in 814, and legend has it that Kobo Daishi himself spent time at this spot. Of course, according to legends Kobo Daishi managed to be in six places at once performing miracles the length and breadth of Japan, so I havent been able to confirm if he really was here.

taka1074

Largely due to its isolation, I think, the temple is quite atmospheric.

taka1075

There are statues dotted around all over the place.

taka1082

The priests house is quite old and very traditional. Buddhist priests often get to live in some remarkable places.

taka1079

The main hall of the temple is higher up the mountainside, about 160 steps higher up!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The Atrium at Kunibiki Messe

m190

The Kunibiki Messe is a large convention center and exhibition hall in Matsue, Shimane.

m198

Designed by Shimane-born architect Shin Takamatsu.

visa29550

The central atrium features the forms common to much of Takamatsu's work... cones, cylinders, spheres, etc.

m197

Running through the space is an elevated walkway that connect the 4th and 5th floors.

m1352

Up to the 5th floor

m203

Down to the 4th floor.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Mukade Giant Japanese Centipede

Mukade


Caught this little bugger yesterday crawling across my floor. In japanese it is called Mukade, which means "100 legs", and in english we call it Giant japanese centipede. It was mid-sized, about 12 cms long. They do get bigger, though not as big as the desert centipedes I know from Arizona. It was unusual to see it during the daytime as they are usually active at night. They usual travel in pairs, and sure enough later I caught its mate.


Found a really nice, short video about Mukade on youtube.

w7118

Mukade are venomous and a couple of years ago I woke up in the middle of the night with the feeling that someone had put out a cigarette on my face. We found a baby centipede on the inside of the mosquito net. Ive been bitten by poisonous critters many time before,.... I slept outside many hundreds of nights in the desert, but this bite was particularly painful and the pain and swelling stayed for a full 2 weeks.

gono1713

The centipede in Japan is associated with success in battle, so it was adopted as a symbol by the samurai. The great samurai Takeda Shingen had one on his battle flag, and these ceiling paintings from a small Bishamonten temple had several centipedes.

gono1716

On of the Shitenno, Bishamonten is known as the god of success in battle, so the connection is obvious.

Friday, May 28, 2010

105 years ago today.

waki1307

On May 28th 1905 the Russian ship Irtysh ran aground on the Shimane coast just off the fishing village of Waki (now part of Gotsu).

The villagers took to their boats and helped to successfully save and bring to shore the more than 200 crew and officers.

waki1315

The Russians were given food and shelter and helped in every way by the mostly poor fishermens families.

Every year, this year on June 13th, Waki celebrates a Russian festival and dignitaries come from Russia to thank the village once again for their kindness.

In the small Waki Community Center is a small museum with photos, documents, items salvaged from the Irtysh, and gifts from Russia.

waki1312

The story of how the Irtysh came to its end is pretty interesting.

In 1904, without a declaration of war, the Japanese attacked the Russian Far East Fleet in Port Arthur (Manchuria). Comparisons with Pearl Harbor are obvious. So began the Russo-Japanese war.

In a bold move the Czar ordered his Baltic Fleet to sail 18,000 miles, half way round the world, to hook up with the remnants of his Far East Fleet at Vladivostock. The Irtysh was a supply ship attached to the Baltic Fleet.

waki1308

In the straits between Japan and Korea the Japanese navy engaged the Russians in a great naval battle that has been equated with Trafalgar. Known now as the Battle of Tsushima, the Russians were soundly defeated, and the damaged Irtysh was seen limping away from the battle and the next day ran aground off Waki.

waki1317

Thursday, May 27, 2010

A winter walk up Maruyama

maru3

Driving from my place to Iwami Ginzan, which I used to do regularly a few years ago, you pass through the village of Mihara, and as one is doing so the 480 meter high Maruyama (Round Mountain) is distinctly visible for quite a ways.

One fine January day the weather was warm and the light was bright so I decided to to find out what the views were like from the top.

I drove up the long, narrow valley that runs up from Tanijyugo, parked and headed up the forest track that climbed over the ridge and dropped down to the base of Maruyama.

maru6

Half way up Maruyama there was a clearing in the trees that offered a wonderful view over Mihara to the saddle of the ridge called Oe-Takayama. The highest point is a little over 800 meters, and behind it lies Iwami Ginzan. According to a painted signboard in the village at its base, there is a trail that goes up and along the ridge that I've always hoped to climb one day, though I suspect that the trail, like so many others around here, has long since disappeared by not having been used for decades.

maru8

The road up to the top of Maruyama switchbacks up the north side, so there was still unmelted snow.

maru12

Just below the highest point are the foundations of what used to be a castle, though fort or watchtower might be a more appropriate english word.

maru11

From the top, the view roughly south. Somewhere down in there is the Gonokawa River and my village.

maru10

But this is the view I had hoped to find. About 25k away, the snowy peaks of the volcano Mount Sanbe, at 1,126 meters the highest point in Iwami.