Yoshino in Nara

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Yoshino Mountains and the Cherry Trees
Yoshinoyama - 吉野山

for kigo, see below



Yoshino valley is famous for its three thousand or maybe more cherry trees, in the three lower, middle and upper levels of the valley.
But have you ever wondered how they got there and when ?





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Yoshinoyama　吉野山, the Mountains of Yoshino, has been a spot famous for cherry trees since long ago. After it became the holy tree of Gongen Zao of a Buddhist mountain sect about 1,300 years ago, it continued to be planted as an offering.
The cherry trees of Yoshinoyama were loved by writers and artists from the days of old.
Most of these are Shiroyama cherry trees, covering an area of 54 hectares with about thirty thousand trees. In spring, the 1000 trees at the foot of the mountain bloom first, and then the next thousand up the mountain, progressing upward until the last 1000 bloom nearly a month later. This place has become a popular spot for "Hanami" (a picnic held under the cherry blossoms) and many tens of thousands of people gather here each year.
http://www.maff.go.jp/soshiki/koukai/muratai/21j/english/no6/mura21.html


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.. .. .. En no Gyoja 役行者

Yoshinoyama is the best spot to see cherry blossoms
By Junzo Tanaka

Those staying in Japan in April are fortunate. They can meet cherry blossoms. They can also see Japanese making merry with them. Cherry trees in the Japanese archipelago bloom from the south to the north with rises in the temperature. It is called the 'cherry-blossom front' and reported every day in weather forecasts. In pursuing the front, some people tour places noted for cherry blossoms across the country.

Among such places, Yoshinoyama is the best sightseeing spot in Japan, and nobody raises objection to it.Yoshinoyama is situated in the town of Yoshino, Yoshino-gun, Nara Prefecture, and there is a railway at its foot. All the mountain areas from in front of the station to the valley to the ridges are buried under cherry blossoms. There is no description other than a superb view.

The height of blooming rises slowly from the foot to the ridges and lasts from mid-April to the end of the month. Every year, hotels and inns in Yoshino are crowded with visitors to see cherry blossoms. The blossoms are beautiful day and night, but experts say they breathe a sigh in seeing them at dawn. They stay there for a few days to see the flowers.

This writer is hesitant to introduce such well-known Yoshinoyama again, but would like to bother to recommend it to you because the place is not a mere botanical garden for cherry trees. The trees are linked to Japan's history. Shrines and temples scattered around and with cherry trees are the stages of pathetic stories of heroes and beautiful women. Up to the present day, they have been the sources of literature and classic dramas.

If you know about the bright and dark sides of Japan's history, including a tragic love between warlord Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his mistress Shizuka Gozen, battles between the Northern and Southern dynasties, and a cherry blossom-viewing party hosted by warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, your understanding of Japan will rapidly deepen.

Yoshinoyama is a crystallization of Japanese feelings of love toward nature. Cherry trees there have not naturally grown. It is said En no Gyoja, a semi-legendary sorcerer of the 7th century and a monk of Shugendo, a Shinto-Buddhist cult devoted to ascetic practices and mountain worship, carved an image of Shugendo leader Zao Gongen on the trunk of a cherry tree, and Shugendo followers brought young cherry tree plants there.
This is the beginning of cherry trees on Yoshinoyama.


http://members.shaw.ca/shugendo/images/zao-statue.jpg
... ... ... Zao Gongen

En no Gyoja's achievements are in the mist of legendary, but they were written in a history book published in 699. Cherry trees have since increased gradually, and in the 14 century, Yoshinoyama's name as the best place of cherry trees was firmly established.However, Yoshinoyama is not best suited to the growth of cherry trees, which need enough sunshine and clean air. The mountain which faces the north lacks enough sunshine, although air is clean.

According to botany, if the same plant is grown and cultivated in the same place for a long time, there occurs so-called 'hate-soil phenomenon.' Yoshinoyama is said to be no exception.What is tremendous about Yoshinoyama is that it has overcome such phenomenon and has kept the status of cherry blossom's noted place. Residents in the neighborhood have taken care of cherry trees from generation to generation and are continuing to treat them with a modern 'cherry tree health-keeping' technique. The residents are thinking of cherry trees during their lifetime, and there are even officials in charge of cherry trees in the town office. Therefore, cherry blossoms have survived for as long as 1,300 years. The residents are shy, as other Japanese are, and hesitate to mention about their steady achievements.
http://www.kansai.gr.jp/KansaiWindowHtml/News/2004-e/20040331_NEWS.HTML



. Sakuramotobo 桜本坊Temple Sakuramoto-Bo .
With a statue of the Tengu
Yoshino Minasugi Kozakuraboo 吉野皆杉 小桜坊　
Yoshino Minasugi Kozakura-Bo

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Futari Shizuka 二人静 at Mount Yoshino 吉野山

花の陰謡に似たる旅寝哉
. hana no kage utai ni nitaru tabine kana .
Matsuo Basho feels like in a Noh play about Shizuka Gozen.


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Yoshino　-　center of spiritual assertion

Mainichi Daily News / December 15, 2000
By Richard Humphries

Behind Yoshino's Nyoirin-ji temple lies a glade of peaceful evergreens. Within that glade is a small mound whose stone-gated protective entrance faces north towards Kyoto. The mound is the final resting place of the Emperor Go-Daigo, who died in 1339, and the orientation towards the ancient imperial capital is emblematic of both the emperor's aesthetic sense and of his profound political failure.

Go-Daigo was the last emperor in Japan to attempt with some results the direct exercise of imperial prerogatives. He achieved a temporary success in that endeavor when loyal forces overthrew the Kamakura Shogunate in 1333. The chance at direct rule was squandered through misrule, as important allies like Ashikaga Takauji soon became bitter enemies. The Emperor's allies, and in particular Kusonoki Masashige, were directed by Go-Daigo to fight a clearly unequal battle in 1336 and it was one upon which the imperial cause depended. They lost, though were later to find apotheosis in the ethos of noble failure. After many vicissitudes and even a period of imprisonment, Go-Daigo fled to Yoshino, and intransigent to the end, set up a rival Southern Court.

For 50 years the Southern Court continued, eventually giving way to its more powerful Northern rival.In a small way, Yoshino's history offers a counterpart to France's Avignon, a divisive, if small and temporary, center of spiritual and temporal assertion.
To visit in the spring and summer months, when white-frocked yamabushi (mountain monks) and other pilgrims in their thousands pass through the small settlement, is perhaps best for imagining the scale of the ex-emperor's attempt.

And there are the famous cherry trees, thousands of them, in magnificent full bloom in April. The quieter off-months, however, may be more suitable for seeing Yoshino as it really is and appreciating its history, legends, and significance in a more subdued atmosphere.Yoshino town has 700 permanent residents and the surrounding hills a few thousand more. The town center consists of essentially one main street, lined with a mix of Edo-era and more modern structures.

Kuromon, a wooden gate, signals your entrance to the town proper. A more impressive entranceway, in the form of a large bronze torii, 7.6 meters high, is a few hundred meters further on. When the sun is high, townsfolk hang white shades across the main street from the tops of buildings, giving it the feel of a covered market. On particular treat is green yomogi, a tasty dango made from rice bean paste and crushed kome leaves. At a shop by the name of Manchudo, you can see it being prepared.Yoshino has been a center of worship since antiquity, as mountains believed sacred surround it.


金峯山寺蔵王堂

Dominating the town is the Kimpusenji temple complex. This temple was founded, or so legends say, by En-no-Gyoja, a 7th century figure revered for his asceticism, and himself semi-legendary. Kimpusenji was the center for the Shugendo sect, a syncretic blend of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs based on mountain asceticism. Most of the other shrines in Yoshino once belonged to that sect but they suffered suppression by the early Meiji rulers who favored State Shinto. The main hall in Kimpusenji, Zao-do, is at 34 meters of height, the second largest wooden structure in the country. Only Nara's Toodaiji is larger.

To the west of Kimpusenji there is a flight of several hundred steps that leads downward into a small secluded valley. There, at a small shrine called Noten-o-kami, one can drink from the small spring, said to promote health, that emerges from a carved serpent's mouth. Pilgrims come to offer eggs to the shrineｹs deity. Inside the shrine, the custom is to do clockwise prayer circuits, dropping wooden sticks one by one into a large bowl. One wall of the shrine's exterior is colorfully decorated with origami strips.Go-Daigo is not the only tragic figure associated with Yoshino.

Two shrines are connected with the tragic tale of Yoshitsune, who was pursued to his death by his jealous brother Yoritomo, a 12th century Kamakura Shogun. Yoshitsune, whose life is now the staple of Noh dramas, eventually met his end in northern Japan at Hiraizumi, but hid in Yoshino for a time at the Yoshimizu shrine with his lover Shizuka Gozen. One of the buildings there seems to hang, at least in part, precipitously off the side of a cliff. After Yoshitsune was found out, he fled leaving his mistress behind. She, legend has it, was forced to dance for her captor's pleasure at another small shrine on Yoshino's main street, Katte-jinja.

Pilgrims to Yoshino will generally stop at Kimpusenji and pay their respects before continuing through the town and upwards through the countryside to the base of Mt. Omine, a peak considered by devotees since ancient times to be the adobe of gods. Depending on one's strength of purpose and belief, a simple walk or a series of austere physical trials awaits. In recent years there has been much controversy over the practice of forbidding women, here considered impure, to ascend beyond a certain point near the base. Whether this will be modified and brought into concurrence with modern opinion at some later date cannot be known at present.


.. .. .. Mikumari Shrine 水分神社（みくまりじんじゃ）

In any event, the walk from Yoshino towards the base is very agreeable and not too steep. Thirty minutes walk after the town and past quiet farmhouses is Mikumari shrine. Mikumari, a picturesque and atmospheric structure with connecting rooms and an inner garden, is dedicated to the Ameno-mikumari, the water god. The present structure was built in the Momoyama style by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier of modern Japan, in 1604. Locally, the shrine is called Komori-san. The reason is that Mikumari became corrupted to mikomori (meaning care of a baby) and then was further reduced in the local dialect.Further on from Mikumari the houses stop and one enters an enchanting forest of tall cryptomeria.

In the summer months the noise along this route must be palpable, but in the off-season it is still and the air is unmistakably fresh. The last shrine before you, if you are male, begin the climb is Kimpu-jinja, a small wooden building and a place for ascetic exercises.About 15 minutes walk from Yoshimizu Shrine is the aforementioned Nyoirinji temple. This was built in the early 10th century and is famous for its statue of Zao Gongen, an avatar of Yoshino (and protector of one's head) who, it has been claimed, En-no-Gyoja was first able to perceive.

Go-Daigo later gave the temple a more political function as a center for people to pray for the guardianship of the nation, presumably under Go-Daigo.One unique town event deserves mention, although it takes place during the busy season.

Every July 7, Kaeru-tobi, or frog hopping takes place. A man dresses like a frog and capers about the village. This symbolizes a story that there was once an ascetic who made the mistake of mocking a local deity. The deity was clearly not amused, but the by now chastened man's life was saved by the Shugendo priests at Kimpusenji, who used their skills to change the man, first into the shape of frog, and finally back to his original human shape once it was safe to do so.
http://www2.gol.com/users/rick/article1/jaa3.html

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En no Gyooja, as you can see on the first picture above, is usually flanked by a couple of two demons, the husband Zenki　前鬼 and his wife Goki 後鬼。


©　2002 Heguri Town, Nara

These demons promised to En no Gyooja to protect the pilgrims of the area. They had five children, whose families in the x-th generation up to this day have five mountain huts where the pilgrims can rest during their walk from Oomine to Kumano. The business is going on for more than 1300 years now.

Gokijo 後鬼助 san, in the 61 generation, lives in Osaka now and comes back every weekend and holidays to take care of the pilgrims.

一説には634年に生まれたとされているが、伝説の色が濃く、やや信頼性が薄い。　前鬼と後鬼という夫婦の鬼を使役したと言われることから、邪法を使う者として名をおとしめられることもある。　ただしこの前鬼と後鬼だが、能の『鞍馬天狗』などでは大峰山の天狗だとされている。そこから考えると、もともと彼らは役行者と同じ山岳修験者で、行者に付き従った人間だったのだろう。他でも、鬼のような姿をしていたがれっきとした人間だったといわれている。
http://www.pandaemonium.net/menu/devil/Ozunu.html
http://sachi-n-web3122.hp.infoseek.co.jp/2003/ohmine-okugake.html

. Zenki 前鬼 and his wife Goki 後鬼 .
大峰山前鬼坊 Ominesan Zenki-Bo Tengu

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.. .. .. .. .. .. .. Further Reading

About Shugendo 修験道, very extensive

Read here about En no Gyooja (En no Ozuno) and the Deity Zao Gongen.
。。。。。役行者、蔵王権現

Zao Gongen

Daruma Museum: Zao Gongen

Shugendo

... Holy Mountains, En no Gyoja, Zao Gongen
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/holy-mountains-sacred-shrines.html


About Mt. Omine (Oomine 大嶺山）
http://japanvisitor.com/jt/mount-omine.html
.. .. Kinpusenji
http://www.rekishikaido.gr.jp/time-trip/gengo/eng/yoshino.htm
http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~bangai/kinpusenji.htm


Mikumari Shrine
http://tencoo.fc2web.com/jinja/xys-mikumari.htm


Minamoto Yoshitsune (1159-1189)
Shizuka Gozen
Few samurai loom as largely in Japanese history and lore as Minamoto Yoshitsune, the brilliant general whose tactics won a string of victories for his brother Yoritomo that culminated in the demise of the Taira clan.
(Yoshitsune memorial day (Yoshitsune-Ki 義経忌）is a kigo for Haiku.)
http://www.samurai-archives.com/yoshitsune.html


Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339)
.. .. .. His tomb in the Yoshino Mountains
http://www.kiis.or.jp/kansaida/yoshino/yoshino06-e.html

.. .. .. WKD : The Daigo Cherry Tree
... A Cherry Tree in his Memory


Kusonoki Masashige (1294-1336)
Including the history of the Kamakura Period
http://www.samurai-archives.com/time.html


Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536 - 1598)　
One of the most remarkable men in Japanese history, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born a peasant and yet rose to finally end the Sengoku Period.
http://www.samurai-archives.com/hideyoshi.html


Photos of Cherry Trees in Yoshino and Japan
http://www.sakura.yoshino.jp/photo.htm
http://www.sakura.yoshino.jp/sakura2002/photo.htm
http://yaccyann.cool.ne.jp/yosinoasa/

Great Collection of Wada san. Yoshino
... and Saigyo Hooshi 西行法師
http://wadaphoto.jp/sakura/yoshinosp2.htm
http://wadaphoto.jp/sakura/yoshino1.htm
http://wadaphoto.jp/sakura/yoshino2.htm
http://wadaphoto.jp/sakura/yoshino3.htm
http://wadaphoto.jp/sakura/yoshino4.htm
... and Go-Daigo Tenno
http://wadaphoto.jp/sakura/yoshinosp.htm


.. .. Sakura in Japan
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~jb3k-tnk/photo-g/data04/sakura.html
.. .. Shimoda Castle
http://izu-sakuraya.jp/photograph/plant/plant01/sakura01.htm

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The Cherry Blossom Digest
The famous medieval age monk SAIGYO wrote the followingpoem about cherry blossom:

Could I die under
a cherry blossom tree in full bloom
on a full-moon night of spring?

. WKD : SAIGYO, Saigyoo Hooshi (西行法師) 　


digital 西行庵
http://www.saigyo.org/


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observance kigo for late spring



Yoshino hana eshiki Yoshino Hana Eshiki
吉野花会式 (よしののはなえしき)
Cherry Blossom Festival at Yoshino

oni odori 鬼踊（おにおどり）dance of the demons

mochikubari, mochi kubari 餅配り（もちくばり）
throwing mochi to the crowd

11-12 of April

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Oominesan Toake-Shiki 大峰山戸開式
Opening the doors at Yoshino, Oominesan

May 3
. . . CLICK here for Photos !



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observance kigo for late summer




. Yoshino no kawazutobi
吉野の蛙飛 (よしののかわずとび)
frog jumping ritual at Yoshino 　
frog hopping

RENGE-E 蓮華会（れんげえ） Lotus Flower Offering

Zaodoo kawazutobi 蔵王堂蛙飛（ざおうどうかわずとび）
frog jumping ritual at temple Zao-Do

. Reference .

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More festivals of Yoshino

Feb 1-3 Onibi Festival Campaign
Apr 3 Taue Festival
Apr 8 Flower Festival
Apr 10 Zaoudou Hanaku Senbontsuki
Apr 29 Yoshino Shrine Spring Festival
Apr 1-26 Cherry blossom festival/light up

May 3 Ominesan Opening ceremony
Jun 4 Hagatame Jizo Festival
Jul 7 Rengekai Toad Ceremony

Sep 27 Yoshino shrine autumn festival
Oct 1 Yoshino seiten autumn festival
Oct 19 Noten daijinn autumn festival
Oct 3rd Sunday Yoshinoyama autumn festival
Nov 2nd Sunday Tonanin festival
Nov 23 Dainichi temple Hiwatari walking through flames

http://www.yoshinoyama-sakura.jp/english/events.htm



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Yoshinobina 吉野雛 Hina dolls from Yoshino

The dolls from Yoshino are made from the wood of the local cherry trees.
They were even introduced at the Great Exhibtion in New York in 1939.
They were first made at the shop of Ota san 大田桜花堂, now his son Toshishige 豊茂 makes them.

There are also hina dolls made from clay.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !



There are also clay bells from Yoshino. Some feature the ritual of the jumping frogs.


. Folk Toys from Nara .

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. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


今宵誰吉野の月も十六里
koyoi tare Yoshino no tsuki mo juuroku ri

tonight
who will look at the moon in Yoshino ?
It is 16 Ri away.

One RI is about 3,9 km.

Written in 1694 on the full moon night of the 8th lunar month
元禄７年八月十五夜, Basho age 51.
at Mumei-An 無名庵 in Iga Ueno.
From here it was just 16 Ri 里 to Mount Yoshino.

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待つ花や藤三郎が吉野山
matsu hana ya Toozaburoo ga Yoshinoyama

the cherry blossoms are waiting !
Too Saburo and his
Mount Yoshinoyama


Written in 1679 延宝7年, Basho age 36


Too Saburo 藤三郎 Gichiku 宜竹 (ぎちく)
was a famous Shakuhachi flute player.
Kaijo Shuurin 景徐周麟 (1440 - 1518)
A monk of the Rinzai Sect Musoo 夢窓.
Also called Hanin 半隠, Taishoo 対松.
The shakuhachi at his time was a famous Hitoyogiri 一節切.

One of his famous tunes was "Yoshinoyama". It was quite a hit in the Edo period and made Basho think of Yoshino.

吉野の山を雪かと見れば、雪ではあらで、や、
これの、花の吹雪よの

it looks like snow on Mount Yoshinoyama
but is it really snow? Behold !
this is the snow of cherry blossoms scattering !



There is another hokku about this flute player

まづ知るや宜竹が竹に花の雪
mazu shiru ya Gichiku ga take ni hana no yuki

written in 1677 延宝5年, Basho age 34

first you must know this !
Gichiku and his bamboo (flute)
bring "snow" to the cherry blossoms

or

first you must know this !
Gichiku and his bamboo (flute)
bring the cherry blossoms to fall like snow


The cherry blossoms of Yoshino are famous for "haha no fubuki" cherry blossoms scattering like snow.

. Shakuhachi, the Bamboo Flute .

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source : urawa328

吉野にて桜見せうぞ檜木笠
Yoshino nite sakura mishoo zo hinoki-gasa

In March of 1688. Basho with his student and very good friend:
. - Tsuboi Tokoku 坪井杜国 - .


My hat, I too will let you see
The cherry-bloom at Yoshino
Tr. Asataro Miyamori

Here we are in Yoshino
so let us look at the cherry blossoms !
My pine-bark hat.

This hat 檜笠 is rather large and protects the walking pilgrim from rain.
For pilgrims, they are a symbol of the Buddha walking with them, for some they are Kobo Daishi walking with them.
So the hat should have its part in enjoying the blossoms too.




. KASA 笠　Hats for rain and shine .


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Oi no Kobumi .

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目に残る吉野を瀬田の蛍哉
me ni nokoru Yoshino o Seta no hotaru kana

still before my eyes -
the cherry blossoms of Yoshino
the fireflies of Seta

. Matsuo Basho at Seta, Lake Biwa .


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. Ogura Hyakunin Isshu Poems 小倉百人一首 .

31 - Sakanoue no Korenori 坂上是則
94 - Sangi Fujiwara no Masatsune 参議雅経

Yoshino no Sato 吉野の里 - Miyoshi no Yama みよし野の山

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- - - - - Yosa Buson - - - - -



source :　ttetsuo_2005

冬ごもり心の奥のよしの 山
fuyugomori kokoro no oku no yoshino yama

winter seclusion -
deep in my heart there is still
mount Yoshino



雲を呑んで花を吐くなりよしの山
kumo o nonde hana o haku nari yoshino yama

it swallows clouds
and spits out cherry blossoms -
mount Yoshino



みよし野のちか道寒し山桜
miyoshino no chikamichi samushi yamazakura

the shortcut
to mount Yoshino is so cold -
wild cherry blossoms



source :　www.rakanneko.jp

銭 買 て入るやよしのの山ざくら
zeni katte hairu ya yoshino no yamazakura

I buy some change
to go and see - the wild cherry blossoms
at mount Yoshino

People needed small change to pay to the tea stalls on the way when resting and to give some offerings to the many temples of the region.

The cut marker YA is in the middle of line 2.

. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .

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. - Kobayashi Issa　小林一茶 in Yoshino - .

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My Photo Album about Sakura 桜
Sakura Photo Album


.Noten Okami 脳天大神 .
at 龍王院 Ryuo-In - Dragon God Shrine, Yoshino, Kinpusenji 金峯山寺


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Usami Kannon

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Usami　Kannon　宇佐美観音

Usami is a small town on the Izu Peninsula. The Kannon sits on a hill above the town.

Usami Kannon Ji うさみ観音寺 Temple Usami Kannon






source :　shizuoka/ito/usami


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The Main Link of the Kannon Temple


http://www.kannon.co.jp/index.htm

Layout of the temple compound
http://www.kannon.co.jp/page1.htm

The Great Kannon for World Peace
Also included
the Seven Gods of Good Luck


http://www.kannon.co.jp/page2.htm

Plan of the Loction in Ito, Izu Peninsular
http://www.kannon.co.jp/page4.htm

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Read more about Kannon Bosatsu
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/kannon.shtml

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Kanda Myoojin and Zenigata

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. Taira no Masakado 平将門 (? – 940) .
. Kanda 神田 district of Edo .
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Kanda Myoojin Shrine 神田明神 Kanda Myojin
Taira no Masakado



Kanda matsuri 神田祭 (かんだまつり) Kanda festival
kigo for early summer
From May 13 to May 18
(sometimes from May 14 to 17)

The Kanda festival takes place once every two years in May. The Shintoism parade, called the Shinko-sai, features portable shrines (Mikoshi), festival floats (Dashi), big baby dolls, and many child dancers. Several thousand people take part and there are more than 70 shrines in the parade.
The main building of Kanda Myojin was built in 1934 after which the building was left exposed to the elements for 67 years. Typhoons, air pollution, and the bombs of World War II caused great damage to the shrine over the years. A scientific study concluded that immediate repair work would prevent further damage thus conserving the building while restoring its original beauty. The managers of the shrine are making every effort to preserve this beautiful artifact of Japanese culture.
source : The Kanda District


Festivals
Jan. 8: "Kagura-hajime" at the sanctuary of Kanda Myojin Shrine in Chiyoda Ward. Shinto dance and music, accompanied by drums, flutes and other instruments, will be performed from 2 p.m. Kagura is the sacred dance offered to the deities.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/festivals.htm

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Kanda Shrine 神田明神, Kanda-myōjin, Kanda Myojin,
formerly 神田神社 Kanda-jinja,
is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The shrine dates back 1,270 years, but the current structure was rebuilt several times due to fire and earthquakes. It is situated in one of the most expensive estate areas of Tokyo. Kanda Shrine was an important shrine to both the warrior class and citizens of Japan, especially during the Edo period, when shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu paid his respects at Kanda Shrine.
The three major kami enshrined are Daikokuten, Ebisu, and Taira no Masakado.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !




The head of Masakado, with its arrow still sticking in it, fell down in Kanda and stayed there for seven days before it died, with its eyes open all the time.
Now the shrine is a protector deity of archery.
. Taira no Masakado 平将門 (? – 940) .

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buji kaeru 無事帰る come back home safely

. Kaeru カエル　蛙　Frog Amulet - Frosch .


To make a wish
. Netsuke with a rabbit 根付お守り .

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Clear Weather after Snow in the Precincts of the Kanda Myôjin
神田明神境内雪晴之図, Kanda Myôjin keidai yukibare no zu
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797-1858)

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Kanda is home to the Kanda Myojin shrine, devoted to Taira no Masakado , who led arebellion against the central government during the Heian period. In the Edo period, the shrine's festival was one of the three most famous in the city.

A popular Japanese television series, Zenigata Heiji, features a fictitious police patrolman (the title character) whose beat is Kanda. Near the end of every show, Heiji fells the dastardly villain by throwing a coin at him. ZENI means coin. This series was one of my favorites and Hashizo Okawa played the part of the serious Heiji very well. If England had Sherlock Holmes then Japan's answer is Zenigata Heiji. His partner was the comical Hachigoro, a devote but rather inimaginative downtown lad.
When Heiji left his home for work, his wife Shizu would take out the flintstone from the Shinto home altar and produce some sparks over his shoulders, to wish him good luck.
. hiuchi, hi-uchi　火打ち　striking a fire



Taira no Masakado 平将門
is worth his own story. He was beheaded and his head seems to have taken on a life of its own in his "head mound" kubizuka. Here just a few notes about him.
http://www.mackinnon.org/masakado.html


In the precincts of the Shrine, there is a memorial stone with the following inscription:
Kanei Tsuuhoo 寛永通宝

神田明神の境内にある、銭形平次の碑。
良く見ると、この碑の土台は、　『寛永通宝』　をかたどったものなんです。 そしてまた、碑をかこむ石の柱にも、『寛永通宝』が彫られているんですよ～！
http://www.enjoytokyo.jp/img_bl/suama/11434_l.jpg?2004%2F12%2F01_1%3A06%3A14
http://www.enjoytokyo.jp/id/suama/11434.html


The Kanei Coin 寛永通宝


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In Kanda, they sell some nice sweets in the form of this old coin . Here the inscription reads:
Zenigata Heij　 銭型平次



http://www.wagashi.or.jp/tokyo/shop/0217.htm

... ... ... ... ... But now, learn why　Zenigata.

ZENIGATA, in the form of a Japanese coin

。。。。。。　"ware tada shiru taru"
I alone know I am content with things.


This is a saying of a Zen priest and can also be interpreted as:
"If you learn to be contend, you are rich in spirit!"

For some reason, this inscription is often found on stone basins (zenigata-tuskubai 銭型蹲つくばい) in a tea garden. Maybe to remind the guests of this saying, since a tea ceremony is also something austere, solemn and simple (never mind the hidden luxury).



To learn more about stone basins and stone lanterns,
check the pages of Mark Schumacher
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/5-elements-pagoda-gravestone.html
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/ishidoro.shtml

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The Town Kannon-Ji in Shikoku 観音寺 琴弾公園 makes its appeal with a pattern of this coin carved in the sand of the dunes close to the beach.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

It is said its origin is in the year KANEI, when the fishermen dug this pattern to please the feudal lord of the area on his visit. But there are other explanations too. This pattern is completed every year, usually after the typhoon season it has to be re-structured but is a great tourist attraction these days.

「見た人は一生お金に不自由しない」 :
Whoever looks at this pattern of the old coin will never be in want of money!




I wonder if a look at it via your screen, just like now, will also work the magic.


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風水天地の神様 Gods of the four elements


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Bloodtypes

ni-juu oku koonen no gishoo
omae no B-gata

twenty billion light-years of perjury:
your blood type is "B"

. Hoshinaga Fumio 星永文夫 . 　　

Note:
"Blood-type B is rare in Japan; Type A is happier, but Type B carries a sense of melancholy. So, I felt my rebelliousness or revulsion could not be Type A – it must be blood-type B."
Hoshinaga Fumio (p. 173).
quote from
Poems of Consciousness, Richard Gilbert
source : Simply Haiku Summer 2008


In Japanese the blood type is called
ketsuekigata, ketsueki-gata 血液型, blood group

When the Japanese ask me their favorite question

Ketsuekigata wa nan desu ka?
(What is your blood type?)

I usually reply

My blood tpye is ZENIGATA !

(it could be A-Gata, B-Gata or AB-Gata)


. BLOODTYPE ... a TOPIC for haiku 　

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Kanda festival -
the spirit of Edo
lives on

Nakayama Ishino




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. 神田 Kanda district of Edo .

Kanda Kanazawa choo　神田金沢町 Kanazawa machi district in Kanda
Soto Kanda 3chome now :千代田区外神田三丁目2-4

Before the great fire of Meireki （1657） the temple 東本願寺 Higashi-Hongan-Ji was located here.
The naka yashiki 賀金沢藩前田家中屋敷 middle estate of the Maeda Lord of the Kaga domain was located here in 1684.
In his honor it was named after the town of Kanazawa in Ishikawa prefecture.
Part of the road was called 明石長屋 Akaishi Nagaya, named after 明石屋吉右衛門 Akaishiya Kichiemon.



The name was lost in 1964, when it became part of Soto Kanda.


. Kanazawa 金沢. Ishikawa 石川県 .
and the culture of 前田家 the Maeda clan

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Kanda was the district where most of the craftsmen lived during the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
. shokunin　職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisans .

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]

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Temple 59

[ . BACK to DARUMA MUSEUM TOP . ]
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Temple 59 : Kokubun-Ji ... 国分寺



Adress:
愛媛県今治市国分町
Imabara Town

Temple Song:
ころころ せんだりまとうぎ そわか

守護のため 建ててあがむる 国分寺 いよいよ恵む 薬師なりけり


The speciality of this temple is a statue of Kukai Kobo Daishi with an outstretched hand, so you can shake his hand, make a wish and hope for the best ... but only one wish at a time, as a noteboard warns the too eager pilgrim.

握手修行大師... akushu shugyoo Daishi




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夏の寺　　祈りと石に　　癒されし




temple in summer -
the power of healing
in prayer and stone

Tempel im Sommer -
die Kraft der Heilung
in Gebet und Stein

Gabi Greve, May 2005


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BACK TO TOP
Shikoku Henro 88 Temples ... 四国遍路８８札所


Two short Haiku Henro Trips, Summer 2005


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Alphabetical Index of the Daruma Museum

Worldkigo Database

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Asakusa Kannon

[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
. Asakusa 浅草 district in Edo .
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Asakusa Kannon　浅草観音


Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949)

Sanja Matsuri 三社祭 - see below
Temple Sensooji　浅草寺 Sensoji, Senso-Ji

One of my favorite templel in Tokyo.
Of course I bought my first little Daruma talisman there.

The other day I got an email from a person looking for a Daruma to give as a present to a friend for the opening of a new office. Sometimes they are sold at the Folk Art sections in big department stores or in the streets leading to a famous temple or shrine like Asakusa Kannon.
The special Daruma markets are usually only held during the New Year season.
So here is a list of stores where you can shop for Daruma san online all year long!
- Daruma Markets and Fuku Darumal

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Here is an article from the Japan Times. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050107se.htm Old Asakusa lives on .. By SUMIKO ENBUTSU Asakusa is a magnet for those who love old-time Tokyo. Like a theater full of excitement and festivity in praise of old Edo, Asakusa Kannon Temple and the surrounding business district are vibrant year-round, attracting on average 35 million people a year. This two-part article will take an in-depth look at Asakusa's glorious past and provide a guide to its current attractions. A typical monzen machi, meaning a town in front of the gate of a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine, Asakusa has expanded around Asakusa Kannon, known as Senso-ji, into a far larger area. Given the physical devastation the area repeatedly suffered during its thousand-year history, Asakusa's ongoing vivacity is remarkable. And despite its continued prosperity, Senso-ji has remained a people's temple true to its legendary founding by local fishermen. The oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Senso-ji 浅草寺　originated with a castaway statue netted by two fisherman brothers while fishing in what is now called the Sumida River. The date of this event is said to be 628 A.D., only 90 years after the official introduction of Buddhism to Nara in 538. The head of the fishermen's village recognized the rare find as an image of Kannon, the Buddhist deity of compassion for human suffering, and enshrined it in his home. Well-established by medieval times, the fame of Senso-ji spread throughout the Kanto region. Among the powerful rulers who recognized the temple's significance is Minamoto-no Yoritomo (1147-99), founder of the Kamakura Shogunate, who requested Senso-ji's help in the building of the great Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu shrine in Kamakura in 1180. Tokugawa Ieyasu, arriving in Edo in 1590, designated Senso-ji as his family's prayer temple, granting it a sizable estate to contribute to its revenue. Successive shoguns followed suit with handsome donations from time to time. Despite being a temple patronized by the elite, Senso-ji continued to be open to the populace, embracing pilgrims and sightseers, as well as offering services and entertainment in the temple precincts. The area acquired a reputation for nightlife when the Yoshiwara -- the officially licensed red-light district -- and the Kabuki theater quarter moved in from central Edo to the temple's environs in 1657 and 1841, respectively. Senso-ji in the 19th century The prosperity of Senso-ji was depicted by the Edo artist Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843) in a 12-page piece, the largest in the whole book of Edo that Meisho Zue published in 1834-36. Shown here are three pages of the work, depicting the main hall on the left and the double-roofed Nio gate in the center with the pagoda off to the right. Notice there is no incense burner as there is today in front of the main hall. Off to the right of the Nio gate, a stretch of low teahouses are where the Nakamise shopping mall now stands. The major buildings illustrated here were lost in the 1945 air raid of Tokyo's shitamachi, but they were restored after the war using the same layout and architectural style. The pagoda has changed position, however, and is now located west of the Nio gate. The pine groves are also gone, mostly replaced by scattered ginkgo. Notice two figures on a square base between the pagoda and the teahouses: These are bronze statues of bodhisattvas from 1678, which survived the 1945 air raid. Getting around Visitors to the area are recommended to take the following approach: At the Ginza Line's Asakusa station leave through Exit 4, make a U-turn right and go left on Edo-dori to Komagata-do Temple on the Sumida River. When arriving on the Toei Asakusa Line, Exit A3 is more convenient. Komagata-do, dedicated to the horse-headed guardian deity of mounted travelers, one of the many manifestations of the bodhisattva Kannon, marks the original gateway to Senso-ji, standing formerly on the threshold of the land and waters from where Kannon is said to have emerged in the ancient past. Because of this legend, the hall was originally facing the river, and fishing was forbidden as a mark of respect. Cross Edo-dori and bear right onto Namiki-dori. The straight road leading to Kaminari-mon, the front gate of Senso-ji, used to be lined with shops and inns, forming the heart of Senso-ji's monzen machi. Only the Namiki Yabu noodle restaurant has survived, while the others have been replaced by modern office buildings. Once entering through Kaminari-mon and passing the famous large lantern, go wherever your whim dictates because there is much to discover. Just before the second Nio gate, however, turn right to look for the bronze statues, the left one representing Seishi Bodhisattva and the right one, Kannon. These were donated in 1678 by Takase Zembe'e in memory of his master, a prosperous rice dealer in Edo, under whom Zembe'e had apprenticed as a young boy, but who later died in poverty. With his own business thriving, Zembe'e had these statues order-made in devotion to his former master and his son. Nearly 300 years later, a direct descendant of Zembe'e played a vital role in enhancing Senso-ji's prestige. Jiro Takase (1906-1992), posted to Sri Lanka as Japanese ambassador in 1966, was involved in the development of a cultural partnership between Senso-ji and the Isurumuniya Vihara temple in Anuradhapura, the first capital of ancient Ceylon. When Senso-ji's pagoda was rebuilt in 1973, the Isurumuniya temple sent its senior abbot to the dedication ceremony along with a granule of the Buddha's remains, a perfect gift to celebrate the completion of the new pagoda, whose main function is as a repository for the relic. An old cast-iron bell has also survived in the temple from 1692. That and much more will be explored in the second installment of this article next month. The Japan Times: Jan. 7, 2005 (C) All rights reserved http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050107se.htm Ancient Asakusa still central to community By SUMIKO ENBUTSU http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050204se.htm The day in Asakusa begins with the tolling of the Senso-ji bell at 6 a.m. The temple bell, located behind two bronze bodhisattva statues dating back to 1678, is one of the nine official Time Bells of Edo, established in 1692. In old Japan, time was measured by sunrise and sunset and was announced to the public by ringing these temple bells. Today, only two such bells survive, the other belonging to Kan'ei-ji in Ueno. Also rung on New Year's Eve, the Senso-ji bell continues to set the pace of life for the local community. The morning service held in the main hall starts simultaneously with the bell in summer and a half hour later in winter. It is the most invigorating moment of the day when the chanting of sutras breaks the overnight silence in the huge hall as the smoke of incense slowly rises from the main altar dedicated to Kannon, the Buddhist Deity of Mercy. According to popular legend, the Kannon of Asakusa manifested itself in the form of a small statue netted by two fishermen. Emphasizing the deity's compassion for the poor despite their breach of the Buddhist precept of the sanctity of all life, the tale propagates an enduring, wide-spread belief that anyone can be cleansed of their sins and freed from sufferings through faithful devotion to the Kannon. Power of faith It is the power of this faith that has sustained Senso-ji in the centuries since its foundation. Among numerous miracles attributed to the Asakusa Kannon is the account of a fire in 1808, which spread from Shiba in the city's south and was about to envelop Senso-ji. In the pell-mell rush to escape the imminent threat, the Kannon shrine and statue were moved from the main hall. Just then, the wind changed direction and heavy rain extinguished the blaze. The local residents, most mid-flight, all turned to the packed-up portable shrine and began to give thanks for the wonder they had witnessed. The wooden main hall was donated by the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, in 1650 and survived more than 60 fires during the Edo Period and withstood the great earthquake of 1923 before being reduced to ashes in the fire-bombing air raids of 1945. The holy image was undamaged, however, having been buried deep underground. Out of the rubble of war, Senso-ji rose phoenix-like, with the successive reconstruction of the majestic main hall, Kaminarimon front gate and Hozonmon Nio gate, all in ferroconcrete. The flurry of rennovation projects, from 1958 to 1964, was supported through active fundraising led by prominent businessmen. The pagoda, completed in 1973, is a fine example of traditional Buddhist architecture executed with modern materials. The wood block print shown above is from the 1830s and depicts people thronging the main hall to get Kannon paper amulets. Giving out these talismans used to be a unique practice of Senso-ji to celebrate Setsubun, an annual ceremony to dispel evil spirits. The crowd vies for talismans scattered from the high platform, while the senior abbot prepares to bless the next batch and servants toil at stirring up the air with big fans. Observed on Feb. 3 this year, the contemporary Setsubun features bean throwing by temple-appointed toshi otoko, lucky men born in the Year of the Cock, the current zodiac sign. The program, starting at 11:30 a.m. and repeated at 1:30 p.m., includes a procession of abbots and toshi otoko, rituals, bean scattering from the balcony and Fukuju-no Mai (the dance of the seven gods of fortune), which is a tradition dating back to 1964. Later in the afternoon, the local tourism promotion association invites celebrities to take center stage. Focal point of festivities On the east side of the main hall is Asakusa-jinja, dedicated to the now deified pair of fishermen who uncovered the Kannon statue and the village elder who brought the discovery to the attention of the authorities. Popularly called Sanja-sama (Three Guardians), it is a Shinto shrine which was separated from Buddhist Senso-ji in 1869. The wooden building, dating back to the mid-17th century, is another gift from Shogun Iemitsu, and is the focal point of the famous Sanja Matsuri festival held in May. Senso-ji supports numerous other shrines dedicated to dozens of other deities who, in exchange for a little devotion, will grant any wish that you may have. Many are clustered on the west side, and here, too, many people are seen praying in earnest as they make a round of visits to Amida, Yakushi, Jizo and other gods. Awashima-jinja at the far west end is famous for Hari Kuyo on Feb. 8, a women's festival to express gratitude to sewing needles by resting them on cushions of tofu. Nearby stands a statue of Ichikawa Danjuro IX, star kabuki actor of the 1930s. In his heyday, the city's foremost theater was located behind Senso-ji, and to this day Asakusa retains strong links to the world of theater. Kabuki actor Nakamura Kankuro performed here in 2003 to universal acclaim, and enthusiastic fans hailed him again on Jan. 22 when he visited Senso-ji prior to his assumption of the historic name Nakamura Kanzaburo effective March 2005. The Japan Times: Feb. 4, 2005(C) All rights reserved http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050204se.htm

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.. .. .. .. .. Yearly Events:

January 5
. Go-Oo Kaji-E 牛玉加持会
Prayer Ritual for the Deity of the Ox .
..... Sensooji go oo kaji 浅草寺牛王加持 (せんそうじごおうかじ)
observance kigo for the New Year
. Go-Oo Hooin 牛王宝印 sacred seal of the ox treasure .



Sanja Matsuri - May: one of Tokyo's three major festivals. (see below)

Hozuki-ichi (Hozuki Market) - July: Hozuki are ground cherries, a typical summer plant in Japan. Lampionflower hoozuki is a kigo for haiku.

Asakusa Samba Carnival - August
Tokyo Jidai Matsuri - November: a festival commemorating the history of Tokyo and the Edo culture.
Hagoita-ichi (Hagoita Market) - December: Hagoita is the wooden paddle used in Hanetsuki, a traditional game that resembles badminton. Click here to read more about Hanetsuki and the Hagoita Market.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3001.html

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Sanja Matsuri - Third Weekend in May
By Taisha Turner
The Sanja Matsuri (Festival) is one of Tokyo’s largest. It takes place in the Asakusa ward, Tokyo, Japan’s downtown area. The festival is during the third weekend in May. The three-day festival celebrates the Askusa shrine.

On the first day, one thousand paraders assemble in the street. They wear traditional Japanese attire. Musicians, performers and dancers march to the pulsating music. People line the streets, cheering and applauding on the paraders. Everything is bright and lively.

Each day, there are open-air stalls. Buddhist religious items as well as tourist trinkets are for sale to the public. Food stalls satisfy the appetites of the hungry.

On day two, a group carries a total of 100 shrines(mikoshi). Each model represents a different shrine in and around Tokyo. They meet at the Asakusa’s “Thunder Gate.” The procession proceeds down shop-lined Nakamise Street. The parade stops in front of the Asakusa’s “Hozomon Gate.” There the people pay homage to Kannon who is the goddess of mercy.

The 100 portable shrines are carried into the main complex. The shrine’s priests bless and purify them for the forth coming year. After the purification ceremony, each shrine returns to its neighborhood

The streets teem with the people who come to witness the ceremony. The crowds’ cheers fill the air. Each year about two million people watch the procession. The ceremony has taken place since the 7th century.

On the third day, the 100 Omikoshi (portable shrines) tours Tokyo. The priests bless and purify the shrines on the festival’s second day. This Omikoshi is taken from the precincts in the morning.

All day long, the Omikoshi which carries a deity is paraded in communities. Each shrine travels in different areas of Tokyo. Musicians, performers and dancers follow the shrines. People leave their homes and watch the ornate shrines travel down the street. The watchers errupt in cheers as the shrine passes along.

In the evening, the Omikoshi is returned to its precinct. This ends the festivities until the next year.

http://wwww.bellaonline.com/articles/art29677.asp
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Click the image to go to this great page by Wada san and listen to the music too.
http://wadaphoto.jp/maturi/san1.htm

Safekeep
http://blog.livedoor.jp/worldkigo/archives/22741614.html

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。。。。。。。。。。。　Haiku about the Sanja Festival

sanja matsuri 三社祭　

Asakusa matsuri 浅草祭（あさくさまつり）Asakusa Festival
binzasara odori びんざさら踊（びんざさらおどり）
Binzasara dance
sanja matsuri 三社祭（さんじゃさい）
Festivals of the three shrines

kigo for early summer

. . . . .

三社祭 三本絞めて 仕舞いけり
Sanja Matsuri sanbon shimete shimaikeri

Sanja Festival -
all clapping the hands three times
then it is over

(To clap the hands three times in a group is a way to show a deal is made, a fact is agreed upon, something is now over and done with. All the participants of the festival gather and perform this on the last day.)

................

三社祭 江戸の開府も 四百年
Sanja Matsuri Edo no kaifu mo yonhyaku nen

Sanja Festival -
since the start of the Edo government
it is four hundred years !
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Bookend-Shikibu/6419/saiji/saiji2.html

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sanja Festival -
lost in the crowds
I taste Old Edo

Gabi Greve

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observance kigo for mid-summer

Edo Sengen sai 江戸浅間祭 (えどせんげんさい)
Festival at the Sengen Shrine in Edo
Asakusa Fuji moode 浅草富士詣（あさくさふじもうで）
Pilgrimage to the Asakusa Fuji

On the 30th day of the fifth lunar month and the first day of the sixth lunar month.
Now on the last day of June and the first fay of July.

The Fuji Asama Shrine in Asakusa
浅草の富士浅間神社 Fuji Sengen Jinja

Here people worship who can not make the trip to the Asama Shrine (Sengen Shrine) at Mt. Fuji. This is the place where Issa refers to in his haiku, see comments below.
There were many "Mount Fuji worship groups" in Edo, "Devotional Fuji confraternities" (fujiko（fujikoo, fujikou　富士講).

Mount Fuji gave rise to its own religion, Fujiko, which had different sects based on which direction Fuji san was viewed.
For example: worshiping the mountain from the north (modern day Tokyo) would be considered an Edo religion.
According to early Shugendo myths the mountain was first climbed by the wizard-sage En No Gyoja around 700 AD, although it’s more likely reaching the summit was made in the early twelve century. Women, however, were not allowed past the second station until 1871 because they were thought to irritate the Gods and cause bad weather.
©　www.tokyonodoko.com/


Fuji Mandala for the worshippers
富士曼荼羅


Fire Festival at the shrine Fuji Sengen in Yoshida Town and Haiku


quote
O-Fuji-sama no Ueki-ichi (Potted Plant Fair)
[last Sat. & Sun. of May and June]
Ueki-ichi (Plant Fair) is held on the same day as a festival day at Sengen Shrine (popularly called O-Fuji-sama). Sengen Shrine is located at 5-3-3 Asakusa, Taito-ku and diagonally across from the Asakusa Police Station. For this reason, Ueki-ichi has become another name for the festival day. In the past, Sengen Shrine was managed separately by Shuzenin, a branch temple of Sensoji Temple, but after Shuzenin was abolished in the mid-Meiji era, Sengen Shrine came under the supervision of the chief priest of Asakusa Shrine.

The shrine is dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime and is said to have been built upon request by Sengen Shrine located in Fuji-gun, Suruga-no-kuni during the Genroku era (1688-1703), but this is not certain. The shrine is said to be located in an unlucky direction or the "demon's gate" when viewed from Mt. Fuji, and since the shrine is on a low hill, it used to command a good view of Mt. Fuji.

Since long ago, Mt. Fuji has been the object of religious belief and devotion. Fund drives for Sengen Shrines were carried out and organizations of worshippers of Mt. Fuji ("Fuji-ko") were formed all over the country. On June 1 when Mt. Fuji opened for mountain climbers, people who were not able to climb Mt. Fuji visited one of the Sengen Shrines and worshipped there instead. In the beginning, believers purified themselves with water, put on a white hemp kimono, and began worshipping at daybreak. After the Genroku era, the number of child worshippers began to increase and they worshipped with their hair untied and loosened, as if they had purified themselves.

Long ago, the festival days were May 31 and June 1, but after the opening day of Mt. Fuji's climbing season was changed to July 1 in the Meiji era, the festival also came to be held on June 30 and July 1. It is unusual for a festival to be held for a total of four days.

Stalls selling many items line the front approach to the shrine called Fuji-dori. A potted plant fair has been held on the grounds of the former Rokugo family residence since the Meiji era. The festival coincides with the onset of the rainy season which is the best time for transplanting and the trees bought at O-fuji-sama have long been said to take root well. As a result, this fair has gradually become popular. Nowadays, on the last Saturday of May and June, about 350 nurseries set up shop mainly along Yanagi-dori, transforming it into a jungle-like environment. According to a survey by the Asakusa Police Department in 1995, the fair attracted over 330,000 people during the four days.

Snakes crafted from straw have become rare since the end of World War II. They were made by a farmer named Kihachi who lived in Komagome during the Hoei era approximately 250 years ago, who popularized them after he was told in a dream that the straw snakes would offer protection against epidemics or water poisoning. Judged to be miraculously efficacious, the snakes were sold in Asakusa as well.

As an old senryu (satirical Japanese poem) depicted, some of the snakes had tongues and others didn't, indicating that the tongues that were made of pieces of red wood easily fell off as people bumped into other. This suggests the excitement of the jostling crowds at the fair.
©　www.asakusa-umai.ne.jp

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fujikoo　富士講 Fujiko
groups of Mt. Fuji worshippers, Fuji pilgrims
organization for conducting a religious activities
religious circles called Fujiko
devotional Fuji confraternities
Fuji-associations

..... the Yoshida Trail and other trails starting from the northern base became even more popular with followers of Fujiko, a sect of Mt. Fuji worship started by Kakugyo Hasegawa at the end of the Muromachi Period that later became popular in and around the Edo capital during the mid-Edo Period.
source : www.fujisan-3776.jp

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夕立の祈らぬ里にかかる也
yuudachi no inoranu sato ni kakaru nari

violent rainstorm
hits a town
that didn't pray

Kobayashi Issa

This hokku is Issa's only hokku written on 6/2/1806, a day after the biggest festival of the year for believers in Fuji-kou (富士講), a popular religion in the Edo area in Issa's time based on worship of Mt. Fuji and its female shamanic god Konohana Sakuya Hime, who is also the god of cherry blossoms. Many small mounds in Edo were used as symbolic Mt. Fujis, up which believers "climbed" on 6/1 and worshiped the real Mt. Fuji in the distance. These mounds were shaped like Mt. Fuji and marked with the name of landmarks on Mt. Fuji.
And like Mt. Fuji, these miniature Mt. Fujis were referred to as "O-Fuji-san" or simply as "O-Fuji," with "O-" being an honorific prefix. For the truly devout, however, and for those who had enough money, a pilgrimage up Mt. Fuji and around its base was very important, and believers dreamed of climbing Mt. Fuji at least once in their lives. Mt. Fuji was opened to the public for about a month beginning on lunar 6/1 (the contemporary date is 7/8), and leaders of each local Mt. Fuji worship group, along with some ordinary believers, made climbs up the sacred mountain during this time. Issa doesn't seem to have been a member of this religion, but on the festival day of 6/1 he arrived in Uraga, a small harbor town on the Miura Peninsula on the west side of the mouth of Tokyo Bay. Uraga lay between Edo and Mt. Fuji and had a wonderful view of the mountain, so there were many Fuji-kou believers in this area. Issa, too, no doubt also wants to pay his respects to Mt. Fuji even if he's not a member of the religion.

The day before the above hokku was written, Issa's only hokku on 6/1 clearly reflects the religious meaning of the date:

涼風もけふ一日の御不二哉
suzukaze mo kyoo ichinichi no mi-fuji kana

cool breeze, too
spends the day
climbing Mt. Fuji

O-Fuji - an honorific term for Mt. Fuji indicating that one makes a pilgrimage to Mt. Fuji or to a Mt.Fuji mound and climbs it in order to worship the mountain and gain merit.

Since Issa traveled westward to Uraga on a boat that used the wind, it must be an east wind blowing his boat toward Uraga, and the same east wind keeps blowing until it reaches Mt. Fuji. All day on this 6/1 festival day, everyone, even the wind, seems to be making a pilgrimage and then climbing the sacred mountain or a miniature version of it. The fact that the wind is cool and refreshing on a hot summer day also makes it seem as if the wind were trying to cool off Mt. Fuji in order to show its respect.

In Issa's hokku on 6/2, the first hokku given above, 'nari' implies "it seems that" or "they say that," so Issa may be using an image he has heard from the local Fuji-kou believers in Uraga. It could be a general statement warning that Mt. Fuji isn't pleased by towns that have no small Fuji mound shrine and send no pilgrims, or it could be a statement about the day's extreme weather. Issa's notebook says that 6/1 was fair but that 6/2 was fair with rain in the evening, so he himself probably experienced a sudden strong cloudburst late in the day on 6/2.
A 'yuudachi' is a very strong and sudden summer storm that usually occurs late in the day or sometimes shortly after noon. The rain is hard, and it's usually accompanied by thunder, lightning, and strong wind. It often appears without much warning and ends just as suddenly. Since one of these cloudbursts passed over Uraga on 6/2, it would appear that the people there have not been praying to Mt. Fuji strongly or often enough on 6/1 and 6/2, so there may be some irony in the hokku.

Issa may even be hinting he's one of those in the town who haven't prayed to Mt. Fuji properly. Issa's own main motive for visiting Uraga seems to have been to visit a grave in a temple there on 6/3. It was the grave of a woman, and he visited on the 25th anniversary (on 6/2) of her death (an important anniversary on which special prayers were offered for the dead person's soul). Counting backwards, the woman died when Issa was 20. The editors of Issa's complete works (2:353) suggest that a memorial day visit to a distant temple after so many years probably indicates the woman was very important to the young Issa, though no records remain. Does Issa's hokku about the severe storm on 6/2 reflect his memories of this relationship and of the woman's death on 6/2 two and a half decades earlier? And does it also reflect his awareness that his primary prayers are not for Mt. Fuji but for the soul of the dead woman?

Chris Drake

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- Issa, suzukaze and Mount Fuji

涼風の出口もいくつ松かしは
suzukaze no deguchi mo ikutsu matsu kashiwa

pine tree, oak tree,
how does a cool breeze
get out of here?

This hokku is from the fifth month (June) of 1819, the year evoked in Issa's Year of My Life. The time is just after the beginning of the summer heat and about a month before the death of Issa's young daughter, described in Year of My Life. Issa seems to be imagining what it would be like to be a cool breeze, presumably at the end of a hot day. The breeze has blown easily and naturally into a woods, where it has swerved here and there and gradually lost its way. Now it asks some trees in the woods for directions, apparently naively assuming that the woods must have just as many ways out as it has ways in. All the while, of course, the breeze moves less and less and gradually looses its coolness and its own existence. Perhaps it will manage to find find a few small exits, perhaps not.
Somehow this half-humorous, half-tender personified scene of a new young breeze trying to learn from the old, established trees is rather moving, perhaps partly because it relies on unspoken similarities between wind and human breath and thus simply and directly becomes about mortality and about knowledge as well. It also suggests the way the people in Issa's hometown wait and wait, mostly in vain, for cool breezes.

Issa doesn't mention the exact outcome of the breeze's search for a way out, which is basically inevitable, though some breeze may find its way out of the woods. He also doesn't directly indicate who is the speaker and who is the listener, but since the cool breeze is the visitor or traveler, the breeze seems to be the speaker. This hokku seems to belong to a series of hokku by Issa that are personified, implicit dialogs between nonhuman beings and natural objects. One of the most famous, and rather similar in structure, is:

kame-dono no ikutsu no toshi zo fuji no yama

so, Mr. Turtle,
just how old are you?
Mt. Fuji

Mt. Fuji, of course, is the timeless and deathless symbol of the enduring country of Japan, and according to legend turtles are believed to live ten thousand years, that is, an indefinitely long time, that is, possibly forever, so the age of both speakers is beyond reckoning, thus increasing the humor, as if mountain and turtle were both trying to impossibly remember their own actual (indicated by zo) ages. The distance between the age of Mt. Fuji and the lifespan of the cool breeze is striking, but they both share a fragile vulnerability that keeps them from becoming static abstractions.

Chris Drake


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Mt. Asama and Haiku


花の木に鶏寝るや浅草寺
hana no ki ni niwatori neru ya sensooji

in the blooming tree
a sleeping chicken...
Senso Temple
Tr. David Lanoue




MORE - Issa haiku about not saying prayers


. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .


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observance kigo for late autumn

kiku kuyoo 菊供養 (きくくよう) memorial ritual for chrysanthemums

18th of October
At the Asakusa Temple in Tokyo.
People by one chrysanthemums offered at stalls and persent it on the altar as an offering to the Kannon deity.
Then they take a flower which had been offered by someone else and take it home. This is their amulet for warding off evil influence in the coming year.


Festivals where things are exchanged :
. Flower Exchange Festival (hanakae matsuri 花換祭) .

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observance kigo for the New Year

Mooja Okuri 亡者送り Moja Okuri
Seeing Off the Dead, driving out the devil
Sensooji mooja okuri 浅草寺亡者送り (せんそうじもうじゃおくり)
Unza Darani 温座陀羅尼（うんざだらに）

On the night of the 18th of the first lunar month.
It follows the Onza Darani温座陀羅尼 Onza Hiho Darani



quote
On the 18th, Two devils, symbolizing pestilence and evil spirits, with burning torches, emerge from the darkness of the kitchen entry at around 5 pm and run around in the compound of the temple for about 15 minutes, and then disappear into the darkness near the Jizo Hall 銭塚地蔵堂.
It is believed that those who are showered by the sparks of the burning torches are assured of good health throughout the year.
source : www.wattention.com



SAIJIKI – NEW YEAR OBSERVANCES

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kinrin omamori 金鱗守 golden fish-scale amulet

renben omamori 蓮弁守 lotus petal amulet
sainan yoke omamori 災難除守 amulet against fire

More amulets from Asakusa Kannon:
source :　omamorida.com


gankake Kannon Bosatsu 願掛け観音
. Gankake 願掛け wish-prayer, to make a wish .


. WASHOKU
Asakusa KAPPABASHI 東京都 / かっぱ河 / 合羽橋
and plastic food samples


. Hagoita 羽子板　Battledore, Shuttlecock 　

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. Yooji 楊枝 toothpicks sold in Asakusa .

observance kigo for the New Year
Yooji joosui kaji 楊枝浄水加持 Ceremony of cleaning toothpicks





Asakusa　Konryuzan - Mountain of the Golden Dragon
葛飾北斎「浅草金龍山」 Katsushika Hokusai



. Hayari Jizo はやり地蔵 Hayari Jizô, Hayarijizo
"very popular Jizo" .
At Asakusa Konryuzan

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観音のいらか見やりつ花の雲
Kannon no iraka miyaritsu hana no kumo

Kannon Temple:
looking off at its tiled roof
in clouds of blossoms
Tr. Barnhill


Written in 1686 - 貞亨3年.
According to Kikaku, Basho wrote this when he was ill in Bed in Fukagawa.
It seems he could see the roof of Asakusa Kannon temple from his home, which is about 3.5 km away.


MORE - hokku about temples by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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- quote
Famed Kaminarimon lantern gets rare makeover - November 2013



The giant red lantern at Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), which serves as the entrance to Sensoji Temple, made its first appearance after a once-in-a-decade makeover during a dedication ceremony Monday.

- source : www.japantimes.co.jp

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. Asakusa Tenmondai 浅草天文台 Asakusa Observatory .
and the astronomer
Shibukawa Shunkai 渋川春海 Shibukawa Harumi
(1639 - 1715)

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. Asakusa 浅草 district in Edo .

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