Showing posts with label inari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inari. Show all posts

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Saikyoji Temple 77 Kyushu pilgrimage

 


Saikyoji Temple is located on a hillside overlooking the harbour of the main settlement on Hirado Island.


It is built on the site of where Kobo Daishi performed his first Goma ceremony after returning from China in 806.


It is a Shingon temple and because of its size is sometimes referred to as the Koyasan of the West, although it must be said I have come across numerous other temples with the same nickname.


It was established in 1607 by the local daimyo Shigenobu Matsuura, who was a fervent believer in Shingon. However, at that time a zen temple existed on the property.


The zen priest refused to leave and so Matsuura burned down the temple with the priest inside. For years Matsuura was haunted by ghosts of the murdered riests until one day they were scared away by the sound of a baby crying. This is said to be the origin of the "Crying Baby Sumo" event held every February at Setsubun. Most Naki Sumo events are held in shrines in May.


The honzon is a statue of Kokuzo Bodhisattva, not one of the more famous bodhisattvas, but important to Kobo Daishi. Kokuzo was the focus of the ascetic practices that Kobo Daishi undertook as a youth.


Within the grounds are an Ebisu Shrine and an Inari Shrine.


Between the main temple and the Okunoin, the path is lined with 88 statues representing the Shikoku pilgrimage.


The temple was well supported by the Matsuura clan and the temples Treasure House museum has many delightful paintings and statues, unfortunately some of which were looted from Korea during Hideyoshis invasions.


The temple is number 77 on the Kyushu pilgrimage and also on the Kyushu Kannon pilgrimage.


Number 78 on the Kyushu pilgrimage is a few kilometers away and is the site where Kobo Daishi set sail on his journey to China. It is an unmanned site so pilgrimage stamps need to be gotten here.


Hirado is an interesting place with a lot of historical connections. William Adams, the English sailor immortalized in the novel Shogun, is currently attracting a lot of interest because of the new remake of the TV drama.


He lived and died in Hirado.


The previous post was on the pagoda at the okunoin of the temple.


Hirado is well worth a visit if you are in the area, and Saikyoji is well worth a visit if you are in Hirado.


Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Ohashi Kannon Temple 75 Kyushu Pilgrimage

 


The main building of Ohashi Kannonji is a modern, concrete affair, but because of its proportions it is quite elegant.


The main statue is a Kannon, but to the left is a lovely Fudo, and to the right is an Inari, or maybe a Dakiniten, which unusually has a coiled snake.


According to the temple legend the honzon, an eleven-faced Kannon was carved by Gyoki in the 7th century, so yet another temple in the area that claims a connection to Gyoki.


Nearby is an older hall and the priest's residence.


Among the many statues dotting the grounds is a triad consisting of a central Fudo flanked by a statue of Kannon and a Kobo Daishi.


As well as being on the Kyushu 88/108 pilgrimage, the temple is also on a couple of Kannon pilgrimages.


Ohashi means "Big bridge" and refers to a natural stone bridge in the cliff behind the temple. It deserves its own post which will be next.


The previous post in this series chronicling day 68 of my walk was on the small shrine down below the temple. The previous temple was Saifukuji, a few kilometers upstream and on the opposite side of the valley. It also had a natural bridge.


Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Shrines of Day 67

 

For many pilgrims, I believe the main priority is to get from temple to temple. The temples are the focus. For me, however, the temples were just reference points on an exploratory walk. The sites between the temples were just as important, and I tried to stop in at every single shrine I passed, both to learn any interesting local history and myths, and to find unique and interesting art.


On Day 67 of my walk around the Shingon Kyushu pilgrimage, I started the day in Sasebo, Nagasaki, visiting a pilgrimage temple then headed north out of town to the Ainoura River valley. These first four photos are from Nakazato Hachiman Shrine, a fairly standard village shrine to Hachiman, by one count the most common shrine in Japan.


With its Hizen-style torii, and modern komainu, there were no surprises here. Like most village shrines numerous smaller shrines had been brought here from neighboring areas in the early part of the 20th century.


I visited nearby temple number 74, Tozenji before heading on up the valley. In Tabarucho I stopped in at Norito Shrine. A little further I saw the unusual shimenawa of Yodohime Shrine.


The next four photos are from my next stop, an unnamed Inari Shrine.


If you include small, roadside shrines without buildings, then Inari, rather than Hachiman, becomes the most common shrine in Japan.


The vast majority of Inari shrines only date back to the Edo period when Inari became so popular.


Continuing to climb my next stop was Kamiari Shrine.


There is absolutely no info on this shrine which was obviously more substantial in earlier times, but now is just a small, stone honden.


It enshrines Amaterasu.


Not far from Kamiari Shrine I spent quite a bit of time exploring Saikoji Temple, number 73 on the pilgrimage with a notable Giant Fudo statue. I had now climbed to more than 300 meters above sea level and while heading to a mountain tunnel that would take me over to the next valley I could see an Oyamazumi Shrine in tye distance set in a tell-tale grove of trees.



Dropping down into and then slowly descending the Sasa River Valley my first stop was another Oyamazumi Shrine, this one with a unique old-growth ecosystem. This was once a coal mining area and after a brief stop at the local coal mine museum I visited the last pilgrimage temple of the day, Saifukuji Temle with its cave shrine.


I carried on down the valley and just before reaching Yoshii Station and the train back into Sasebo I stopped in at a very small shrine. I have no idea of the shrines name as I couldnt read the eroded kanji on the torii, and can not find it on the map, but it did have a nice pair of komainu.


If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy the post on shrines of day 66.


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Kifune Shrine Amagasaki

 


The Kifune Shrine in Amagasaki is sandwiched between the Hanshin Railway Line and the Hanshin Expressway in the Nishihinmachi district. A branch of the famous Kibune Shrine north of Kyoto, it was originally located within Amagasaki Castle but was relocated here when the castle was renovated during the Edo period.


As a branch of Kibune, the main deity enshrined here is Takaokami, however, 2 other Kyoto kami, from the 2 Kamo shrines are also enshrined.


There are half a dozen subsidiary shrines in the grounds, the largest of which is Shimanami Inari. It was also originally within Amagasaki Castle but was not moved here until 1869 when the castle was decommissioned and soon dismantled. 


Symbols of an American Football can be seen at the shrine because of the link to Kwansei Gakuin Fighters, a local university american football team. Since their founding in 1941 the team has been very successful except for one year when they ranked sixth, their worst ever ranking. That year no-one prayed for success at the shrine, so ever since they have not missed a year.


I was visiting at the end of my second day walking the Kinki Fudo Myo pilgrimage. The previous post was on crossing the Yodo River.


Sunday, February 11, 2024

Norito Shrine

 


Norito Shrine was established about 1,000 years ago when the area it is in was "developed", that is to say turned from semi-wilderness into settled agricultural land.


It is located in the Ainoura River Valley which at this point runs east to west and is in essence a suburb of Sasebo.

There is also an Inari shrine in the grounds.


Norito is an unusual name for a shrine as it is the word that refers to the ritual chants, often called prayers, that Shinto priests utter in ceremonies. prior to the Meiji era the shrine was known as Ikuhara Daimyojin.


The main kami enshrined here is Iwainushi, believed to be a version of Futsunushi, a martial deity connected to swords and Katori Shrine who was an emissary from Amaterasu to Okuninushi and is claimed as the ancestor of the Mononobe Clan and later the Nakatomi/Fujiwara.


I was heading up the valley on day 67 of my walk along the Kyushu pilgrimage after visiting Tozenji Temple.