Showing posts with label kumano kodo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kumano kodo. Show all posts
Friday, December 29, 2023
Kashima Shrine Minabe
Labels:
komainu,
kumano kodo,
saigoku,
Shrine,
takemikazuchi,
torii,
wakayama
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Minakata Kumagusu Residence
In the previous post on the memorial museum, I wrote a little about him, but in this post I want to concentrate on the topic that made him famous, the shrine closure program of the government that began around 1910.
The shrine closure program only ran for a few years, and some areas resisted it quite strongly, but somewhere between 35 and 45 percent of all shrines throughout Japan were closed down. These were all local, nature-based deities that were moved, often quite some distance, to a "national" shrine.
Labels:
kumano kodo,
minakata kumagusu,
Museum,
saigoku,
tanabe
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Minakata Kumagusu Museum
I had never heard of Minakata Kumagusu, but since visiting I have come across him in various books and he has become more and more intriguing. He is often portrayed as a naturalist, and specifically an expert on slime mould, but he is also credited with being Japan's first environmentalist. Certainly he was a maverick and an eccentric.
When his daughter died she left a massive collection of notes and research materials to the town and they built this place as an archive of his materials, a museum about him, and as an ongoing research facility.
Next door is the house he lived in and it is also open to the public. When I post on that I will delve into the most intriguing aspect of Kuagusu, his fight against the shrine closure movement of the early 20th century which was his legacy which is why he is considered an environmentalist.
I visited at the start of the 5th day walking the Kumano Kodo as part of the Saigoku Pilgrimage. The previous post was on Tokei Shrine, part of the Kumano Kodo World Heritage sites and linked with the family of Benkei.
Labels:
Architecture,
kumano kodo,
minakata kumagusu,
Museum,
saigoku,
tanabe
Friday, April 21, 2023
Tokei Shrine Tanabe World Heritage Site
Tokei Shrine Tanabe World Heritage Site
Tokei Shrine is the main shrine of Tanabe, Wakayama, known as the gateway to the Kumano Kodo.
The famed warrior-monk Benkei, known primarily as the sidekick of Yoshitsune, was born in Tanabe and a statue in the shrine depicts him with his father and some chickens.
I arrived here at the end of my 4th day walking the Saigoku Pilgrimage. The previous post in the series was Takahara to Takajirioji on the Nakahechi.
Labels:
benkei,
camphor,
ema,
kumano kodo,
sacred tree,
saigoku,
Shrine,
torii
Monday, February 20, 2023
Takahara to Takijirioji on the Nakahechi
Takahara to Takijirioji on the Nakahechi
The previous post in the Saigoku series is Takahara Kumano Shrine
Labels:
kumano kodo,
nakahechi,
saigoku,
takahara,
wakayama
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Takahara Kumano Shrine
Takahara Kumano Shrine
Labels:
komainu,
kumano kodo,
nakahechi,
sacred tree,
saigoku,
Shrine
Thursday, September 8, 2022
Chikatsuyu to Takahara on the Nakahechi
Chikatsuyu to Takahara
Labels:
kumano kodo,
saigoku
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