Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Temple 19 Kannonji

After several temples without Nio it was nice to get back to one with. Temple 19, Kannonji, is located at the bottom of Gassan in Hirose.

It was moved to this location in 1187 from further upstream to pray for the success of building the castle on top of the mountain.

Thgere is no information on who it was who built the original castle, nor about the age of the original temple, though it now belongs to the Shingon sect.

The grave of Yoshiha Haru Horio, the lord who built Matsue Castle and moved the domain headquarters from here to there, though he died before the new castle was finished, so never moved there himself.

Fudo Myo of Shikoku part 4

These first 2 photos are of a rather fine statue at the mountain temple of  Konomineji, number 27 on the Shikoku 88.

It is obviously a modern statue and I have no information who did it.

This one at Zenrakuji, temple number 30, is also quite graphic and bold, though it appears his fangs are both pointing down

These final 2 are at Shoryuji, temple 36. All three temples are in Kochi Prefecture.

Toda Hachimangu part 2

This is a follow on post from the previous. The defensive gate at Toda Hachimangu.

As a Hachimangu, the enshrined deity is Hachiman, which came to be equated with Ojin, the emperor whose name was Homuda Wake, as well as his mother Jingu. As the tutelary deity for samurai, there is almost always one associated with castles. The interior has a nice ceiling painting of a dragon.

The largest of the secondary shrines within the grounds is a Takeuchi Shrine just to the left of the main shrine.
Enshrining Takenouchinosukune, a government minister who lived for close to 300 years advising 5 emperors. There is a Takenouchi and Hachiman combined shrine on the southern outskirts of Matsue, but I believe this one is the original and the former was constructed after the castle was moved from here to Matsue.

Thgere are other smaller shrines including an Ebisu, Taisha, and a Sakatoke shrine. Sakatoke seems to be another name of Oyamatsumi, elder brother of Amaterasu and Susano.

There is also a Katsuhi Shrine, which was the original shrine on the mountaintop opposite. The shrine was moved here before the Hachimangu was built. A Katsuhi shrine was rebuilt on the mountain top after the castle was demolished and I will find out more about it before I post about it next week.

Toda Hachimangu part 1

Toda Hachimangu was the tutelary shrine for Gassan Toda Castle which lay across the river. The approach to the shrine is on a direct line to the castle. Halfway up the steps is a Zuijin Gate.

The shrine was established in the 13th Century when a Katsuhi Shrine on the mountaintop was moved here to make way for the castle. The Katsuhi shrine is now back on top of the mountain.

Off to the side of the Zuijinmon was a small Inari shrine, and next to it a Kojin altar.

Kojin is the Izumo name for the local land kami, an aragami, or "turbulent deity" that is the prime focus of local people as can be surmised by the number of gohei left there....

Further up the steps past the zuijin gate is the main gate, a defensive structure as many battles took place here....

Fudo Myo at Kenzanji

Kenzanji is a small rural temple belonging to the Shingon sect and is located near Hioki in Kagoshima.

The Hondo, main hall, is a large portakabin, but there seemed to be no preparations to build a more permanent structure.

Behind was a small man-made cave containing a statue of Fudo Myo-O that was quite impressive.

The flames painted on the rocks behind the bright blue Fudo were dramatic, almost psychedelic.

While I appreciate art made by artists with great technical skill and vision, I also have a fondness for art not made by artists. While an artist may make a statue that is officially correct, a non- artist is more likely to make a represntation based on impression and perception.....

The Graveyard at Toko-ji

Behind the Obaku Zen temple Toko-ji in Hagi, Yamaguchi, lies the large graveyard/cemetery housing the tombs of the Mori lords and their wives.

The 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th lords are buried here, the others are buried at Daisho-in temple on the other side of the town.

The most obvious feature are the lines and lines of stone lanterns donated by retainers of the lords.

Surrounded by woods, and wearing a mantle of moss, the graveyard is a very peaceful and still place.

Suga Shrine, Hirose

Across the river from where Gassan Toda castle once stood are two torii, the left goes up to Toda Hachimangu, the main shrine for the Amago lords that ruled from the castle until they were defeaed by the Mori and the domain moved its headquarters to what is now Matsue.

The right hand steps lead up to a branch of Suga Shrine, the main shrine being somewhat west of here.
Both Toda hachimangu and this Suga shrine appear almost abandoned.

The porch of the main building has some really nice carving......

Suga shrines enshrine Susano and his wife Kushinada....

Kyushu 108 Temple Pilgrimage Temple 8 Ryushoji

Following the suggested route, temple number 8 is the third temple to visit on the pilgrimage. A small temple on the hillside above Umi, Ryushoji.

There was no-one home for me to ask, so I found out very little about the temples history. The honzon ( main deity) is Dainichi, and there was a covered altar outside to Kannon with many offerings for I presume children.

With the face of a Jizo, but carrying a sword or a staff, maybe I should maybe have lifted the bib to see if anything was in the left hand.......

The mountains across the valley are where Kukai practised austerities after his return from China. My route will take me  up in those mountains the following day.

Quite probably Fudo Myo..... he has fangs, but its not clear what is in his left hand....

Izumo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Temple 17 Seijyo-ji

Perched right on top of 450 meter high Hoshikamiyama, Seijyoji is probably the highest of all the temples on the Izumo Pilgrimage.

All that remains is the single main hall, which burnt down in 1951, a single stone pagoda, and a single statue.

It is now a Soto Zen temple, but was earlier a Shingon temple. The statue of 11 faced Kannon was supposedly carved by Gyoki which would suggest that it is older than Shingon.

Though it looks abandoned, villagers come here at the end of January for a ceremony that involves making and then carrying up the mountain a huge mochi, rice cake.

There are fantastic views, east towards Daisen 40k away (above) and also west towards Sanbe.

Mokoso Shrine

Mokoso Shrine, located in a grove of trees just south of Yakumo is an ancient shrine listed in the 8th Century Izumo Fudoki where it is called  Momino Yashiro.

The three main kami are listed as Kunitokotachi, Kuninosazuchi, & Amenohohi. Kunitokotachi is one, if not the, primal kami that came into being after the separation of heaven and earth, I first encountered it/him at Ayo Shrine and more info can be had in that post. Kunitokotachi was an important kami in Yoshida Shinto, and also in Tenrikyo. Kuninosazuchi I had not encountered before. As with most kami there are a variety of different versions, but most agree that it is one of two patron kami of hills and passes that came out of a union between Oyamatsumi, a kami of mountains, and Nozuchi, another name of Kayanohime, a kami of grasses. Amenohohi was the first emissary sent from the High Plain of Heaven to negotiate the hand over of the land from Okuninushi to the Yamato, and is considered the ancestor of the Izumo Taisha priestly lineage.

There are numerous secondary shrines in the grounds, including Shiogami, Sagi, Inari, and most interesting of all, Toshitokujin, the kami of the New Year with roots in Onmyodo, the Japanese name for Yin-Yang divination. Toshitokujin has connections with Tondo matsuri,... link here

There was also an altar to Kojin, a rope serpent wrapped around the base of a tree. Like Omoto in my region, Kojin is immensely popular in eastern Izumo, yet is not well known elsewhere or in towns. The land kami represented by a straw serpent can be found the length and breadth of Japan....

The shrine had a small Zuijinmon that typically included a pair of old, wooden komainu. The small wooden komainu found inside gates and sometimes flanking the honden or in the main building are much older than the nowadays more common stone komainu found flanking the pathway into shrines which mostly seem to only date back to the Edo Period.