Saturday, January 25, 2014
Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Temple 8 Hasedera
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art
The Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art was opened in 1989 on top of Hijiyama overlooking the city.
The most noticeable feature is the circular structure at the main entrance.
The gap in the circle is oriented towards the location of the nuclear bomb epicenter.
It was designed by Kisho Kurokawa who designed many museums in Japan and is considered one of the founders of the Metabolism Movement, a contemporary style of Japanese architecture.
It is a very large structure, but most of it is below ground.
The style of the buildings reflects that of traditional Japanese storehouses.
Labels:
Architecture,
hiroshima,
kisho kurokawa,
Museum
Monday, January 20, 2014
Mishiro Shrine
Mishiro Jinja
Labels:
aohatasakusahiko,
engi shiki,
inari,
Izumo Fudoki,
izumo33,
komainu,
Kushinada,
otoshi,
oyamakui,
Shrine,
Susano
Friday, January 17, 2014
Shikoku 88 Pilgrimage Temple 23 Yakuoji
With its distinctive hillside pagoda visible from miles away when approaching Hiwasa, Yakuoji is the last of the pilgrimage temples in Tokushima before entering Kochi.
According to the legend it was founded by Gyogi, and Kukai later visited and carved the statue of Yakushi Nyorai. It is a Shingon temple.
Apart from its place in the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage, it also receives hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over Japan who come here to pray for protection for their "unlucky" years, ages 41, 42, & 61 for men, and 32, 33, and 61 for women.
The approach to the temple has two sets of steps, the one for men has 42 steps, and the one for women has 33 steps. The steps up to the pagoda has 61 steps. A coin is left on each step as one climbs.
There are some fine views over the coastal town with its small, reconstructed castle....
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Yaguchi Shrine
It was early May and so everyone was out preparing the paddies and planting the rice.
Labels:
engi shiki,
Izumo Fudoki,
izumo33,
Shrine,
Susano,
yamata no orochi
Monday, January 13, 2014
Kitsune of Shikoku 2
The second installment of photos of fox statues taken on the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
This first one is at the Yosakoi Inari Shrine in Kochi City.
Fox (kitsune) statues will be found at Inari shrines where they serve as guardians. Inari is therefore often erroneously called the Fox God. Actually I was surprised at how few Inari shrines I found on Shikoku compared to some other areas of Japan. This one was at a small shrine in Ehime, not far from temple 40.
This one is at a sub-shrine in the grounds of Taga Shrine, a fertility shrine, in Uwajima, Ehime.
Ryukoji, the 41st temple, was originally part of an Inari Shrine, but the two were separated in 1868.
Wearing a tail-warmer, Taisanji, temple 52 near Matsuyama.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Temple 7 Komyoji
Komyoji
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Shoin Shrine, Hagi.
One of the most popular tourist sites in Hagi is the Shoin Shrine which enshrines Yoshida Shoin.
Shoin was a local samurai who took part in the anti-shogunate activities that lead up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, though he was executed in 1859 for his part in an assassination attempt, therefore the shrine is very much a part of modern shinto that emphasised those who supported the emperor and his rule.
The shrine was established in 1890 and moved to its present location in 1950.
Before his death he operated a school that now stands in the grounds of the shrine and many of the future leaders of the Meiji government were taught by him, including Ito Hirobumi, Japands first Prime Minister.
Labels:
hagi,
Shrine,
yamaguchi,
yoshida shoin
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Monday, December 30, 2013
Kanbara Shrine & Tomb
Labels:
iwatsutsume,
iwatsutsuwo,
izumo33,
kofun,
kuniyuzuri,
okuninushi,
Shrine
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