Showing posts with label nagasaki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nagasaki. Show all posts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Tabira Catholic Church

 


Tabira Catholic Church is located on the mainland close to the bridge across to Hirado Island.


It is a Romanesque brick structure with a wooden roof and was built in 1918.


Under the guidance of two French priests in the late Meiji period, Hidden Christians from areas further south in Nagasaki resettled in the area and built the church. Eventually many other Christian families migrated here.


The church was designed by Yosuke Tetsukawa who designed many other churches in the Nagasaki area.


In the late 20th century new stained glass from Germany and Italy was installed in the church and the original stained glass was donated to a church on Shikoku.


Since sites connected to Hidden Christians in Nagasaki were added to the UNESCO World Heritage, Tabira Church has become a popular tourist site. So nowadays it is recommended to contact the church in advance for permission to visit, but when I was there no such restrictions existed.


I visited on day 68 of my walk around Kyushu just before crossing over to Hirado. The previous ost was on the Ohashi Natural Bridge.



Friday, March 15, 2024

Ohashi Natural Bridge

 


If you follow the path up behind Ohashi Kannonji Temple you arrive at the Ohashi itself.


Formed when the roof of a cave collapsed, the natural bridge is about 30 meters long and about 4 meters wide and is split into two sections for most of it.


Scattered around the cliffs underneath it are numerous statues, the biggest being a Fudo Myo.


The community of ferns growing here is quite unusual and is registered as a National Natural Monument.


The natural bridge was one of the historic Hirado Hakkei, the "eight scenic views of Hirado Domain"


Unlike the American Southwest where the natural bridges and arches can be seen dramatically, here in Japan the dense vegetation makes them less than  impressive, but the biggest one in Japan, Onbashi in Hiroshima, is actually quite impressive.


The previous post in this series on day 68 of my walk around Kyushu was on the Ohashi Kannon Temple.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Sechibaru Coal Mine Museum

 


In the high country north of Sasebo, near the border with the  Arita district is the small local history museum dedicated to the former coal industry in the area of Sechibaru. Built as the offices of the local coal mine, the building is registered as an important cultural property as it is the only example of a Western-style building of stone in the northern part of Nagasaki prefecture. In Nagasaki City itself, there are numerous examples.


I am intrigued by the history of coal mining in Japan for two main reasons. One is that my grandfather and my father were coalminers and I grew up in the shadow of a coalmine. The second is that it is a little known part of modern Japanese history that kind of contradicts some of its cherished "myths".


I didn't know there were mines in this part of Nagasaki. I knew most Japanese coal was mined in northern Kyushu, with Battleship Island off the coast of Nagasaki being one of the famous sites, but northern Fukuoka and the Kumamoto-Fukuoka border area being some of the major coalfields. Early in this pilgrimage, I visited a coal mine museum in Nogata. A much longer article I wrote delving into the subject is here


There was not actually much on display, though the old photos were cool. I did learn that Kansai Coal Company, the owner of the mines, built a railway line in 1896 from Sechibaru down the valley to take the coal out. The previous post in this series on day 67 of my pilgrimage was on the nearby Oyamazumi Shrine and its ancient forest.


Tuesday, February 20, 2024

The Forest at Oyamazumi Shrine in Sechibaru

 


This Oyamazumi Shrine is located in Seechibaru Town in the high country north of Sasebo, and is one of several Oyamazumi shrines in the region.


Oyamatsumi was an older brother to Amaterasu and Susano and there are many shrines for him across Japan, the most famous being the one on Omishima Island which has the greatest collection of samurai armour and weapons in Japan in its collection.


What makes this particular local shrine of interest is the forest environment around it which is a rare example of old-growth forest in Japan.


It was designated a Natural Monument in 1972 primarily because it is home to a stand of Japanese Chinquapin trees, Castanopsis cuspidata, a tree related to Beech and Oak, it is an evergreen with edible nuts that grows to 20 to 30 meters in height. Covering less than 3 acres, is is very biodiverse with many other species of trees, both evergreen and deciduous, as well as numerous bushes and smaller plants including a rare fern.


Called Tsuburajii in Japanese, the dead wood of the Japanese Chinquapin is one of the best hosts for shiitake mushrooms and is actually the origin of the word shiitake itself. a combination of the Japanese kanji for tsuburajii(椎)  and take (mushroom)(茸).


The previous post was on Saikoji Temple which lies across the mountain in the valley I had walked up. I was now heading down the valley to the next pilgrimage temple.


Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Great Fudo at Saikoji Temple

 


This Daifudoson statue is located at Totakesan Saiko-ji Temple in the high country north of Sasebo, Nagasaki.

It is actually located in its own car parking area across the road from the temple grounds as it is known for traffic safety due to the inscription which says "Turn great hardships into small hardships, and small hardships into safety".

Saikoji is a Shingon temple and is number 73 on the Kyushu pilgrimage.


On the altar underneath the statue are several more, smaller Fudo statues.


I have been unable to find out any details about the statue.....I will post more on Saikoji next....


The previous post in this series was on Norito Shrine.






Thursday, February 1, 2024

A Walk Around Kyushu Day 66 Haiki to Sasebo

 A Walk Around Kyushu Day 6 Haiki to Sasebo Saturday March 8th 2014

For the last week or so of my pilgrimage there have actually been very few pilgrimage temples to visit. There have been days of walking between some of them, but the next few weeks that will see me completing the walk around Kyushu there are many pilgrimage temples so I will be visiting several a day. I will not be following the route suggested in the guidebook, which was written for people driving the route, but will zig zag somewhat in a route that makes more sense for someone walking. Like today I will be based in Sasebo and go out by train to each section of the walk. This has the advantage of me not having to carry a full pack, just a day pack.


Once I start out at Haiki the sun comes up and for a while, I walk along the bank of the Haiki Strait so have a wonderful view of golden reflections in the still water. I start to head East, inland up a river. I will be returning to Sasebo tonight but now I am heading directly away from it. The road climbs to a pass and then drops down to the Kawatana River valley and I head up it to the first temple of the day. Tozenji, number 66 on the pilgrimage, and like all the others belonging to the Shingon sect.

  

Where the main hall should be is just a flat area of gravel with strings stretched out marking where I presume the new hall will be built. A young priest comes out of a building and invites me inside for tea. Like all the priests I have met on this journey he expresses surprise at a foreigner walking the pilgrimage. I ask and receive permission to go through the fence and explore behind the temple. There is a narrow gully filled with mossy rocks on top of which stand small statues wearing red hats and bibs. The color combination of moss green with vermillion has come to be iconic for me. I say my farewell and he gives me some fruit and snacks to take with me.


I continue north towards Hasami town center then turn west and head towards Sasebo. I pass a lot of brick chimneys though most of them have derelict buildings underneath. Across the hills is Arita, famous for porcelain. Here in Hasami they make porcelain too, though it is not as famous. The chimneys belong to old potteries. I come to a busier main road and a few hundred meters along see a roadside diner, a Big Man burger joint. Sasebo Burgers are quite famous, an excellent article on them can be found here LINK so I stop for lunch, and I have to say it was an excellent meal, among the best burgers I have ever had in Japan.



Along the road at Mikawachi I join up with the railway and main road heading into Haiki and on to Sasebo. I head off the main road and meander up to the next temple, number71, Jyosen-ji. There is nothing outstanding here, though a path lined with 33 Kannon statues leads through manicured bushes. So back to the main road. It's now urban all the way in and other than a few shrines there is nothing much to report until in the southern part of downtown Sasebo I turn up through the entrance gate of Seigan-jitemple. It's not on the pilgrimage but seems to be the most interesting temple in Sasebo. Its a fairly long walk up into the wooded hillside, and turns out to be well worth the visit. The many buildings are situated next to a cliff which has numerous altars within overhangs, but the main thing is there are lots of statues. It's peaceful as the hum of the city does not reach in, and the diversity of statues keeps me occupied with taking photos.



Walking the last kilometer it is still sunny and so I decide to go on to the next pilgrimage temple today rather than tomorrow morning. It's less than a kilometer from my hotel and located on a hillside with a bit of a view over the city towards the port. All the buildings at Daichi-in, temple 104, are concrete, but there are some small plum trees in bloom, a massive paper lantern hanging over the steps to the main hall, and a couple of older wooden Nio so there is a little atmosphere. And that’s it for the day, I'm off to explore the nightlife and dining possibilities of Sasebo.



The diary for Day 65 can be found here.


Thursday, January 25, 2024

Yonkacho Shopping Arcade

 


Yonkacho is a shopping street in Sasebo, Nagasaki. It is now covered and pedestrianized so counts as an arcade.


Its name means "four towns", with the word "cho" being translated as "town", but really means a kind of district, or sub-division of a town, and the shopping street passes through four different "cho".


Yonkacho connects directly with Sankacho, another arcade that passes through 3 "towns", and the two combined have a total length of almost one kilometer.


There are longer arcades in Japan, but apparently, they have slight bends or turns in them, but Yonkacho/Sankacho is dead straight, so is known as the longest, straight, arcade in Japan.


I do not consider shopping in any way a fun or pleasant activity, but these shopping streets sometimes are good for finding somewhere to eat, but mostly their use for me is as  a dry route to walk in rainy weather.


The previous post in this series on day 66 of my walk around Kyushu was the nearby Daiichi-in Temple.


Monday, January 22, 2024

Kurokamizan Daiichi-in Temple 104 on the Kyushu pilgrimage

 


Daiichi-in, the 104th temple of the Shingon Kyushu pilgrimage is located on the hillside overlooking downtown Sasebo in Nagasaki.


It was founded in 806 on Mount Kurokami near Takeo in what is now Saga.


It burned down in 1891 and because of the growth of Sasebo due to it being a major naval base, it was decided to rebuild there rather than its original site.


It opened in Sasebo in 1901, though most of the current buildings were built post 1978.


Kobo Daishi is said to have visited Mount Kurokami and prayed there before his journey to China.


On his return from China he revisited the mountain and while there carved a small Fudo Myo statue "with his fingernails". It is the "secret Buddha" enshrined in the Goma-do, photo 4 above.


After its founding in 806 it became a powerful temple in the region with 80 subsidiary temples under its control.


It is considered to be the first temple founded by Kobo Daishi in Hizen, the former province that now is largely Nagasaki and Saga prefectures,


The honzon is considered the Fudo statue carved by Kobo Daishi. In the main hall are enshrined Yakushi Nyorai, Amida Nyorai, and Senju Kannon. The temple is locally popular for the Seven Lucky Gods.


The previous post in this series on Day 66 of my first Kyushu pilgrimage was Seiganji Temple in Sasebo.