tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79754211404466684772024-03-19T12:22:20.047+09:00More glimpses of unfamiliar JapanOff the beaten track in Japan:- Nature, Culture, History, Spirit, Art....Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.comBlogger2403125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-74891278195890980502024-03-18T19:54:00.000+09:002024-03-18T19:54:12.580+09:00Tabira 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 Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-55895387122919249502024-03-17T12:17:00.001+09:002024-03-17T12:17:21.674+09:00Along the Gonokawa River to Kawagoe After leaving the riverside fields of Tazu, the road heads about half a kilometer sandwiched between the forest and the river until the land opens up again in Kawagoe.This was the next stop on the train after Tazu, and Kawagoe has a post office and used to have an elementary school. A road runs inland up into the mountains.The bridge across the river is relatively new. When we first moved Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-15221020691964208062024-03-15T19:36:00.000+09:002024-03-15T19:36:06.481+09:00Ohashi 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 unusualOjisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-51679228978807204352024-03-14T19:54:00.000+09:002024-03-14T19:54:24.575+09:00Kounkaku MatsueIn the grounds of Matsue Castle stands quite an elegant Western-style building called Kounkaku.It was built in 1902-3 as a lodging for the Meiji Emperor. The emperor made half a dozen grand tours around the country, part of the governments program to instill a sense of nationhood among the population using the emperor as a unifying symbol. All across the country towns and cities built such Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-27800360691283197322024-03-12T13:45:00.001+09:002024-03-12T13:45:55.581+09:00Ohashi 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 Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-134545160984166792024-03-10T16:09:00.001+09:002024-03-10T16:09:48.781+09:00Up the Yoshino River to Ikeda A wayside Fudo Myo statue is a timely reminder that I am walking the Shikoku Fudo Myo pilgrimage as I leave the Teramachi district of Mima in Tokushima and continue west along the Yoshino River.For these first three days of the pilgrimage, I have been following the river upstream as it heads almost perfectly East to West. I had spent the morning visiting interesting sites in Mima after Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-51906843909111628192024-03-09T13:24:00.001+09:002024-03-09T13:24:30.773+09:00 Kumano Shrine Yoshii The Kumano Shrine in Yoshii, Nagasaki, is a fairly typical small, rural shrine. Set on a small, flat area within a forest clearing, it is reached by several long flights of stairs.Architecturally it is really just a utilitarian shed housing a small hokora-type shrine with a small altar set up in front of it. However, it looked as if the building had been wider at some point.There may Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-25993711105408209372024-03-07T17:02:00.000+09:002024-03-07T17:02:23.431+09:00Seikantei Garden Kinosaki Gokurakuji Temple is hidden away in a corner of Kinosaki Onsen and is barely visited by the majority of visitors to the resort town, who will miss a quite remarkable garden.Called Seikan Tei, it is a karesansui, "dry garden" most often associated with Zen, and Gokurakuji is a Rinzai Zen temple.It is somewhat unusual in that the garden is in front of the main hall and the entrance pathway Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-64721695191928789242024-03-06T15:15:00.001+09:002024-03-06T15:15:34.065+09:00Shrines 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.OnOjisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-70048196535512220372024-03-05T14:21:00.000+09:002024-03-05T14:21:24.298+09:00Nima Harbour Nima, a small town on the coast of Shimane is probably most famous nowadays for its unusual Sand Museum dedicated to the singing sands of nearby Kotogahama Beach.The most sheltered part of the harbour is the main branch of the Shio River which has been blocked off forcing the river to empty into the sea down a fork. This has left a deep channel sheltered behind what was an island. The riverOjisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-88868729787942319952024-03-03T19:34:00.000+09:002024-03-03T19:34:01.007+09:00Yodohime Shrine Shimenawa & Yamodo Festival When I saw the shimenawa on the torii to Yodohime Shrine I knew it was unusual, but only when I did the research for this post did I realize its significance. The very small, local shrine lies at the border of Matsubara and Yamine, in the mountains north of Sasebo, Nagasaki. The shrine was established in the first years of the 11th century and enshrines Toyotamahime, the grandmother of the Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-82898280482164053102024-03-01T17:05:00.001+09:002024-03-01T17:05:47.969+09:00Goto Falls Bato Kannon Temple 70 Sasaguri pilgrimage Temple 70 on the Sasaguri pilgrimage is located in the valley above Narafuchi Dam.Just above the temple is Goto Falls which was not particularly impressive, at least when I visited.However, being a waterfall there was an abundance of Fudo Myo statues.The honzon is a Bato Kannon, a "Horse-head Kannon" and there were also multip Bato Kannon statues.As with its equivalent temple on Shikoku, Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-45383082249397807042024-02-29T15:16:00.004+09:002024-03-10T20:00:10.586+09:00Tsurugake Kannon Saifukuji Temple 76 Kyushu pilgrimage Saifukuji Temple, number 76 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage, is located on a mountainside overlooking the Sasa River north of Sasebo, Nagasaki.The road up to the temple was a long gentle slope, for which I was grateful. The biggest building was a very large, modern house, I'm guessing the priest's residence.A small main hall had a statue of Kobo Daishi standing outside it.There wereOjisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-77918196652052301732024-02-27T13:46:00.000+09:002024-02-27T13:46:53.029+09:00Kifune 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 Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-13323799483790956032024-02-25T14:46:00.001+09:002024-02-25T14:46:13.174+09:00Sechibaru 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 prefectureOjisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-66302014702829250722024-02-24T13:17:00.000+09:002024-02-24T13:17:00.113+09:00From Kirime Oji to Tsui Oji along the Kumano Kodo Kiiji On day 6 of my walk along the Saigoku pilgrimage, I started at Kirime Station in Ninami Town, and headed north. For the first week or so of the walk, I was following the Kumano Kodo, in reverse. This section from Tanabe up to Osaka, is known as the Kiiji.I crossed the Kirime River and soon came to the first stop of the day, Kirime Shrine, or Kirime Oji.Oji were the 99 shrines Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-10722476760108048732024-02-20T13:24:00.002+09:002024-02-20T13:24:30.696+09:00The 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 Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-53270695645222593202024-02-19T14:39:00.000+09:002024-02-19T14:39:03.180+09:00From 28 Yakushi-do to 29 Kazaana-an Yakushi-do, temple 28 on the Shodoshima Pilgrimage is located on the east coast and about halfway down the Mito peninsula that has the southernmost point of Shodoshima at its tip.It is a fairly small, simple, and new structure that has been moved here fairly recently from higher up the slope. It is said that Crown Prince Taisho visited on his trip to the island in the first Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-79303389485876768902024-02-17T12:39:00.002+09:002024-02-17T12:39:16.795+09:00Saikoji Temple 73 on the Kyushu Pilgrimage Totakesan Saiko Temple, number 73 on the Shingon Kyushu Pilgrimage, is located in the high country north of Sasebo, Nagasaki, not far from the border with Arita in Saga.The long, straight approach is lined with lanterns, and many of the statues that comprise a miniature 88 temple Shikoku Pilgrimage. The latter part of the approach has a trellis supporting wisteria.There was a pond with a Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-1086377399254730122024-02-15T15:35:00.000+09:002024-02-15T15:35:06.775+09:00Takano Shrine Ninomiya of Mimasaka Takano Shrine is located on the Izumo Kaido to the west of Tsuyama City on the banks of the Yoshii River.It is the Ninomiya, the second-highest ranked shrine, of the former province of Mimasaka which is now northern Okayama prefecture.Said to have been founded in the mid 6th century, the shrine was supported by the Mori Clan when they ruled the area. The current main building was built in Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-1438352590075701922024-02-14T12:51:00.000+09:002024-02-14T12:51:44.159+09:00Great 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 Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-70963610154428548732024-02-12T18:28:00.000+09:002024-02-12T18:28:43.877+09:00From Futagoji to the Ferry After visiting Futagoji Temple and having climbed Mount Futago, I head off along the narrow mountain road that skirts around the central peaks of the Kunisaki peninsula and that will take me to the main road running north to the coast and the ferry home.There is a barrier across the road saying it is closed. I ignore the signs and carry on. I usually do this. Usually, there will be a small Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-42595683065054840702024-02-11T10:41:00.001+09:002024-02-11T10:41:26.752+09:00Norito 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 Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-47679116266020843802024-02-09T14:59:00.002+09:002024-02-09T14:59:28.592+09:00Senganji Temple 9 on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage Senganji Temple, number 9 on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage, sits on a steep hillside overlooking the small town of Kawamoto on the Gonokawa River.It is a Soto Zen temple with a Jizo for a honzon, and was founded in 1576.It was originally located in a valley to the west but was burned down, quite ossibly due to warfare.On to of the mountain was a castle belonging to the Ogasawara Clan who Ojisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7975421140446668477.post-57952505968564239272024-02-07T14:05:00.000+09:002024-02-07T14:05:45.396+09:00The Climb to Senganji Temple Kawamoto is the next town up the Gonokawa River from my village.Halfway up the steep hillside across the river from downtown Kawamoto is a small temple, Senganji.The temple becomes really visible in late Autumn when the trees around it turn orange, yellow, and red.I have actually only made it up to the temple one time, after walking down from Iwami Ginzan on day 5 of my walk along the IwamiOjisanjakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05506748719638540152noreply@blogger.com2