Sunday, July 16, 2023
Oki Islands Horses & Cattle
Monday, March 27, 2023
Hizen Torii & Other Shrine Details
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Saga Shrine & Matsubara Shrine
Saga Shrine & Matsubara Shrine
Friday, December 30, 2022
Chirikuhachimangu
Chirikuhachimangu
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Guardians of Kitano Tenmangu in Kurume
Sunday, January 2, 2022
Miscellaneous Statues along the Hita Kaido
Statues along the Hita Kaido
One of the subjects I focus on finding as I walk the roads and lanes of Japan is sculptures. On my walk along the Hita Kaido, the old highway running East out of Kurume, I encountered a huge number of them I've posted about the large number of Ebisu statues along the road. Ther were so may I did a second post. One town along the way had lots of Kappas, and of course, I recently posted a lot of Komainus.
This time I want to show you a selection of other statues from that day's walk that don't fit the other categories.
The top photo is of a small shrine that has a diverse collection of statues left by different parishioners over time. In this particular instance, all the statues are Buddhist, but very often they are a mix of Buddhist, Shi to, Daoist, secular, and occasionally, Christian statues.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Kagoshima Jingu
After getting my hotel room in Hayato I set off the explore the local shrine, Kagoshima Jingu, and was delighted to discover that this evening was going to be the Summer Matsuri and the shrine approach was lined with stalls setting up and large lanterns decorated with chidrens painting hung everywhere.
The wooden horse at the entrance was far more decorative than any other shrine horse I had seen because this one is how a horse is decorated for the Hatsu Uma Festival when the horse leads a procession to the shrine. The festival is said to originate from a dream had by the regional Daimyo who had slept at the shrine.
There are a lot of secondary shrines throughout the extensive grounds as this was the Ichinomiya, the highest ranked shrine in the province of Osumi which today forms the eastern half of Kagoshima Prefecture. The main enshrined kami are Hoori and Toyotamahime, the grandparents of the mythical first emperor Jimmu and legend says it was founded at that time.
This is the southern Kyushu variation of the founding myth of Japan that more usually places the activity further north in the mountains of Miyazaki around Takachiho. The ceiling of the main hall is decorated with hundreds of paintings of regional plants.
Also enshrined here are Emperor Ojin and his mother Jingu, collectively enshrined as Hachiman. There are quite a few huge camphor trees in the grounds too....
Monday, April 11, 2016
Ensei-ji & Konpira-sha
Enseiji Temple, located down a small side street in Hagi is an example of something that was once the norm but is now unusual, it is both a temple and a shrine on the same site.
It is home to the biggest stone lantern in the prefecture as well as a huge Tengu mask. It is famous for being the temple where Ito Hirobumi, Japans first Prime Minister, studied as a child. I did hear that his uncle was a priest here.
The reason given why the shrine and temple were not forced to seperate is that they were holding writings of an imperial princess from several centuries earlier. As stated it doesnt make sense, but they were not forced to separate.
The shrine is a Konpira, a branch of the famous one on Shikoku known for protection for sea journeys. The temple part is Shingon and the honzon is a Jizo. The temple was founded in the 13th Century, a long time before the castle town was built.