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Welcome to my Travelogue throught Asia,
... ... ... via Haiku !
CHINA
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China : Anji Bridge
.........................Photo Albums
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Dharamsala Tibetan Opera 1979
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Kashmir PHOTO ALBUM
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INDEX of my Japan Travelogues
... ... ... ... Start exploring from HERE !
Daruma Pilgrims --
Introducing famous Places of Japan
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Taiwan Travelogue
Taiwan
PHOTO ALBUM
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THAILAND
Thailand Travelogue
Thailand
PHOTO ALBUM
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12/30/2010
Welcome and Enter !
11/30/2009
Tanjo-Ji Okayama
Temple Tanjo-Ji
Tanjooji 誕生寺 Okayama
My Introduction
Temple Tanjo-Ji and Honen Shonin 法然上人
More of my PHOTOS from Temple Tanjo-Ji
. O-Shichi Kannon お七観音
. Tanjo-Ji in Autumn 2007
The Huge Gingko Tree
autumn deepens -
the beauty of prayer
in stone
. SPRING FESTIVAL 2008
Tanjo-Ji Neirkuyo 誕生時 練り供養
. wispering words
of eternal love
December 2009
. Colors of Hope at Tanjo-Ji
New Year 2009
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. INVITATION
Take a Ginko Haiku Walk in Temple Tanjo-Ji 
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The Big Buddha of temple Tanjo-Ji
Amida Nyorai no Daibutsu 阿弥陀如来
He has been standing in the dark at the foot of a hill, surrounded by trees and gravestones, in a gloomy part of the temple compound.
. The Big Buddha covered with Moss (2007)
Since December 2009 he is out in the open, freshly cleaned and on a huge podest.
backlit
above the pine needles
beside the bamboo grove
some people have work
some people have no work
New Year is coming
仕事ある人
仕事が無い人も
お正月
. Haiku and Happiness
The former companions of the Big Buddha Statue
muenbotoke, graves of the unknown
More of my PHOTOS from Temple Tanjo-Ji
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11/29/2009
Honen and Temple Tanjo-Ji
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BACKUP
Saint Hoonen, Hoonen Shoonin, Honen
法然上人
Founder of Pure Land Buddhism
For kigo about his memorial day see below.
I live very close to the temple where Honen was born, Tanjoo-Ji in Okayama prefecture.
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The Life of Honen Shonin
Honen Bo Genku (1133-1212), or simply Honen, is one of the most outstanding figures in the long history of Japanese Buddhism. Along with Dogen, Nichiren and Shinran, his disciple, he represents the core of the revolutionary Kamakura Buddhist movement which created the first popular and uniquely Japanese forms of Buddhism. Though not as noted in the West than these counterparts, Honen is perhaps the most pivotal of the four since he was the first to break with the established centers of Tendai (Ch. T'ien T'ai) and Shingon (tantric) patronized by the royal court and military authorities.
It was at age 43, with a deepening exposure to the Pure Land teachings of the great Chinese Master Shan-tao (Jp. Zendo), that Honen made this radical break to pursue his own spiritual vision. The rest of his life is an unfolding of his own particular and uniquely Japanese vision of Pure Land Buddhism. This second period of his life also marks the blooming of his teachings amongst the peasant classes of medieval Japan and his clashes with imperial and shogunal authority.
From his systematization of a unique Japanese Pure Land tradition, the nembutsu (念仏nenbutsu), or calling on the grace of Amida Buddha, has become the most popular form of Buddhist practice and devotion in Japan. Two of Japan's largest denominations, Jodo-shu (浄土宗 joodoshu) centered around Honen and Jodoshin-shu centered around his disciple Shinran, are further marks of his legacy.
I. A Personal Portrait
Major Biographies of Honen
II. Early Life and Training in Tendai-shu
Social and Religious Turmoil in Late Heian Japan
Syncretic Development of the Tendai School in Japan
Tendai-shu Esoteric and Exoteric Lineages
The Influence of Genshin's Ojoyoshu on Honen
III. Religious Conversion
Textual Evidence in the Biographies
IV. Persecution and Final Days
Kofuku-ji Petition (Kofuku-ji sojo)
A CHRONOLOGY OF HONEN SHONIN
1133 Born on April 7 in Mimasaka in present day Okayama Prefecture
1145 Leaves home to become a monk at the Tendai center of Mt. Hiei
1150 Moves to the Kurodani Retreat area of Mt. Hiei and studies under Eiku
1175 Has conversion experience reading Shan-tao's Commentary on the Meditation Sutra and leaves Mt. Hiei.
1186 "Ohara Debate" with group of Buddhist scholar-monks from Nara and Mt. Hiei marks seminal moment in legitimation and spread of teachings
1191 Gives series of lectures on the Three Pure Land Sutras (jodosanbukyo) to a large group of scholar monks at Todai-ji in Nara
1195 Genchi becomes the first of his major disciples
1198 Honen's magnum opus, the Senchaku Hongan Nembutsu Shu (Passages on the Selection of the Nembutsu in the Original Vow), is dictated and transcribed to his disciples Junsai, Kansai and Shoku.
1198-1206 Experiences sustained states of absorption and spontaneous visualization of the Pure Land which he chronicles in the Sanmai-hottokuki (Record of Attaining Samadhi)
1201 Shinran, the founder of Jodo Shinshu, becomes his disciple
1204 Writes the Shichikajo-kishomon (Seven Article Pledge) in response to the Genkyu Oppression by the monks of Mt. Hiei
1207 Sent into exile to Shikoku by Emperor Gotoba after two of his ladies in waiting are converted and become nuns under Honen's disciples Anraku and Juren who are subsequently beheaded.
1211 Finally is allowed to return to Kyoto four years after his pardon
1212 Writes Ichimai Kishomon (The One Sheet Document) and passes away on January 23 reciting the nembutsu
http://www.jsri.jp/English/Honen/life.html
http://www.jsri.jp/English/Main.html
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More details about Saint Honen .
The Memorial Statue of the Mother of Saint Honen in Mimasaka.
© Gabi Greve
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/04/cherry-blossom-lake.html
Tanjoo-ji 誕生時
The Ceremony of the 25 Bosatsu 二十五菩薩練供養
Third Sunday in April
http://www.town.kumenan.okayama.jp/tanjoji/tanjoji.html
This temple is also famous for its huge Gingko biloba tree (another kigo).
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Memorial Ceremony for Honen, April 18 to April 25
This is a kigo for late spring, category Observance. There are some variations for this kigo.
Gyoki 御忌
Hoonen-ki (Honenki) 法然忌
Enkoo-Ki 円光忌
taking part in the ceremony, gyoki moode 御忌詣で
Temple with a memorial ceremony, gyoki no tera 御忌の寺
loosening the strings of the sutras, kyoo no himotoki 経の紐解き
..... (on the first day of the seven day ceremonies)
special kimono for the gyoki ceremony, gyoki kosode 御忌小袖
..... (worn by the chique ladies of Kyoto for this ceremony)
Ceremony for Hoonen, gyoki-e 御忌会
..... (sometimes on the 25 of January)
First Lunchbox, bentoo hajime 弁当初め > Lunchbox (kigo)
..... (visitors bring their own lunchbox and enjoy it in the temple grounds)
The Gyoki Ceremony at Temple Chion-In, Kyoto
Chio-in is just north of the Yasaka Shrine and Maruyama Park.It is the head temple of the Jodo ("Pure Land") sect of Buddhism. It is one of the most important spritual places in Japan. The Jodo sect is the most popular Buddhist sect in Japan.
The 74-tons temple bell is also the largest in Japan. It takes as many as 17 monks to operate it at the New Year ceremony in which the bell is struck 108 times representing the 108 desires in the mind to be gotten rid of before the new year begins
http://www.op97.org/cyberteen/2004/winter/chionin/
Picture Scroll of his Life at the Chion-In
http://www.chion-in.or.jp/c_00/index.html
http://www.chion-in.or.jp/home.html
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The Gyoki Ceremony at Kita Kogane, with many pictures
http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~tadataka/matsuri/gyoki.html
Great photo of the pagoda by Frantisek Staud
http://phototravels.net/japan/pcd1663/pagoda-chion-47.html
Chion-In with many pictures of the compounds.
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~hidesan/chion-in.htm
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分かれても まだ会える 浄土あり
Joodo Paradise -
the place where we meet again
after we part
Gabi Greve, April 2007
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. Tanjo-Ji in Autumn 2007
The Huge Gingko Tree
autumn deepens -
the beauty of prayer
in stone
. . SPRING FESTIVAL 2008
Tanjo-Ji Neirkuyo 誕生時 練り供養
. The Big Buddha of Tanjo-Ji 2009
. O-Shichi Kannon お七観音
. More of my PHOTOS from Temple Tanjo-Ji
Take the Slide Show !
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11/28/2009
Spring Festival 2008
 procession of the children  procession of the 25 Bodhisattvas starts    Bosatsu with a flute  spring ceremony - he leads his Buddha by the hand |
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Tanjo-Ji Neirkuyo 誕生時 練り供養
Procession of the 25 Bodhisattvas in honour of the parents of Saint Honen Shonin, who was born here.
The masks do not provide much vision for the wearer, so eack Bosatsu is trusting its leader on the way. It is a special honour to be choosen as one of the 25 each year.
The Amida Prayer Namu Amida Butsu was chanted the whole day via loudspeakers in the temple compound.
. Check the PHOTO ALBUM from here to Nr. 34
. Temple Tanjo-Ji ant Saint Honen
25 Bosatsu
. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008
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O-Shichi Kannon
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BACKUP
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Fudo Myo-O Gallery
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O-Shichi Kannon お七観音
At the Temple Tanjo-Ji in Okayama
A bell to warn if there is a fire
As a special temple of the pilgrimage to the 33 Kannon Temples in Central Japan, Tanjo-Ji (Tanjooji) hosts a hall for the Kannon Statue carved by Jigaku Daishi and enshrined here in 1631 by the Lord of Tsuyama.
This statue is now called "O-Shichi Kannon" to remind us of the famous woman "O-Shichi" who started a great fire in the Edo period, where many lives were lost and many temples burnt down. This statue is also for the repose of the soul of O-Shichi herself.
現在、中国三十三観音特別霊場としてまつられている聖観世音菩薩は、慈覚大師の作で、本堂南側に位置する観音堂（寛永８年（1631年）津山城主初代・森忠政公寄進）に安置されている。この聖観音菩薩は、お七観音と称され、後世に次のような八百屋お七の物語を伝えている。
元禄１２年（1699年）のことであった。
当山第15世通誉上人が、江戸に上り、回向院で御本尊法然上人像を出開帳していた。このとき、八百屋お七の遺族がお七の位牌と振袖を持参し、亡きお七の供養を上人に懇願したという。上人はこれらの遺品を作州に持ち帰り、当山のこの観音菩薩ご宝前にて、お七の菩提をねんごろに弔った。
また、再びお七の様な哀れなことがない様にと、もし何か切実なる悩み、苦しみ、願望を持つものあらば、その願いを必ず成就させてやってほしいと、祈願されたのであった。
以後、大願成就の「お七観音」として人々の信仰をあつめている。
くだんの振袖は現在当山宝物館に展示されている。
聖観世音菩薩（お七観音）のその眼を静かに拝する時、衆生の心を見透かすの様な、霊験あらたかな不思議さを秘めている。
特別霊場 誕生寺 岡山県久米南町 
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Yaoya no O-Shichi Greengrocer's Daughter Oshichi
Most people in Japan live in wooden houses. During the Edo era, those houses in Edo (Tokyo) stood much too close together. So if a fire broke out, it could spread rapidly. One of the big fires then was called 'the Big Fire in Tenna' or 'Oshichi-fire'.
Once there lived a greengrocer named Hachibei in Hongo, a town in Edo, with his wife and daughter Oshichi who was then 16 years old. She looked older than her age, though. It was 28th of December 1682, when a fire broke out in a nearby temple.
"Fire! Fire!" people shouted and ran this way and that way trying to make their escape.
Hachibei urged his wife and daughter Oshichi to get out of the house,
"It's getting windier. It must be a big fire. What is worse, our house is standing downwind of the fire. It's dangerous to stay here. Let's evacuate to the Kichijoji Temple."
(It was in Komagome, where their ancestor's grave was.)
"Run faster, or the fire will catch you! Don't stop!" Oshichi was said.
She followed her parents and ran as fast as her legs could move.
The fire started burning around noon and was put out at around five the next morning. It is said that over 3,500 people were killed in the fire.
Kichijoji Temple was already filled with a lot of refugees. The mother happened to see a young man sitting in the corner of the room trying to take a splinter out of his finger. She said to her daughter,
"Oshichi, that young man over there seems to have some troubles. Maybe he got a splinter in his finger. Go and help him take it out, while I greet the priest."
The daughter approached him to offer a help. She took his hand to examine. Soon she said,
"I got it! Are you feeling better?"
He smiled at her and said,
"Yeah, thank you. You helped me a lot."
The young man was working at the temple, as his parents asked the priest to look after him.
Hand in hand, the two young people gazed at each other for a while. Eventually they fell in love.
"Oshichi, Oshichi, I'm coming," the girl's mother called her daughter's name.
"Oh, your name is Oshichi, isn't it? I'm Kichisaburo," he said.
"Kichisaburo? Can I call you Kichi-sama?" the girl said.
"Sure. Uh...I want to know a bit more about you. Please write me a note and put it under that big stone there in the garden," he asked.
"Yeah, I will," she said and went away with her mother.
Oshichi and her parents were forced to stay in the temple until their house was rebuilt. During the days, the girl shared happy hours with the young man exchanging letters secretly. She found a letter written by him under the big rock in the garden and put her own letter there instead.
Continued HERE
http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Gaien/7211/kudos12/oshichi1.html
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External LINK
O-Shichi Kannon at Tanjo-Ji
美作観音霊場 List of the Temples
Photos of Tanjo-Ji
「八百屋お七と吉三の悲恋の碑」Stone Memorial of O-Shichi in Meguro Tokyo
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fire and love -
quite a hot topic
for a cold night
More about FIRE and HAIKU
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My Introduction
Temple Tanjo-Ji and Honen Shonin 法然上人
More of my PHOTOS from Temple Tanjo-Ji 2007
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11/27/2009
Tanjo-Ji in Autumn 2007
 autumn deepens - the unfettered beauty of this Amida temple  autumn deepens - the beauty of prayer in stone  DRAGON BRANCHES  Amida Buddha  |
LOOK
Temple Tanjo-Ji, ALBUM November 2007
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Temple Tanjo-Ji in my neighbourhood
Temple Tanjo-Ji in Okayama
Saint Honen was born here !
Saint Honen, born at this temple ..
by Gabi Greve
Joodo Paradise where we meet again ..
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***** pickled radish, takuanzuke 沢庵漬
kigo for all winter
..... Takuan was a famous Zen Priest, who invented this dish. It is very popular. Zen monks are supposed to eat their slices of Takuan radish without making any noise. There are usually two slices on the plate, used to carefully clear out the bolws afer eating and then munching the Takuan in silence.
If you want to know the secret of eating Takuan in silence, contact me :o) !
The Unfettered Mind. by Takuan Soho
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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11/26/2009
Big Buddha in Autumn 2007
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| 分かれても まだ会える 浄土あり  Joodo Paradise - the place where we meet again after we part  |
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Temple Tanjo-Ji in Yuge Tanjoo-Ji, birth temple of Honen Shonin.
法然上人の誕生寺
. . The Big Buddha of temple Tanjo-Ji
On his new podest, December 2009
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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11/25/2009
Sacred Gingko Tree 2007
 sacred gingko tree - a prayer falls with every leaf  the huge trunk with the sacred rope  sacred gingko tree - how many tears have you witnessed ? |
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As I was standing below this old, huge tree, camera poised upward, there was all of a sudden a strong sweep of wind and all these leaves kept dancing around me, rustling down with a thousand strange voices, each one saying its own prayer ...
a sacred moment and so unexpected
sacred gingko tree-
each leaf rustles a prayer
as it falls
this is maybe a bit too long ?
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Read about my visit to
Temple Tanjo-Ji, Okayama
Tanjooji 誕生寺 Okayama
The Sacred Gingko Tree of Saint Honin !
It is more than 800 years old.
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銀杏散る遠くに風の 音すれば
ichoo chiru tooku ni kaze no oto sureba
scattering gingko leaves
faint sound from the wind
far away
Tomiyasu Fusei (1885 - 1979)
Gingko biloba tree : KIGO Japan
TREES as topic for haiku !
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Aah, but a prayer always rises !
or
Leaves saying prayers?
Faith and prayer, expressed in haiku
.. Join the Discussion !
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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1/03/2009
Hot Spring Onsen
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Hot springs are one of the great joys of life in Japan!
ONSEN 温泉 . おんせん
Here are some photos of our travels.
Osorezan, Shimokita hantoo
MORE
My Osorezan Photos
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Furo Fushi ... No Old Age, No Death
MORE
My Furo Fushi Onsen Photos
the best way
to a long life ...
my life in Japan
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A hot waterfall at Kawaharage
MORE
My Kawaharage Photos
hot waterfall
in the middle of nowhere ...
my life in Japan
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Magoroku Onsen
by the raging river
MORE
Photos of Magoroku Onsen
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MORE
My Onsen Hot Spring Photos
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温泉猿 Monkeys sitting in the Hot Springs ! 
Monkey Business in Hot Water
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Areas of Japan where hot water and steam are coming out of the ground are often called "hell" jigoku 地獄.
Some onsen villages even have a special deity to protect their area,
Jigoku Myoojin ”地獄明神”(Jigoku Myojin).
Myoojin no yu 明神の湯 Hot Spring of Myojin
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
Others have a statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of healing, onsen Yakushi 温泉薬師.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
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Hot Springs called DARUMA
WASHOKU
Onsen Tamago 温泉卵 eggs boiled in onsen water
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5/21/2008
Yasugi (Izumo Kaido)
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Yasugi 安来宿
MAP of the area
A big earthquake of magnitude 7.3, of which the center was in the western part of Tottori Prefecture broke out at around 13:30, October 6, 2001.
Yasugi City is located in the east end of Shimane Prefecture, close to the western end of Tottori Prefecture. In Yasugi City, though the scale of the earthquake was great, the damage was comparatively small and fortunately no inhabitant died, however, quite number of buildings and structures were damaged.
© sciencelinks.jp
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... Photo Album
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Yonago
NEXT TO
Matsue
More detailed Izumo Entries to enjoy !
Izumo Kaido, The Old Road of Izumo 出雲街道
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Yonago
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Yonago 米子
Yonago was originally a fishing village called Kano.
MAP of Yonago area
Yonago (米子市, Yonago-shi) is a city located in the northwest of Tottori, Japan, facing the Sea of Japan, and adjacent to Shimane. It is the prefecture's second largest city after Tottori and therefore a commercial center of the western part of this prefecture.
The current city was administratively founded on April 1, 1927, and merged with Yodoe Town in 2005. It has an art gallery.
The name "Yonago" means "Rice Child", though since the city has begun to develop into a trade center of note, it has acquired the nickname Osaka in San-in.
The Amago family, the daimyo in the Sengoku period, constructed a castle in the area. In the Edo period, the castle was kept by a castellan who served the Ikeda of Tottori.
Yonago has always been an important crossing point of several routes in the area.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !
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coming from Mizuguchi, take route 181
Kugo Shrine, Kugo Jinja 久古神社
Japanese LINK
Maruyama Shrine, Maruyama Jinja 丸山神社
near Kishimoto
Temple Oodera haiji 大寺廃寺
Temple Sakanaka haiji 坂中は廃寺
Odaka Castle Remains
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Yonago Castle Remains 米子城（よなごじょう）
Situated on Mount Ii (飯山（いいのやま)
The Amako (尼子 ( あまこ ）Amago) were descended from Takahisa, a grandson of Rokkaku Takauji. Takahisa is said to have taken the name 'Amako' since he had been raised by a nun (ama (nun), ko (son). He took Tomita Castle in Izumo Province for the Kyôgoku shugo and his descendants were powerful in Izumo from the 14th Century until the mid-16th Century. From their headquarters at Gassan-Toda Castle, the Amako challenged, with mixed results, the Ôuchi and, later, the Môri. They were destroyed as daimyô by Môri Motonari in 1566 and disappeared as a military force with the suicide of Amako Katsuhisa in 1578.
Amako Tsunehisa, Lord of Izumo
1458-1541
Iyo no kami, Mimbu-shôsuke
Tsunehisa was the eldest son of Amako Kiyosada 尼子清定 (d.1487).
© www.samurai-archives.com
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From there, the Road to Daisen, Daisen Michi
大山道 （だいせんみち）started.
MOUNT DAISEN in Tottori
An Overview of my visits
There have been five old roads leading toward Mt. Daisen and its famous temple from the Yonago area, the one from the city itself started from Odaka, now it is route 24.
Booryoo Michi 坊領（ぼうりょう）道」
Odaka Michi 「尾高（おだか）道」
Mizoguchi Michi 「溝口（みぞぐち）道」
Yokote Michi 「横手（よこて）道」
Kawatoko Michi 「川床（かわとこ）道」
The temple at Mt. Daisen was also famous as a protector deity for the cows and horses, important animals of their time.
Japanese Reference
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From Yonago to Sakai ... Sakai Orai
(Sakai oorai 境往来)
With beautiful storehouses and merchants' residences reflected on the river surface, and with Mt. Daisen on the background, the road extends to the sea...
The road connects the city of Yonago, called "Commercial Capital" of San-in, to Sakai-Minato. Yonago is a castle town of Hoki Province with 180,000-koku that was constructed in the early Edo Period with the construction of the Yonago Castle. It prospered in the mid Edo Period through Taisho Era by maritime transportation business.
In the downtown area around the former Kamogawa river that once prospered as a transportation passage, there are still storehouses of white plastered walls and residences of distinguished merchants remaining. And along Teramachi (temple town) street are nine temples that were gathered for the strongholds of the Yonago Castle, giving the clear atmosphere of a castle town.
Pleasure boats for Kamogawa river and Nakaumi lake cruise depart from the front of white-walled storehouses.
© Yume-Kaido Renaissance Project Team
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My walk through
The Temple Town of Yonago, Teramachi 寺町
Okamoto Store in the Temple Town
. . . DRAGONS of Yonago Temple Town
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My HAIKU TRIPS to .. YONAGO
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Yonago Temple Town
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The Temple Town of Yonago, Teramachi 寺町
This is a small village in itself, with more then 10 temples, most of them aligned on the one main road. The temples hold the graves of the townspeople since the Edo period and older.
During the strong earthquake in 2001 a lot of damage was done to the buildings and compounds, so now they all look rather new and well cleaned up.
New Temple Gate
Many new stone lanterns of the same type are in the temple gardens.
Words to live by ...
Temple gate with carvings
Dragon Carving in the Gables
New orange roof tiles and stone lanterns
Graves of the unknown, Mu-en Botoke
Temple hall for Myoken Bosatsu
Striped walls of the Temple Gates
a closer look !
My Story about
Grandmother Okamoto
Toy Store in the Temple Town
peace for the world !
just some flowers
by the temple gate
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Namu Jizo Daibosatsu 南無地蔵大菩薩
In every temple was a group like this one or at least one or more stone steles with this inscription, an invocation of Jizo, who cares for the afterlife of children. Here they are in respect for the earthquake victims of 2001.
In front of a bell tower
They are all here :
Namu Jizo Daibosatsu
Here is more about this deity:
... ... ... Jizo Bosatsu 地蔵菩薩
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Start the PHOTO walk from HERE
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Jizo Daibosatsu
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Namu Jizo Daibosatsu 南無地蔵大菩薩
in Yonago Temple Town
In every temple was a group like this one or at least one or more stone steles with this inscription, an invocation of Jizo, who cares for the afterlife of children.
Here they are in respect for the earthquake victims of 2001.
オン カカカ ビサンマエイ ソワカ
on kakaka bisanmaei sowaka
on - offering a prayer
ka - holy sylable for Jizo, repeated three times
bisanmaei - a very rare and special thing
sowaka - may all things be at peace !
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Lantern for Jizo Daibosatsu
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Yonago Temple Town
Jizoo Bosatsu (Kshitigarbha) 地蔵菩薩
Read my Haiku Archives
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Okamoto Toy Store
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Okamoto Sweets and Toy Store
岡本一銭屋 "One Cent Store"
The present owner, a friendly old lady, lost her home in Kobe during the great earthquake of 1995, only to come here and experience the earthquake of 2001!
Her house is an old wooden structure in the stle of a Kyoto merchant home (Kyoto Machiya), with an open three-story part in the middle to give sunlight to the inner parts of the house.
The walls were all newly painted, since during the earthquake all the white stuck had fallen down and almost killed her daughter under the rubble.
She was sitting in her store-cum-living-room, talking to some students of the nearby Yonago University. The front store sells cheap sweets, dagashi (see LINK below), but it seems she only runs the store for the fun of having the students come in and talk to them. Others came in while we were there and she seemed to be like a good mother to them all.
She is also often visited by the small children of the neighbourhood after school, where she is lovingly known as "Grandma", and tries to teach the little ones good manners, which is rather seldom these days.
She took a fancy to me and showed my the whole house.
Her husband was quite fond of antiques, so the walls are covered with this and that and we keep talking ...
Here is the shop sign of the store outside, quite remarkable in size
Click for enlargement
It reads
Ichi Zeni Ya 一銭屋
She talked more about the antiques collecting hobby of her husband.
More than 40 years ago, a shrine nearby burned down, because a huge tree was struck by lightning, split into many parts and started a fire ...
To pay for the rebuilding, the priest thought of selling parts of the "holy tree" for fundraising. So her husband bought a large chunk of it, which now sits there as a partition to the back part of the home. Her husband gave a small fortune to get this piece ... but she was really angry at that time, because she had to care for two small children and the purse of the family was rather tight in these days.
Now this special piece sits there as a fond rememberance of her husband, who passed away a few years ago, and she laughs when she tells the story of her anger!
This is a different one (tsuitate 衝立) but you get the impression of her treasure.
sourrounded by the past
she laughts with the children ...
Grandma Okamoto
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Start the PHOTO walk from HERE
. . . . . Yonago Temple Town
More about the cheap sweets, dagashi
AME, DAGASHI Sweets and Daruma
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Temple Walls
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Temple Gates with striped walls
Yonago Temple Town, with 9 temples side by side.
Most walls had been destroyed during the earthquake in 2001.
Many walls have wooden boards now, some seem sujibei 筋塀.
I just line up the photos I got from my visit in May 2008.
Plain white wall
Discussion about 5-banded walls
PMJS: Premodern Japanese Studies
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Mizokuchi
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Mizoguchi (Mizokuchi) 溝口
鳥取県伯耆町(西伯郡) 溝口
MAP of Mizoguchi area
Mt. Daisen seen from Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi lies west of Mt. Daisen and is one of its entrance stations.
Mizokuchi has a great station and bus terminal, but few trains stop here ... and many houses along the main street are empty now in 2008.
When you cross the river Hinogawa, there is the "Bridge guarded by a demon" Kimori bashi 鬼守橋.
Mizoguchi is a town with one of the oldest "oni" demon legends in Japan and many things in this village are decorated with a demon.
There is even a museum of demons, 鬼ミュージアム, Onikko rando 鬼っ子ランド, but it closed down due to not enough visitors to bring in money for the upkeep !
Demon at the station wall
manhole with Demon
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The main resthouse of the Matsue Clan is close to the station, it used to be called 御茶屋.
Its warden used to be the Shinohara Family 篠原以左衛門邸 .
Some of the old houses along the old kaido still show the former features of white walls.
Dragon Branches in the Garden
House of a merchant
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in the shade of old trees ...
Jizo waiting for
a travel companion
Jizo with a pilgrim's hat and staff
More PHOTOS of this small place in the village
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Mizokuchi Shrine 溝口神社
Start the Shrine photos from HERE !
The Sacred Rope, Shimenawa
Main Shrine Building
Stone lantern with special roof structure
Gables with Dragon carving
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hold it right there ...
a demon watching over
an empty town
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Next on the road toward Izumo are the villages of
Kuzumo 車尾 and Tenman 天万
During the Edo period and earlier, the river Hino often was flooded and travellers could not cross it for about three days until the waters lowered for crossing.
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Mizoguchi ... Photo Album
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4/22/2008
Mount Daisen
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  Spring 2008 the beauty of our Japan - old mountains and modern electricity lines   Yonago Flower Park 2007 |
Mount Daisen (大山, Daisen), is a volcanic mountain located in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It has an elevation of 1,729 metres. This mountain is the highest in the Chūgoku region, and the most important volcano on the Daisen volcanic belt. The Daisen volcanic belt is a part of western Japan volcanic belt, where the Philippine Plate is subducting under the Eurasian Plate.
Mount Daisen is a Complex volcano, which was made by repeated volcanic activities in many thousands years. Eruptions in this area started 1.8 million years ago and made ‘Old Mount Daisen’ by 500 thousand years ago. Today’s Mount Daisen was a ‘New Mount Daisen’ made by second group of eruptions which started 50 thousand years ago on a part of Caldera of Old Mount Daisen till 10 thousands years ago. 50 thousands years ago, this mountain made plinian eruption, and volcanic ash can be found in the Tohoku Region of Japan. This mountain is one of the 100 famous mountains in Japan, and also one of the Chūgoku 100 mountains.
History
Mount Daisen, which stood directly from the Sea of Japan, was regarded as one of the most important mountain for Japanese Shugendo. According to ‘Izumo Kokudo Fudoki, which was completed the edition in 733, this mountain was called ‘Ookamitake’’, literally, ‘Mountain of the great god.’
In the middle of the mountain, there is a Buddhist temple, called ‘Daisen-ji', the temple of Mount Daisen. As a centre of worship on the mountain, this temple has developed since the Heian Period.
Climbing the mountain used to be severely prohibited without a selected monk of Daisen-ji and common people could not access the mountain until the Edo Period.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !
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More PHOTOS from here on ! 2008 Spring
Mt. Daisen, my visit in 2005
Izumo Kaido, The Old Road of Izumo 出雲街道
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Neu, Ne-U (Izumo Kaido)
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Postal Town Ne-U (Neu 根雨（ねう）
Now Part of Hino Town 日野町根雨
Stone Buddhas at the village entrance
Many travellers of old, who made it over the steep pass between Shinjo and Itaibara down to here died of exhaustion and were laied to rest here as "Unknown Travellers". Villagers would tend to the graves and memorial stones.
Memorial Stone for Animals
Memorial Stone of the Nichiren Sect
This town was famous for its iron processing, the most famous of the old homes belongs to the Kondo Family 近藤家.
The first Kondo, a certain Denbei, to settle here in Ne-U during the Edo period came from Bingo (now Hiroshima prefecture) to deal in iron. The shop curtain in front of the store even now reads "Bingo 備後".
In the fourth generation, a certain Kichibei started the iron manufacturing business, which expanded rapidly and even now has many factories in Hino Town.
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Neu, Hino town 根雨、日野
Damaged roofs were covered with plastic sheets to prevent leaks in the case of rainfall. The traffic on the Japan Railway Hakubi line was suspended due to rock falls and slope failures.
© THE 2000 TOTTORI-KEN SEIBU EARTHQUAKE
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Ne-U Photo Album
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Mount Daisen 大山
on the road to Ebi 江尾, an unexpected view of
Mount Daisen
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Kamochi (Izumo Kaido)
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Postal Town Kamochi 金持 （かもち）
Town for the "Rich People"
KAMOCHI can also be read "Kanemochi" rich.
step by step
on the way to get rich ...
first spring sweat
You have to fold one coin with a hole into this straw hanger
to make sure it will double and triple in time ...
Money Offerings
Dragon Carving at the gables of the shrine
The Handpainted Dragon Deity
by Mrs. Hamada Juhoo 濱田壽峰
When you climb up a step at the back of the shrine, a light goes on inside and you can marvel at the great painting.
Hamada san is a famous painter of Shinto deities, painting only with her fingers. She uses all fingers very delicately, sometimes only the nail to paint a sharp line. She was born in this village of Kamochi and made an offering of this Dragon Deity (which would fetch quite sum on the art market, as the Shrine maidens whispered to me in a low voice).
. . . My EMA Votive Tablets from Kamochi Shrine
Further down at the small shrine shop, they sell handmade votive tablets (ema) painted by handicapped people of the area. Each paints just a bit according to his abilities and more than 10 people work together to finish one.
Kamochi Shrine Information PHOTO
Shrines worshipping the Deity Ame not Tokotachi are very few in Japan. Here you pray for the prosperity of the Japanese land.
Legend knows, that when a second son of the head priest of Izumo Shrine on his way to a vitit in Ise Shrine passed this area, a talisman stone is his pocket started feeling very heavy. He felt this as a sign of the gods to have him build another shrine here is a place rich with minerals, especially iron.
Maybe the modern word "kanemochi" comes from this place name, "kamochi", which was already famous in the chronicles of the Azuma Kagami during the Kamakura Period.
The nobleman Kamochi Kagefuji 金持景藤 reigned this area here around 1333.
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Kamochi Shrine is located in Kamochi, Hino-cho, Hino-gun, Tottori Prefecture.
The enshrined deities are Ameno-Tokotachi no Mikoto, Yatsuka Mizu Omizunu no Mikoto, and Omizunu no Mikoto. It is said that in 810, when the second son of a shrine priest in Izumo province passed by this place on his way to Ise Shrine, the precious stone that he wore as a talisman suddenly got heavy and he received a divine order to build a shrine at this place.
The village of Kamochi was the production center of Japanese steel, which was thought to be more precious than gold in the ancient times. Also iron was called “kane” in ancient Japan, so the village was called Kamochi, which meant the village with many valleys where “kane (iron sand)” could be obtained.
It is the only one shrine that bears such a lucky name as “Kamochi (金持),” the kanji writing of which can also be read as “Kanemochi (a rich man).” Hoping to be a rich person, people from all over the country visit this shrine to offer a prayer.
In the precinct are the two of 100 Fine Trees of Tottori Prefecture, sawara (a natural tree in a cypress group) and Chinese cedar tree, both of which are said to be over 600 years old.
© nippon-kichi.jp
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Ame no tokotachi no kami
Ame no tokotachi no mikoto,
天之常立尊（あめのとこたちのみこと）
One of the primeval kami appearing in the myth of the unfolding of heaven and earth. This kami is described as only an abstract being, without shape or other attributes. Most commentators view this kami as an offspring of Kunitokotachi.
According to Kojiki, the kami forming the lineage from the three deities of creation to Umashiashikabihikoji and Amenotokotachi are called the "five separate heavenly deities" (kotoamatsukami), while Kunitokotachi and others are produced thereafter as part of the "seven generations of the age of the kami" (kamiyo).
© Kokugakuin University / Encyclopedia of Shinto
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Read his legend HERE
Omizunu no Mikoto
淤美豆奴命（おみずぬのみおと）
Part of the Izumo Fudo-Ki records of old.
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Yatsuka Mizu Omizunu no Mikoto
八束水臣津努命（やつかみずおみずぬのみこと）
omi-tsunu is another spelling.
Another creator god of the Land of Japan. He travelled in many places, especially to Silla in Korea and along the Noto peninsula of Japan. When he found a nice piece of land that he liked, he carried it all the way to the Izumo area and added it to the coastline there.
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Itaibara (Izumo Kaido)
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Postal Town Itaibara 板井原
日野町板井原
Map from Shinjo via the 四十曲峠 Pass to Kamochi
Coming from the crowds of Shinjo this is another world.
An almost deserted villge with few inhabitants by the steep Itaibara river. We parked the car at the village entrance on an empty ground, the former village school.
Bridge at the village entrance
an old bridge
which nobody crosses ...
deserted village
The River Dragon ...
Horse-headed Kannon Stone 馬頭観音
by the river.
This is a deity revered by people who used horses as means of transportation. It is reather seldom in these parts of Western Japan.
More in the Daruma Museum:
Batoo Kannon, Horseheaded Kannon 馬頭観音
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Stone memorials before the Village Temple
Buddhist Deities in the Village Temple
There is also a big hand ball (temari) as an offering on the left. See more about these handballs along the Izumo Road in the postal town of Mikamo.
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wood carving decorations on doors and roof supporters
the carp still tries
to climb up the river -
deserted homes
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drying shiitake mushrooms
The nights are cold and there is enough moisture for a generous harvest this year.
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This is a different village, but the story is rather similar than here:
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2000, Japan Times
Village whittled down to just four elderly souls
Itaibara seeks government funding to rejuvenate area, avoid fate of neighbor across valley
By BRENT KININMONT
ITAIBARA, Tottori Pref. --
The death of this village's sister looms large in the collective memory of its residents.
Local officials believe they can attract sightseers to the village of Itaibara, Tottori Prefecture, if the exteriors of its early-Showa Era buildings are restored. But despite a generous proposal that will pay most of the cost, Hisashi Fujiwara has no plans to fix his house up.
Shimo-Itaibara, just one valley over, became a ghost town after the last villager moved out in the mid-1980s. And now only a handful of shaky buildings are still standing.
"Every time we (Itaibara residents) got together, we often talked about how we must do something about our village, because we don't want to be like Shimo-Itaibara," said Iwao Harada, who was born here 69 years ago.
Depopulation has turned Itaibara, like so many rural communities across Japan, into a settlement for the aged.
The youngest of the four people who still live here year-round is 72 years old. An engraved stone staff marks the spot where the elementary school stood until the last pupil left nine years ago.
The population "swells" to around 15 during planting and harvesting of daikon and other vegetables, with homeowners such as Harada preferring to base themselves 5 km away in central Chizu (pop. 9,773), closer to facilities and their families.
The fate of this waning village, however, is not necessarily entwined with that of its sister.
Town officials in Chizu -- which administrates Itaibara -- believe that if they restore the village to the way it looked at the beginning of the Showa Era, when many of the current structures were built, then sightseers will come.
"You can see the traditional way of Japanese life (in Itaibara)," said Yoshimichi Otsubo of the Chizu Board of Education. "When you come here, you can sense the real heart of Japan, and it's our responsibility to look after it."
The town is proposing to fix up the exteriors of the 130 mostly wooden structures -- including homes, storehouses, bathhouses, outdoor toilets, a temple and shrine -- that are shoehorned by the scarcity of flat land into this narrow valley.
In the absence of full-time care, many structures have suffered with age and weathering. Patch-up efforts are often ramshackle.
Itaibara might have been a potential outdoor showroom for the Meiji Era (1868-1912), or even the last years of the Edo Period (1603-1867), had a fire not burned down nearly all its structures about 100 years ago.
The seven-room house -- plus bathroom, kitchen and storehouse -- that Harada inherited and lived in until 1975 was built by his great-grandparents soon after the fire.
Like most of the 23 houses in the village, it used to have a thatched roof. But Harada plans to use the funding to build eaves and replace with tiles the tin sheets that now cover the tidy two-story house.
Hisashi Fujiwara and his wife, Yoshie, are two of the four people who still live here throughout the year. Despite the seemingly generous offer, Hisashi doesn't plan to alter his house.
"I want to leave it alone and change nothing, because even if I fix it, my son's family doesn't want to live here," the 72-year-old said. "Of course, we would be very happy if everybody came back, but I don't think we can have the life we had before. It's impossible -- it's a really isolated place."
None of Harada's three sons wants to move back either. Still, the band-saw sitting in the kitchen points to Harada's daytime effort to do up -- without prompting from Chizu -- the interior of the home he and his children were born in.
At night, Harada is a security guard at an old people's home in Chizu. When asked if he would be willing to show sightseers in Itaibara how to make charcoal, which used to be his main source of income, the voice of the softly spoken man suddenly increased in pitch.
"I'd love to," he said. "Yes, definitely."
© Japan Times / BRENT KININMONT
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More detailed Izumo Entries to enjoy !
Izumo Kaido, The Old Road of Izumo 出雲街道
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