Daruma Pilgrims in Japan

Welcome !

2013-12-31T23:31:00.000-08:00

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.. .. Welcome to the Daruma Pilgrims Gallery!
Introducing Places, People and Things Japanese

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Daruma Museum Latest Additions

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.. .. .. .. .. .. CONTENTS

...................................... Fellow Pilgrims

. DARUMA - Artists, People - LIST .

. Samurai, saints, more artists - LIST

. Temples, Shrines and sacred places - MAIN LIST .

. Museums, Collections, Exhibitions .

. Various Topics - LIST .

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.............................................. Festivals

Ceremonies and Festivals of Japan : SAIJIKI

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- Daruma Artists - MAIN LIST

2012-12-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

- Fellow Pilgrims - LIST

2012-12-29T08:22:00.000-08:00

- Places - LIST .

2012-12-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

- Museums - LIST

2012-12-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

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Museums, Collections, Exhibitions

日本の博物館

Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Amamonzeki - A Hidden Heritage:
Treasures of the Japanese Imperial Convents
尼門跡寺院の世界 April 2009

Arts and Crafts Museum
MUSEUM OF JAPANESE TRADITIONAL ART CRAFTS
http://www.nihon-kogeikai.com/index-E.html

Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
http://www.asianart.org/

Azuchi Castle Archaeological Museum - Shiga
滋賀県立安土城考古博物館
http://www.azuchi-museum.or.jp/
昇る！昇れ！！昇るとき－日輪と龍のメッセージ－
exhibition of sun and rising dragon

Baur Collection - Switzerland
http://fondation-baur.ch/en/home

Bhutan, February 2008
The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan

Cernuschi Museum Paris - Le musee Cernuschi
http://www.cernuschi.paris.fr/fr/le-musee

Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture
15770 Tenth Avenue Hanford, CA 93230. USA
http://www.ccjac.org/index.html
Wrathful Deities and Compassionate Bodhisattvas

Eisei Bunko Museum

Folk Craft Museum Tottori
http://yokoso.pref.tottori.jp/dd.aspx?menuid=2096

Freer - Sackler Collection - the Arts of Japan
The Arthur M. Sackler and Freer Gallery of Art
Washington DC
source : www.asia.si.edu/

Fukui City History Museum 福井市立郷土歴史博物館
http://www.history.museum.city.fukui.fukui.jp/

"Garo Manga, 1964-1973"
GARO MAGAZINE EXHIBIT IN NEW YORK ガロ　漫画

Honda Zohinkan Museum 藩老本多蔵品館
http://www.honda-museum.jp/
http://www.honda-museum.jp/english/English1.html

Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art 石川県立美術館
http://www.ishibi.pref.ishikawa.jp/index_j.html
http://www.ishibi.pref.ishikawa.jp/english/index.html

Japanese American National Museum
JANM. Americans of Japanese ancestry.
http://janmstore.com/tsuru.html

Japanese Art Dealers Association JADA
http://www.jada-ny.org/about.html

Koryo Museum of Art 高麗美術館
Korean Art, Kyoto

Kyoto National Museum - English and Japanese
http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/index_top.html

. Manyo'an Collection of Japanese Art .
the Gitter-Yelen Foundation - Manyoan
http://www.manyoancollection.org/

Metropolitan Museum of Art -New York
http://www.metmuseum.org/visit

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
http://www.artsmia.org/
.... EDO POP: THE GRAPHIC IMPACT OF JAPANESE PRINTS .

Mori Arts Center Gallery
52F Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
http://kuniyoshi.exhn.jp/english.html

Morikami Museum and gardens . . . Florida
source : www.morikami.org

Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln
The Heart of Enlightenment
Buddhist Art in China, October 2009

Museum of Folk Craft - Kurashiki, Okayama
http://iwe.kusa.ac.jp/FOLK/fork_guide.html

Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts 　名古屋ボストン美術館

Namikawa Yasuyuki
Laquer artist - Victoria and Albert Museum Collection
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/namikawa-yasuyuki/451/

Nara National Museum -with many seasonal exhibitions
http://www.narahaku.go.jp/english/index_e.html

Nezu Institute of Fine Arts 根津美術館

Nihon Mingeikan - The Japan Folk Crafts Museum
http://www.mingeikan.or.jp/english/

Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen - Museum Weltkulturen
Mannheim, Germany - 150 Jahre deutsch-japanische Beziehungen
http://www.rem-mannheim.de/veranstaltungen/aktueller-monat.html

Ross Walker Collection - Ukiyo-e and Shin Hanga
http://www.ohmigallery.com/index.htm

Sagawa Art Museum

Saitama Craft Center 埼玉伝統工芸館
http://saitamacraft.com/
..... English introduction
http://www.town.ogawa.saitama.jp/english/kankou/e-dkougei.html

SHANGHAI
Exhibition at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Feb. 12 till Sept. 5, 2010

Scholten Japanese Art Exhibition, March 2010
Sacred Symbols in Profane Japan

Sieboldhuis Leiden Holland -Japanese and French
http://www.sieboldhuis.org/en/

Sue Sarasa Museum 寿恵更紗ミュージアム Kyoto

Suntory Museum of Art
おもてなしの美 Arts for Japanese Hospitality, Spring 2010

Todaiji Temple Exhibition, Nara
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20111012a7.html

Tokyo National Museum
Shaping Faith ―
Japanese Ichiboku Buddhist Statues, November 2006

Victoria and Albert Museum - England
Japan Collection
http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/j/japan/

Virtual Museum of Japanese Art -Fine Arts and Crafts
http://web-japan.org/museum/menu.html

Wereldmusuem Rotterdam
ritual objects associated with Japan's esoteric Shingon and Tendai Buddhism
http://www.wereldmuseum.com/exhibitions/the-collection.aspx

Reference : museums "Japanese Art"

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. Museum Art and Haiku .

. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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- Various Topics

2012-12-28T10:24:00.000-08:00

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Various Topics about Japan

©　Japanese Art in the WIKIPEDIA !

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.....................　Buddhist Ritual Implements

Ritual Decorations (shoogongu) 荘厳具　including:
Banner (ban) 幡
Canopy (tengai) 天蓋
Flower Garlands (keman) 華鬘

"Dragon wheel, dragon vehicle" ryuusha, ryusha 竜車, 竜舎 The top of a pagoda, soorin 相輪

Food Offerings and Bowls　 (onjiki kuyoo 飲食供養) onjiki ki 飲食器
Begging Bowls, Bettelschale

Kanshitsu 乾漆 dry laquer technique Trockenlack verfahren

Sutra, Sutras, Buddhist scriptures (kyoo, o-kyoo お経) Japan
Hanya Shingyo 般若心経　Heart Sutra　and more

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. . . . . Other Articles

Apsaras, Heavenly Maidens (tennyo 天女)

Butsuzoo ... 仏像... Introducing Japanese Deities
Byakudo 白道 The White Path to the Western Paradise

Daily Life in Edo and later Humanity Saijiki

Dantsu 段通／緞通 Japanese carpets

Dengakumai, dengaku mai 田楽舞 dance and food

Dogu (doguu 土偶) clay figurines of the Jomon period

Doosojin, the Roadside Deities 道祖神　(Dosojin)

EDO - Edo shigusa 江戸しぐさ manners of Edo 江戸思草　

Kotowaza　ことわざ Proverbs and Sayings

Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals SAIJIKI

Fishing Methods in Japan

Food and Drink in Japan ... WASHOKU SAIJIKI

History of Buddha Statues in Japan 仏像の歴史

Kanban kenchiku 看板建築 billboard architecture
signboard architecture

Kannabi, a place of the Gods 神奈備

Kigo ... 季語 ... Introducing THINGS JAPANESE !
..... Haiku and Things Japanese !

Kimigayo 君が代 the national anthem

Kubizuka, mounds for a severed head 首塚

Kurofune 黒船 Black Ships and a kyoka poem

Making Buddha Statues　仏像作りBasic Information
Mamori, O-Mamori, Amulettes and Talismans お守り
Maniguruma, Prayer Wheels マニ車,摩尼車. Jizoguruma 地蔵車
Mudra ... the gestures and positions of the hands ... mudra of preaching the Dharma (dharma-cakra-pravartana). Mit Deutschem Text.
Muenbotoke ... 無縁仏 ... Graves of unknown pilgrims

Nyoi Hooju, Wishfulfilling Jewel 如意宝珠, mani hooju 摩尼宝珠

Place Names 歌枕 .. Uta Makura .. used in Haiku
Pilgrims : Shikoku Summer 2005 Our own Haiku Pilgrimage　四国の遍路

Ranma 欄間 transom durchbrochene Zierleiste

Rokudo (Rokudoo) 六道... The Six Realms of Existence. Also GAKI 餓鬼, the Hungry Ghosts

Ryu, Ryuu .. 龍　竜 ... Dragon Art of Asia

A gallery of its own in 2012 - year of the dragon

. Sanbasoo　三番叟 Sanbaso Dancer .
Shuuban 宗判 temple stamps of identification
Storehouse, warehouse (kura　蔵, dozoo　土蔵)
Suijin, God of Water 水神

Tainai Butsu 胎内佛, 胎内仏Small Statues inside a statue.
..... offerings inside a statue, zoonai noonyuuhin 像内納入品
Tamanokoshi 玉の輿お守り talismans Imamiya Shrine, Kyoto
Taoism ...
Daoist Hell, Taoist Hell concepts
Teien, tei-en .. 日本の庭園 Japanese Gardens

Uchishiki ... 打敷 Altar Cloth with Dragon Design
Utasebune 打瀬船 fishing boats for shrimp

Yatagarasu, yata-garasu 八咫烏 "Three-legged crow"
legendary eight-span crow)

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... ... ... Daruma Temples

Famous Daruma Temples ... an overview

Daruma-Dera in Nishi-Izu 西伊豆の達磨寺
Hoorin-Ji Temple in Kyoto 法輪寺

Jindai-Ji Temple in Mitaka, Tokyo 深大寺 and the Ajikan meditation, Sanskrit letters
and "Ganzan Daishi" 元三大師.

Katsuo-Ji 勝尾寺　Osaka, Mino
Kozenji .. BIG Daruma Temple Koozen-Ji 興禅寺, Wakayama
Shoorin-Zan, Daruma-Ji Takasaki. Shorinzan

and the temple with the GRAVE OF DARUMA in Japan

Daruma-Ji at Kataoka　片岡

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. Temples, Shrines and sacred places - MAIN LIST .

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. . . More ARTICLES

Things of interest in Japanese culture ... a long LIST

The Old Tea Road from Yunnan to Lhasa
茶馬古道（ちゃばこどう).. Chaba Kodo

Japanese PLACE NAMES ... used in Haiku

Japanese TEMPLE and SHRINE NAMES ... used in Haiku

. Museums, Collections, Exhibitions .

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from my Paradise Publishers:
with full text online

. Buddhistische Kultgegenstände Japans .
(Buddhist Ritual and Ceremonial Tools)
butsugu　仏具, hoogu　法具
ISBN 4-938864-05-3

. Buddhastatuen ... Who is Who .
Ein Wegweiser zur Ikonografie
von japanischen Buddhastatuen
ISBN 4-938864-01-0

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. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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- - Names to be explored

2012-12-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

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Names to be explored

Friends in this forum post so many interesting things about Japanese art:

. Joys of Japan .

Copy the Japanese characters and
google for their artwork HERE

. www.google.co.jp/ .

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Ishikawa Jozan 石川丈山（1583～1672） calligraphy

Ishiuchi Miyako (1947 - ) 石内都 Painting

Itoo Nobukata (Ito) (1926 - 1989) 伊藤乃武方 bamboo worker

Kamisaka Sekka (1866-1942) 神坂雪佳 Painting

Kasamatsu Shiro (1898-1992) 笠松紫浪 Prints

Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) 川瀬巴水 Prints

Kobayashi Tôun Kobayashi Toun, Tooun (1961 - )
..... 小林東雲 Calligraphy

Matsui Fuyuko 松井冬子 (1974 - ) paintings
(not Fukuko Matsui)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fa20120112a1.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+japantimes+%28The+Japan+Times%3A+All+Stories%29

Narahara Ikko (1931 - ) 奈良原一高 Photography

Ohara Koson Ohara (1877 – 1945) 小原古邨 Prints

Okuhara Seiko (1837-1918) 奥原晴湖 Prints

Ryuutei Tanehiko (1783 - 1842) 柳亭種彦 Writer

Sawaki Suushi (1707 -1772) 佐脇嵩之 Prints

Serizawa Keisuke 芹沢鮭介 (1895 - 1984)
..... textile artist - with Daruma

Shoda Koho (1870-1946) Prints
Shoda Koohoo 庄田耕峰 (1877 - 1924) Painting

Takahashi Shotei (1874-1941)　高橋松亭 Prints

Tsuchida Bakusen (1887 - 1936) 土田麦僊 Painting

Yoshida Hiroshi 吉田博 (1876-1950) Painting

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. Joys of Japan - MORE LINKS - LIST .

. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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Daiitoku Myo-O

2012-01-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

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Wrathful Deities and
Compassionate Bodhisattvas:
Aides of the Buddhist Faith
February 4 – April 28, 2012

source : Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture

Wisdom King of Great Awe (Daiitoku Myōō)
13th century, Color on wood

Buddhism arrived in Japan in the mid-6th century, carrying in its new form of belief a vast pantheon of deities. Originating in India and passing through China and the Korean peninsula, the Buddhist faith underwent various transformations while keeping the one, ultimate goal: attainment of nirvana or salvation and escape from the endless cycle of rebirth.

Through contact with various Asian cultures where Buddhism was adopted, the Buddhist pantheon increased by the assimilation of Hindu deities, Chinese Daoist and Confucian beliefs, indigenous saints as well as Japanese Shinto deities (kami). The visual arts have become an important medium to transmit and teach Buddhist doctrine and the diversity and extent of the pantheon confronts people with a maze of Buddhist imagery.

The exhibition Wrathful Deities and Compassionate Bodhisattvas: Aides of the Buddhist Faith leads through this maze of Buddhist deities, explaining their purpose and giving the visitor insight into the different iconographical renderings.

In a system recalling Christian belief of the Holy Helpers and other saints, Buddhism also knows benevolent, merciful deities that assist the adherents in their faith. But besides the compassionate form of Buddhist bodhisattvas there are fierce-looking deities guarding the doctrine, the Myōō, or Wisdom Kings. The contrast between the merciful bodhisattvas and the almost demon-like ferocious deities is one of the most intriguing aspects in Buddhist art and these deities could be confused due to their gruesome outer appearance with mischievous devils and demons.

The Clark Center's spring exhibition will showcase the diverse forms of aid through exquisite Buddhist sculptures and a rare bronze votive plaque (kakebotoke), ranging in dates from the 12th to the 14th century. Also featured are sophisticated Buddhist hanging scrolls dated from the same period, as well as intriguingly painted saints and deities created during the 17th to the 19th century. Amongst them is an abbreviated drawing (shukuzu) of a Buddhist narrative by the accomplished and widely known painter Kanō Tan'yū (1602–1674).

Continuing to today, Buddha’s death is celebrated on February 15th as "Nirvana Day" and, in timely appropriation, a monumental nirvana painting (nehan-zu) of 9 × 6 feet (2.8 × 1.9 meters) dated to 1682, illustrating the death of the historical Buddha and his entrance into nirvana, is a highlight of this exhibition.

Curated by Sabine Neumann, Curatorial Assistant

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Daiitoku 大威徳明王 (Skt. Yamantaka)
west, emanation of Amida (Skt. Amitābha)

Positioned in West.
Six faces; six legs; six arms holding various weapons; riding a white cow (cow is symbol of enlightenment); has power to suppress evil and create goodness; also fights pain and poisons. Guardian deity for Amida Nyorai in the Western Pure Land; power to vanquish poisonous snakes and dragons; worshiped as a deity of victory; Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) has statue of Daitoku from the 10th century.

MORE :
source : - Mark Schumacher -

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Click for more photos !

大威徳明王 Daiitoku Myo-O (Yamaantaka)

"Große, majestätische Tugend".
Der Große Zerstörer in der Schlacht; tötet den Sturm-Drachen.
Auch "Höllenfürst" (Kooenma) genannt; ursprünglich verwandt mit dem Höllenfürsten Emmaten bzw. in Abwandlung der japanischen Umschreibung für yamaantaka: Enmatokuka. yamaantaka bedeutet eigentlich "Der dem Todesgott Yama ein Ende macht".
Furchterregende Inkarnation des Muryooju Nyorai, des Amida Nyorai bzw. des Monju Bosatsu.

Leitet in allen sechs Existenzbereichen, siehe Sechs Jizoo.
Besänftigt die Rachegeister der Verstorbenen (onryoo), gewährt Sieg im Kampf und fördert die Trennung einer unguten Liebesbeziehung. Weitherhin hilft er bei Epidemien, Dürrekatastrophen und Überschwemmungen.
Im Westen bei fünf Figuren.

Ikonografie:
Grünschwarze Körperfarbe. Drei große und darüber drei kleine Köpfe, insgesamt also sechs Köpfe; sechs Arme und sechs Beine. Der einzige Myo-O mit sechs Beinen, daher auch "Ehrwürdige Gottheit mit sechs Beinen" (rokusoku son) genannt. In jedem Gesicht drei Augen.
In den rechten Händen: Schwert, Stab der Lehre.
In den linken Händen: Dreizack mit langem Stab und Drachen-Seil.
Die mittleren Hände vor der Brust gefaltet, mit ausgestreckten Zeigefingern. Die Zeigefinger durchstoßen die Dunkelheit und das Unwissen und führen zur Klarheit.
Reitet auf einem grünen Wasserbüffel, manchmal umgeben von Mäusen.
Der Wasserbüffel wird selten stehend, häufiger liegend dargestellt.

. Buddhastatuen ... Who is Who .
Gabi Greve

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. Museums, Collections, Exhibitions .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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Priest Chogen

2011-12-27T21:14:00.000-08:00

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Priest Chogen 重源 Choogen

Choogen 重源（ちょうげん)
1121年（保安2年） - 1206年7月12日（建永元年6月5日

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Portraits of Chōgen
The Transformation of Buddhist Art in Early Medieval Japan
John M. Rosenfield

This volume, the first in Brill’s Japanese Visual Culture series, vividly describes the efforts of the Japanese monk Shunjōbō Chōgen (1121–1206) to restore major buildings and works of art lost in a brutal civil conflict in 1180.

Chōgen is best known for his role in the recasting of the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) and the reconstructing of the South Great Gate (Nandaimon) of Tōdaiji in Nara and its huge, dramatic wooden guardian figures. This study concentrates on these and other replacement statues and buildings associated with Chōgen and situates the visual arts of Japan into the spiritual … read moreand socio-political context of their times.

Through meticulous study of dedicatory material, Rosenfield is able to place the splendid Buddhist statues made for Chōgen in vivid new light. The volume also explores how Japan’s rulers employed the visual arts as instruments of government policy – a tactic that recurs throughout the nation’s history. This publication includes an annotated translation of Chōgen’s memoir, completed near the end of his life, in which he recounts his many achievements.

In chapters on East Asian portraiture, Rosenfield claims that surviving statues of Chōgen, carved with mordant realism, rank among the world’s most eloquent portraits, and herald the great changes that were to permeate Japanese religious and secular arts in the centuries to come. While Chōgen has been the subject of major art exhibitions and extensive research in Japan; this is the first book-length study to appear in the West.

source :www.brill.nl

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quote
Chōgen was a luminary of the period who raised funds for the rebuilding of the Daibutsuden 大仏殿, the giagantic "Buddha Hall" at Tōdaiji Temple 東大寺 in Nara, which had been burnt to the ground in +1180 during the Genpei War 源平合戦 (Genpei Kassen, + 1180 to 1185).
Chōgen was also a fervent believer in Amida Buddha 阿弥陀如来 and Pure Land faith (Jōdokyō 浄土教), and from +1183 he started giving his friends Buddhist names that contained the name Amida.

ANNAMI 安阿弥
Kaikei is credited with creating an independent sculptural style known as Annami 安阿弥, also called Annamiyō (Annamiyo) 安阿弥様, which literally means “Annami Style.” The name of this style stems from Kaikei’s own unique inscription, for he signed many of his works “Kaikei of the Buddhist name AN AMIDA BUTSU,” writing AN in Sanskrit.

He received this special Buddhist name from his friend, the Buddhist priest Chōgen (Chogen) 重源, the latter a famous monk (+1121-1206) who introduced the so-called Daibutsu Style (Daibutsuyō) 大仏様 of architecture to Japan, which he had learned while visiting China.
source : - Mark Schumacher -

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. Gyoki Bosatsu 行基菩薩 and Temple Todai-Ji.

. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

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Shishinden Kyoto

2011-12-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

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Shishinden 紫宸殿 Hall for State Ceremonies

. Gosho Imperial Palace in Kyoto 京都御所.　

The main building on the Palace Grounds includes, among other halls, the
Shishinden (紫宸殿, Hall for State Ceremonies),
Seiryōden (清涼殿, lit. 'cool, refreshing hall'),
Kogosho (小御所, Court Room),
Ogakumonsho (御学問所, Imperial Study or Library), and
a number of residences for the Empress, high-ranking aristocrats and government officials.

The main gate on the front, south, side of the Palace has a cypress-wood roof, and is supported by four pillars. This gate would have been used on the rare occasions of the Emperor welcoming a foreign diplomat or dignitary, as well as for many other important ceremonies of the State. To the sides lies a fence separating the inner areas from the general Palace Grounds, and just past this main gate is a second gate, painted in vermillion and roofed in tile, which leads to the Shishinden, the Hall for State Ceremonies.

The Shishinden was used for such important ceremonies as the coronation of an Emperor and installation of a Crown Prince. It is 33 by 23 metres in size, and features a traditional architectural style, with a gabled and hipped roof. On either side of its main stairway were planted trees which would become very famous and sacred, a cherry (sakura) on the eastern, left side, and a tachibana citrus tree on the right to the west.

The center of the Shishinden is surrounded by a hisashi (庇), a long, thin hallway which surrounded the main wing of an aristocrat's home, in traditional Heian architecture. Within this is a wide open space, crossed by boarded-over sections, leading to the central throne room. The Throne itself, called takamikura (高御座), sits on an octagonal dais, five metres above the floor, and could be separated from the rest of the room by a curtain.

The sliding door that hid the Emperor from view is called
kenjō no shōji (賢聖障子), and had an image of 32 Chinese saints painted upon it, which became one of the primary models for all of Heian period painting.

The Seiryōden sits to the west of the Shishinden, facing east. It, too, has a hipped and gabled roof, and is primarily cypress wood. Originally a place where the Emperor would conduct his own personal affairs, the Seiryouden was later used for various gatherings and meetings as well. In the centre is an area where the Emperor would rest, and on the east side of the hall, an area of two tatami was set aside for dignitaries and aristocrats to sit. Here was where the Emperor could conduct formal affairs.

On the north side of the hall was an enclosed area where the Emperor would sleep at night; later, Emperors began to use the official residence. The west side was set aside for the Emperor's breakfasts, and also contained the lavatories, while the south side was used by the keeper of the Imperial Archives. This area contained paintings by the masters of the Tosa school, and just outside, various rare bamboos were planted.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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The Tachibana, Fujiwara, Genji and Heike
are the four great clans of Old Japan.

. tachibana 橘 Tachibana citrus fruit .

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H A I K U - S E N R Y U

紫宸殿よく化物の出るところ
Shishin-den yoku bakemono no deru tokoro

Shishiden Hall -
a place often haunted
by monsters

Haifu Yanagidaru Senryu Collection 誹風柳多留

source :　fukude

from a carving of a festival float

源三位頼政の鵺退治～京都・紫宸殿
Genzanmi Minamoto Yorimasa fights with a nue monster

. Nue (鵺) a legendary creature .

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. Gosho Imperial Palace in Kyoto 京都御所.　

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Daishoin Miyajima

2011-12-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

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Daisho-In 大聖院
Daishooin

Chokugan Doo Hall 勅願堂（ちょくがんどう）

with Namikiri Fudo 波切不動明王
wave-cutting Fudo
Hideyoshi had taken this statue on board of his ship and he offered prayers for safety and success in war when he dispatched troops to invade Korea.

Gosanze Myo-O

Kannon Do Hall 観音堂（かんのんどう）　
Henrjoo kutsu 遍照窟 Kobo Daishi Cave
Daishi Do 大師堂 Kobo Daishi Hall
Reihokan 霊宝館 Museum
source : www.miyajima-wch.jp

Yearly Festivals
Setsubun 節分厄除開運星祭
Hocho Kuyo 庖丁供養　for knives
hiwatari shinji 火渡り神事 walking through fire
and many more

source : www.galilei.ne.jp/daisyoin

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Daishi Darani joo　大師陀羅尼錠　Daishi Darani Medicine
for stomach ailments
originate from Miyajima

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Daishō-in or Daisyō-in (大聖院)
s a historic Japanese temple on Mt.Misen, the holy mountain in the island of Itsukushima in Miyajima-chō in the city of Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, Japan. It is the 14th of Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage and famous for autumn leaves and maples. It has another temple name called "Suishō-ji" (水精寺). Including Mt.Misen, Daishō-in is within the World Heritage Area of Itsukushima Shrine.

In this temple there is a flame is which is said to have been burning since its foundation, for more than 1200 years.

Daishō-in was founded by the monk Kūkai, also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師), in the year 806, the 1st year of the Daidō era.
Kūkai was one of the most famous monks in Japan and the founder of Shingon Buddhism.
So, it's the head temple of one of the denominations of Shingon Buddhism and the oldest temple in Itsukushima.
An Imperial order by Emperor Toba, it was the place to pray for the peace and security of the nation.
Emperor Meiji was staied on July 31, 1885 for his visit to Itsukushima Shrine.
Repair work for the trail to Mt.Misen was finished in 1905.
It was done by the donation of Itō Hirobumi.
Heavy damage by 19th typhoon on September 27, 1991.
Held a memorial service to congratulate the restoration of the damage on October 10, 1998.
The 14th Dalai Lama visited Itsukushima to celebrate the 1200th-year of Daishō-in from the 3rd to 8th of November in 2006.

魔尼殿　Maniden hall

There are also many buildings, gates of the temple and many statues of Kannon, Jūichimen Kannon, Acala and Seven Lucky Gods on and around Mt.Misen.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Doll Exhibition of Tsujimura Shusaburo
辻村寿三郎人形展, 2008
宮島・大聖院

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Goosanze (Gosanze, Goozanze; Trailokyavijaya)

Temple Daigo-Ji 醍醐寺 Kyoto

"Der Besieger der drei Welten".
Im Sutra Dainichikyoo auch als "Shoosanze" bezeichnet.
Besiegt die drei Grundübel des fleischlichen Leibes: Gier, Haß und Unwissenheit.
Inkarnation des Dainichi Nyorai in der Diamantwelt, zusammen mit Fudoo Myo-O in der Mutterschoßwelt. Auch Inkarnation des Ashuku Nyorai, des Fugen Bosatsu und des Kongoo Satta. Gefolgsmann bzw. Inkarnation des Monju Bosatsu.
Im Volk verehrt als Gottheit der Wasserbüffel und Rinder.
Im Osten bei fünf Statuen.

Ikonografie:
Grünblaue Körperfarbe. Drei Köpfe, acht Arme; die Kleinfinger der mittleren Hände in spezifischer Geste verschlungen.
Selten gibt es auch Statuen mit einem Kopf und zwei Armen oder vier Köpfen und acht Armen.
Der Gürtel wird von einem Löwenkopf gehalten (shikami).
Um die Hüften einen Lendenschurz aus Tigerfell (kohikun).
In den rechten Händen: Diamant-Glocke (kongootaku), Schatz-Pfeil (hoosen), Schwert.
In den linken Händen: Dreizackige Hellebarde, Schatz-Bogen (hookyuu), Seil.
Die mittleren Hände in der typischen Goosanze-Haltung.
Trampelt auf der hinduistischen Gottheit Shiva und seiner Frau (Daijizaiten und Umakoo), die auf einem flachen Felssockel liegen.
In der Abteilung "Jimyooin" des Mandalas der Mutterschoßwelt wird Goosanze im Zentrum mit drei Köpfen und acht Armen dargestellt.

. Buddhastatuen ... Who is Who .
Ein Wegweiser zur Ikonografie
von japanischen Buddhastatuen
Gabi Greve, 1994

Gōzanze 降三世明王 (Skt. Trilokavijaya)

The “one who subjugates the three worlds.” Three threatening faces; eight arms; the enemy of foolishness and anger. Carries "Arrow of Mercy" to shoot at people who stray from path toward enlightenment; stands on two other deities, Daijizaiten 大自在天 and Daijizaiten’s consort Uma 烏摩, who he converts into Buddhist protectors.

English Details are here:
- Mark Schumacher -

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. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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Echigoya and Mitsui

2011-12-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

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Echigoya 越後屋 and Mitsui　三井

Echigoya,越後屋 a rich merchant residing in Edo, is a famous character in the well-loved Jidaigeki dramas of Edo.

He is usually a "bad merchant", 悪 waru, trying to make the most money he can.
And the bad Daimyo, trying to get some extra money, would snicker:
"O-Nushi mo waru yo noo, fufufufu".

quote
The main road leads from Nihonbashi into an area known as Suruga-machi This neighborhood is home to one of the largest and most prosperous merchant groups in all of Japan -- the Mitsui Echigoya. This wholesale and distribution conglomerate runs a cluster of high-class stores in the center of Edo, and it has gained a reputation as perhaps the most prestigeous shopping district in Edo.

The Mitsui Echigoya was founded by Mitsui Takatoshi, a merchant from Ise province who got his start selling fine kimono in Edo only a few years after the Tokugawa Shoguns began building their new city. Mitsui was the grandson of a samurai who fought for Oda Nobunaga, and his mother was from a small but reasonably successful merchant family in Ise province. Ise is a good headquarters for wholesaling businesses, especially cloth and kimono merchants, since it is a source of both silk and cotton cloth. The city where the Mitsui family lived, Matsuzaka, is one of the key ports on the route between Sakai (Osaka) and Edo. In fact, one of the Mitsui Echigoya's main competitors is the Iseya, which is also based in Matsuzaka.

Using his connections in Ise and Kyoto, and the money he earned from selling kimono, Mitsui steadily built his family's tonya (wholesale business) into a nationwide conglomerate known as the "Echigoya". Although the business specialised in clothing, it traded many other goods as well. Many of the leading retail businesses in Japan got their start as tonya -- family owned wholesale businesses -- which were founded during the early Edo period, or a few decades earlier.

Echigoya, Ando Hiroshige 広重

Conditions in Japan during the late 1500s and early 1600s were ripe for the growth of nationwide trading companies. The country was just starting to settle down after decades of continuous war, and people in different regions of Japan were starting to trade the products made locally for merchandise produced in other parts of the country. For example, lacquer and wood from the far north of Japan could be traded for sugar and indigo from the far south. People from all over the country began to produce a surplus of products, rather than just making enough for their own needs. They could then take the extra goods they produced and trade them for goods made elsewhere in the country.

The only problem was that it was complicated and expensive to transport goods to far-away places. Even rich daimyo found it difficult to organize the large-scale trading networks needed to transport different types of merchandise to the main towns. They needed a rich middle-man who could hire horses and boats, collect products from one region and ship them to other parts of the country. Most daimyo and other local leaders were too busy to deal with all the activities requred to organise trading activities, so they tended to appoint lower-ranking samurai or relatively wealthy local merchants to handle the job for them.

The person appointed by the local daimyo would usually send sales agents to all of the local villages in the area, and buy up all of the extra goods that were being produced in their local region. They would collect a large stock of the goods, and then ship them to markets in Edo, Kyoto or Osaka. They also bought a variety of merchandise in the big cities and shipped them back to the local towns, where they sold the products in their shops. These businesses came to be known as tonya　問屋, which roughly translates as "sales agent" or "wholesaler".

Hokusai
A sketch of the Mitsui shop in Suruga street in Edo

At first, most tonya were only appointed to work in a particular region of the country, and specialized in only one or two products. For example, they might be called the "Kotsuke wood tonya" or the "Ise silk tonya". Naturally, the tonya that were set up in important regions, or ones that handled very valuable products, became very wealthy. After a generation or two, these bigger tonya started to expand their businesses and set up "buying centers" all over the country. The most successful, such as the Mitsui Echigoya and the Iseya, started to handle a wider variety of products. They also set up their own retail stores in Kyoto, Sakai and Edo. Today, many districts in central Edo are dominated by these large retail conglomerates.

As Edo grew bigger and bigger, so did the wholesalers. Today, the leading merchants often dominate an entire street, with many elaborate stores selling all kinds of products. The Mitsui Echigoya, for example, operates over a dozen main stores in the Suruga-machi area alone, as well as its major stores in Kyoto, Osaka and Matsuzaka. If you walk down the main street in Suruga-machi, almost every building has large noren (curtain-like draperies) bearing the well-known "Mitsui mark".

Inside the stores are huge halls filled with shoppers, with all sorts of clothing and other products on display. Most of the shoppers are very well dressed. You can tell that most of them are daimyo, high-level samurai, rich merchants, or their family members. The women are all wearing beautiful silk kimono. Their faces are covered with white makeup and lipstick, and their teeth are stained black. This is the typical makeup of high-class women. Fair skin is considered very beautiful, so women do their best to keep their skin looking white. They use powders and lotions, and on special occasions they paint their entire face with a white makeup, which contrasts sharply with their red lipstick.

The main sales room is decorated with colorful displays. There are fine tatami mats on the floor and brightly colored kimono hanging from the rafters. On the walls are large signs announcing the store policy:
"genkin kake-ne nashi" (one low price if you pay cash).

All around the room are large cabinets with large wooden drawers. Every now and then, a sales clerk will go to one of the cabinets, take out a garment and bring it over to the client. The client examines the kimono, and if they decide they don't like it, the clerk will go back and get another one. The youngest sales clerks -- only about ten or twelve years old -- bring tea and snacks for the shoppers to eat as they examine the clothes.

Check here for the photos :
source : edomatsu/suruga

Old Shopsign 看板 kanban

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Daruma kinchaku bag, sold at the store
Echigoya in Edomura, Nikko
日光江戸村の越後屋さんでダルマさんの巾着袋を買いました。
source :　ottaka.blog22

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H A I K U - S E N R Y U

江戸中を越後屋にして虹がふき
Edo-juu o echigo-ya ni shite niji ga fuki

Echigo-ya spread
all over Edo and then
a rainbow above

source : www.deepkyoto.com
“Haifu-Yanagidaru”(『誹風柳多留』; 1765-1840)

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越後屋に衣さく音や衣更
Echigoya ni kinu saku oto ya koromogae

at the Echigoya shop
the sound of cutting cloth -
changing the robes

. Enomoto Kikaku Takarai 宝井其角 .

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. Edo, The City That Became Tokyo .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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Iwakura Daiun-Ji

2011-12-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

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Iwakura waterfall and
temple Daiun-Ji 岩倉大雲寺

source :　iinaa.net
京都市左京区岩倉上倉町３０５　　　　　　　　
　　　　　
The temple has been founded in 971 by emperor Enyuu Tenno 円融天皇 (959 - 991) for his personal prayers.

The Great Waterfall at Iwakura temple Daiun-Ji 大雲時 was seen as a cure for mental diseases and many visited in hope of a cure. It is also famous for the Statue of Kannon with 11 Faces, made by Gyoki Bosatsu.

The temple has been mentioned in many old stories, for example in an episode in the Genji Monogatari about Wakamurasaki 若紫, chapter 54. There it is called Kitayama no nanigashi tera 北山のなにがし寺.

In the haiku by Buson below, the Mad Woman refers to the daughter
皇女佳子, Princess Kako (Yoshiko 佳子/（よしこ）/（Kashiko　かしこ）内親王 - 1057 - 1130) , of emperor Gosanjo Tenno 後三条天皇 (1034 - 1073), who became mentally disabled at age 29 (but it is not clear wheather of love-sickness) and lived is secluse at the temple. Since she was a servant to the Shinto deities (miko) she was not allowed to love a man. She stood under the Iwakura waterfall 岩倉の滝 and drank the sacred water of the famous well 閼伽井の水 (Akai no mizu) in hope to get well and later recovered.
source :　michio_nozawa

Akai no Mizu 閼伽井（観音水） Kannon Water

It has been confirmed in its healing properties by the venerable priest Chiben Soojoo 智弁僧正（918～991） who used it for rituals of the esoteric Buddhism.
In a dream the saint Monkei Shonin 文慶上人（965～1046）was an aparition of the Dragon King Botsunanda Ryuo 跋難陀龍王 (ryuu-oo), who advised him:
"This is a special water, you may use it to heal people!"
The Dragon king then hit the ground with the sleeve of his robe and this water came forth.
The spring never dried up, even in the worst of droughts. People came from near and far to use it for curing diseases of the heart and mind (kokoro no yamai 心の病) and eye diseases to our day.

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Fudoo no taki 不動の滝　Waterfall of Fudo Myo-O
Myooken no taki 妙見の滝Waterfall of Myoken Bosatsu

source :　iinaa.net
In December 2007, without any water

This waterfall has been used by pilgrims to the temple 八雲寺 for rituals of ablution to heal diseases of the heart and mind (in modern language, we might say: mental illnesses of all kinds).
Many people have been cured by standing under the cold waterfall and meditating in the "Dragon hall 龍屋".

In the year 701, this waterfall has been established officially 大宝律令 to heal mentally instable people 精神障害者.

The oldest book of Medicine in Japan from 984,
Ishin Hoo (Ishinboo) 医心法, also mentiones this waterfall.

In the 11th century, this place had been widely accepted for its healing effects. Local people started building lodges nearby and it has flourished ever since.

The hospice where princess Kako had stayed so many years in the past became the "Iwakura Hospital いわくら病院" in 1992, starting with 33 beds for the sick. Now there are more than 1000 beds for the ageing population with Alzheimer and other mental diseases.

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天台証門宗　岩倉観音　大雲寺
Iwakura Kannon Statue

Homepage of the temple
source : www.daiunji.org

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Memorial stone for Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉句碑

The stone inscription is hard to read

○○佐らは雪見爾こ路不○まて　　

　
いざさらば雪見にころぶ処まで　　　
... iza saraba yukimi ni korobu tokoro made

let us say good bye
until we fall and slip
while watching the snow

Basho wrote this at the end of a visit to one of his pupils named Isa 伊佐.
The first line iza saraba, is a pun with this name.

The stone was erected in the Year Tenmei 4, 1785.
天明四年十月十二日

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quote
小林靖彦回顧展 Kobayashi Yasuhiko
3.9 Iwakura and Daiunji (Kyoto Prefecture)

Legend has it that Emperor Gosanjō (r. 1068-1072) succeeded in healing the mental illness of his daughter by confining her in Daiunji (Daiun-ji Temple) in Iwakura, Kyoto, drinking holy water; it is said that this is why it was popular for curing mental illnesses.

After the Meiji period medical doctors paid attention to the system whereby mental patients were accommodated in several small Japanese-style inns (later called hoyōjo 保養所) in Iwakura. These hoyōjo were highly evaluated in that they were similar to the psychiatric foster-family care practiced in Western Europe. Furthermore, Iwakura had the reputation of “a colony of mental patients” ranked on a par with Geel in Belgium. However, most hoyōjo were closed by the end of the Second World War. The tradition in Iwakura effectively disappeared.

Kobayashi was interested in Iwakura from early in his academic career. He visited in 1946, 1962, and 1972. As for his visit in 1962 Kobayashi wrote, “In the grounds (of Daiunji) a mental hospital is standing now. … It is a modern hospital, which does not have the atmosphere of the former in Iwakura that I knew. I remember the former visit to Iwakura just after my demobilization.… Standing before this modern hospital, I feel we left something unforgettable behind” (Nihon seishin igaku shōshi [A Short History of Psychiatry in Japan], 1963).

大雲寺境内の不動滝
The waterfalls in the grounds of Daiuniji.
Kobayashi, 1972.
source : kenkyukaiblog.jugem.jp

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Iwakura Mental Hospital

quote
Iwakura is 8km north-east of Kyoto Imperial Palace and is famous for a legend:
the third princess of Emperor Go-Sanjo (1068-1072), who developed a mental disease at age 18, was cured when she prayed to the eleven-faced Goddess of Mercy at Daiunji Temple, Iwakura.

Beginning about 1750, many mental patients wanted to share her good luck so began to stay in farmers' houses in Iwakura in order to pray at Daiunji Temple. Four farmers' houses specialized in hosting mental patients at the beginning of the 19th century and continued receiving them even after Iwakura Mental Hospital was established in 1884.

Iwakura's fame increased when Dr. Shuzo Kure wrote that Iwakura in 1895 had a similar family care system for mental patients to that of Geel, Belgium. Around 1930, Dr. Eikichi Tsuchiya, the director of Iwakura Mental Hospital, began to promote 'Iwakura' as 'a Geel in Japan.' 300 mental patients stayed in specialized sanatoria-farmers' houses and non-specialized farmers' houses in 1935 in addition to the 500 mental patients in Iwakura Mental Hospital.

However, Iwakura Mental Hospital was forced to close in 1945 by the Japanese army. Many sanatoria were closed as well because of a shortage of food. Since the number of beds in mental hospitals per 10,000 people in Japan was very few compared to that in Europe and the USA, the Japanese government helped people who wanted to establish mental hospitals. In Iwakura, the new Iwakura Mental Hospital was established in 1952 and the Kitayama Mental Hospital was established in 1954. Both increased their beds yearly.
source : naid

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H A I K U

岩倉の狂女恋せよほととぎす　
Iwakura no kyoojo koi seyo hototogisu

A little cuckoo across a hydrangea - Yosa Buson
与謝蕪村

cause the madwoman at Iwakura
to fall more deeply in love
o hototogisu

With an explanation about the hototogisu and the hydrangea:
source :　Cheryl A. Crowley

Mad woman of Iwakura
Make love!
Hototogisu.
source :　loren

In Iwakura
Fall in Love Mad Women
Little Cuckoo.

Encyclopedia of Disability
Stories from the Ebisu Mandara (ca. 1600–1950s)
The texts are by a well known writer, himself disabled.
source : sage-ereference.com

mad woman at Iwakura
please fall in love !
Hototogisu
Tr. Gabi Greve

I am tempted to paraphrase

mad princess at Iwakura
please fall in love !
Hototogisu

I prefere to use the Japanese name of the bird, since the word
cockoo in a poem about a mad, mentally ill woman seem to give way to speculation in English, which are not inherent in the Japanese.

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Chris Drake wrote:

all right, nightingale,
love a madwoman
in Iwakura!

The hokku is fairly conversational, so it might even deserve "Hey, nightingale...." Buson's painting with this hokku in it shows a hototogisu/nightingale (hototogisu aren't normally associated with madness, the way cuckoos are, but with intensity and mystery and otherworldliness) flying over wet-looking blue-purple hydrangeas, which catch the wet feeling of the hototogisu's voice. Originally the hokku was prefaced by a short quote from Kenkou's 'Tsurezure-gusa' or rambling essays (no. 107) indicating that the point of view is that of a commonsensical, ordinary kind of man.

Probably Buson means it ironically. Sort of like, nightingale, your uncanny, wild song is so filled with crazy love that it's simply beyond me. You'd better fall in love with a madwoman who can understand your (incredibly beautiful and transcendent) sudden bursts of song between your long silences that make me long for you so. I'd guess the madwoman would be both a real woman staying in an inn near the temple with the waterfalls reputed to cure madness as well as a part of Buson himself that's at the root of his personality beyond his everyday identity that he could access through his writing and art. Buson is often a bit Jungian. I think there may be a hint that he's having a half-humorous yet spiritual lover's quarrel both with the bird and with himself.

It seems doubtful Buson was writing about any specific madwoman, and in his time many of the women who were deemed "mad" were probably classified that way because they loved too much, not too little. See the last chapter of Saikaku's "Life of a Sensuous Woman," which Buson might possibly have in mind. Many contemporary bloggers read the madwoman as the subject of the hokku, but that's unlikely. Commentators traditionally read the hokku as addressed to the hototogisu, and that's what the language implies. There is no 'kyoujo o,' but 'o' would make the middle line or unit have 8 syllables, and it's not strictly necessary anyway. Also, if no kireji is used, then the first part of the hokku tends to be the object of the verb, which comes later; and the "please love..." is clearly directed at the nightingale, the bird addressed strongly by Buson or his persona/voice here. There are also no particles indicating that Buson is addressing a/the madwoman. Of course, if a translator feels Buson is unconsciously making a direct address to a/the madwoman, then that interpretation is also fine.

Though Buson no doubt visited Daiunji Temple, this hokku was written on 4/4 at a gathering of poets, not at Iwakura. And Buson's painting is of a scene a month or so later, during the rainy season, when the rain and somewhat psychic hydrangeas create a border otherworldly landscape. So I'd guess Buson may be writing a poem more on a spiritual or visionary level (rather than recording an immediate observation / experience) about how male poets need to learn from madwomen in order to really understand the haunting cries of the hototogisu -- and about love, too. The most heartbroken being in the hokku, I'd think, is probably Buson, since the bird refuses to sing "down" to his low level of understanding and obviously needs to find a sensitive and "wise" madwoman to communicate with.

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. Hototogisu and Haiku .

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source :　cfmjs676

quote
後三条天皇 Emperor Gosanjo Tenno
Emperor Go-Sanjō (後三条天皇, Go-Sanjō-tennō)
(September 3, 1034 – June 15, 1073)
was the 71st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

Go-Sanjō's reign spanned the years from 1068 through 1073.

This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Sanjō and go- (後), translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Sanjō". The Japanese word "go" has also been translated to mean the "second one;" and in some older sources, this emperor may be identified as "Sanjō, the second," or as "Sanjo II."

Go-Sanjō had three Empresses and seven Imperial sons and daughters.

1050-1131 Imperial Princess Toshiko (聡子内親王)
1053-1129 Imperial Prince Sadahito (貞仁親王) (Emperor Shirakawa)
1056-1132 Imperial Princess Toshiko (俊子内親王) - Higuchi? saigū (樋口斎宮) (Saigū = Imperial Princess serving at the Grand Shrine of Ise)
1057-1130 Imperial Princess Kako (佳子内親王)
- Tomi-no-kōji Saiin 富小路斎院
1060-1114 Imperial Princess Tokushi (篤子内親王) - Empress (chūgū of Emperor Horikawa)
1071-1185 Imperial Prince Sanehito (実仁親王) - Shirakawa's would-be heir
1073-1119 Imperial Prince Sukehito (輔仁親王)
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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Tamaki Jinja Kunitokotachi

2011-12-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

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Tamaki Jinja 玉置神社
Totsukawa Village Yoshino County, Nara Prefecture

quote
Located near the mountaintop of Mt. Tamaki that is at the southern end of the Omine Mountains, this shrine is also called Tamaki Sansho Gongen and is the protective shrine of the Totsukawa area.
It is most probably the oldest shrine of Japan.
It is said that Mt. Tamaki is a sacred place for gems, stones and mountains, and they came to the origin of the worship. Accommodation facilities were built since the Kamakura era and it became a sacred place for Shugendo.
In the compound, there stand the main hall, child shrines, shrine office, kagura ritual dance hall, ema hall and shoro bell hall and 3,000 years old cedar trees.
source : www.sekaiisan-wakayama.jp

quote
Tamaki shrine
is located near the top of Mt.Tamaki (Tamakisan) at an elevation of 1,076 meters. It was founded in the era of the Tenth Suijin Emperor, and has been regarded as the inner sanctuary of the Three Kumano Shrines. The main hall is built with zelkova, a type of finely grained wood, in the gable and hip roof style, and enshrines the five gods of
Kuni-no-tokotachi-no-mikoto,
Izanagi-no-mikoto, Izanami-no-mikoto,
Ama-terasu-o-mikami, and
Kamuyamato-iware-hiko-no-mikoto.
With in the precincts are huge aged cedars (Jindai-sugi, Tokotachi-sugi, Iware-sugi, O-sugi and other cedars) designed as natural monuments.

Shuki Taisai - Autumn Festival 秋季大祭
is an annual grand festival held on October 24 at Tamaki Shrine. Male worshippers clad in maiden-style dress and holding white bows and arrows play sacred music and dance in a rare ritual called Yumi-kagura.

Close to the summit of Tamaki mountain you can find Tamaki shrine; a quiet shrine with a magnificent air flowing freely around it. Made completely of wood, everything from the front office to the shrine kitchen is becoming a valuable cultural asset.

Also inside the shrine is a special screen painting made by one of the disciples of the Kano style of screen painting. It was gracefully painted on a sliding door made of cedar.
source : www.totsukawa-h.ed.jp

- Reference -

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Deity in residence
Kuni no Tokotachi no mikoto 国常立尊主神

quote
Kunitokotachi
Other names:
Kuni no tokotachi no kami(Kojiki), Kuni no tokotachi no mikoto(Nihongi)

One of the first kami to appear in the mythical accounts of the unfolding of heaven and earth.
Believed to represent the "foundation of the land," the name originally indicated an abstract being without concrete form or attributes. In Kojiki, Kunitokotachi appears at the beginning of the "seven generations of kami" which emerge following Amenominakanushi and the four other "separate heavenly kami" (kotoamatsukami).

On the other hand, Nihongi's main text and three "alternative writings" suggest that Kunitokotachi was the first kami to appear out of the chaos following the separation of heaven and earth. It is generally believed that Kunitokotachi represents a primitive deity originating from a tradition independent from that of Amenominakanushi.
source : Kadoya Atsushi, 2005, Kokugakuin

source :　mujaki

龍神「国常立尊」
『日月神示』でも
「日本列島が国常立尊の肉体」だと示されている通り、日本列島は龍体をしている。

"The Japanese Islands
are the flesh of the Dragon Kunitokotachi.!

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神武天皇御東征のときこの地で兵を休め
十種神宝（とくさのかんだから）」の「玉」を鎮め（置き）武運を祈願されたことから
玉置（たまき）の名前の由来となっておる。

The Ten Treasures 十種神宝 tokusa no kandakara

When Jinmu Tenno passed here on his way to the North-East he offered (put (OKI 置) the four heavenly jewel treasures (tama 玉 ) at this place, hence the name, lit.
"Shrine where the Jewels are layed down".
Tamaki Jinja 玉置神社 "Tama oki jinja" - Tamaki Jinja

. Jimmu (Jinmu Tenno 神武天皇) in Kumano .
and the legend of the three-legged crow 八咫烏 yatagarasu 八咫烏.

Tokusa-no-Kandakara - The 10 treasures and
. Isonokami Shrine (石上神宮, Isonokami-jinguu .

the four TAMA jewels of the ten treasures:

Iku-tama 生玉 Jewel of Life
Taru-tama 足玉 Jewel of Plenty
Makaru kaheshi-no-tama 死反玉 Jewel of Resuscitation
Chikaheshi-no-tama 道反玉
Jewel of Turning Back on the Road

十種神宝 Tokusanokamudakara

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source :　totsukawa.info
Jindaisugi, the sacred pine of the time of the gods

Jindaisugi 神代杉　
"Pine of the Gods" sacred sake　御神酒

Kosazuke 子授け amulets for pregnancy

homepage of the shrine
source : www.tamakijinja.or.jp

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quote
Yoshino-Kumano National Park in the Kii Mountain Range.
Famed for centuries for its mountains and temples and shrines (also the home of the legendary Tengu Goblin, the slayer of vanity), this region of Japan is very mountainous, with steep ridges, complicated peaks, and vast gorges. One of the most prominent religious sanctuaries since the Heian Period. The Yoshino region southeast of Osaka is the northern entrance of the Nyūbu 入峰 (mountain pilgrimage).
The Ōmine mountain range between Kumano and Yoshino includes places of seclusion and ascetic practices such as Ozasa, the Shō rock carvern, the Zenki valley, and Mt. Tamaki.
The pilgrimage path leads from Yoshino through Ōmine to Kumano.
source : - Mark Schumacher -

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. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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Shibata Zeshin

2011-12-06T17:22:00.000-08:00

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Shibata Zeshin

source : wikipedia

Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真
March 15, 1807 – July 13, 1891
was a famous and revolutionary Japanese painter and lacquerer of the late Edo period and early Meiji era. In Japan, he is ironically known as both too modern, a panderer to the Westernization movement, and also an overly conservative traditionalist who did nothing to stand out from his contemporaries. Despite holding this odd reputation in Japan, Zeshin has come to be well regarded and much studied among the art world of the West, in England and the United States in particular.

Zeshin was born and raised in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). His grandfather Izumi Chobei and his father Ichigoro were shrine carpenters (miya　daiku) and skilled wood carvers. His father, who had taken his wife's family name of Shibata, was also an experienced Ukiyo-e painter, having studied under Katsukawa Shunshō. This, of course, gave him an excellent start on the road to being an artist and craftsman. At age eleven, Kametaro, as Zeshin was called in his childhood, became apprenticed to a lacquerer named Koma Kansai II.

At age 13, the young man who would become Zeshin abandoned the name Kametaro and became Junzo. Koma Kansai decided that his young charge would need to learn to sketch, paint, and create original designs in order to become a great lacquerer. He arranged for young Shibata to study under Suzuki Nanrei, a great painter of the Shijō school. Shibata then took on yet another artist's name, abandoning Junzo and signing his works "Reisai," using the Rei from Suzuki Nanrei, and the sai from Koma Kansai.

It was during his time with Nanrei that he was given the name Zeshin, which he would stick with for the rest of his life. The name has a meaning similar to "this is true" or "the Truth", a reference to an old Chinese tale of a king who held an audience with a great number of painters. While nearly all of the painters afforded the king the proper respect, bowing before him and comporting themselves appropriately, one arrived half-naked, did not bow, and sat on the floor licking his paintbrush; the king exclaimed "now, this is a true artist!" And from this the name Zeshin was taken.

Zeshin learned not only the basics of painting and sketching, but also Japanese tea ceremony, haiku and waka poetry, history, literature and philosophy. This would form the foundation of his training in not only the techniques of the traditional arts, but also, and perhaps more importantly, the aesthetic and philosophy of Japanese traditional art. Many of his works from the period of his studies with Nanrei were fan paintings. The great ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi was impressed with these fan paintings and, approaching the young painter, began a friendship which would last for many years.

柴田是真の漆×絵

Zeshin later studied under other great artists of the Kyoto school, including Maruyama Ōkyo, Okamoto Toyohiko, and Goshin. Though he would later be known primarily for his work with lacquers, Zeshin excelled at traditional ink painting, and produced many works of traditional subjects such as tigers and waterfalls. Though Japanese masters (sensei) are often quite egotistical and arrogant before their students, one of Zeshin's teachers is reputed to have made the comment that "just as you cannot appreciate the size of Mt. Fuji while standing upon it, so you cannot truly appreciate my skill and reputation while in Kyoto; when you return to Edo you will realize my incredible import and your great fortune in having studied under me." Zeshin, on the other hand, is reputed to have told his own students that he did not wish them to be known as
"a pupil of Zeshin's, but rather as a great artist
who studied under a man called Zeshin."

Koma Kansai died in 1835, and Zeshin inherited the Koma School workshop. He took on a young man by the name of Ikeda Taishin as a pupil; Taishin would remain his pupil and close friend until his death in 1903. Zeshin married in 1849 and named his first son Reisai, but lost his mother and his wife both soon afterwards.

Shoki and the Demons

In the 1830s and 1840s, Japan suffered an economic crisis, and artists were strictly limited, by law, in their use of silver and gold, both nearly essential for traditional styles of lacquer decoration. Zeshin compensated by using bronze to simulate the look and texture of iron, and with a variety of other substances and decorative styles to keep his work beautiful, while remaining traditional and doable. Many of his pieces could be said to embrace the concept of wabi, that is, beauty and elegance in the very simple, as exemplified by the Japanese tea ceremony. Although very few of his Edo period (pre-1868) pieces survive, it is evident in many of his later pieces that he would use, at times, a very simple and nearly colorless style of decoration, while continuing to use the traditional designs such as flowers and reeds.

Beginning in 1869, Zeshin was commissioned to work for the Imperial government, and created many works of art for them which are sadly no longer extant. These included a set of gold-lacquered chairs for the Imperial Palace decorated in a sakura (cherry blossom) motif. He was later made Japan's official representative to several international expositions, including Vienna in 1875, Philadelphia the following year, and Paris. One year before his death in 1891, Zeshin was granted the immense honor of membership in the newly-created Imperial Art Committee. The honor of Imperial Commissioned Artists was only granted to 53 artists between 1890 and 1944.

Today, one of the greatest collections of Zeshin's works is the
Khalili Collections of London, containing over 100 works by the artist.

Urushi-e 漆絵

In addition to inventing the form of urushi-e, painting with lacquer, Zeshin also experimented greatly with the technical elements of using lacquer. He mixed his lacquers with a variety of substances to achieve different colors and textures, and to control the consistency and flexibility of the lacquer. He mixed certain substances with the lacquer to ensure it would not crack when his urushi-e scroll paintings were rolled up. He used bronze in his lacquer to simulate the appearance and texture of iron, and cereal starch to thicken his lacquer to simulate, at least in some respects, the effect of Western oil painting.

Zeshin remains, in fact, the only artist to be successful in the medium of urushi-e, as it requires specially treated paper, and a very particular consistency of lacquer to be used as paint. Zeshin also revived a complex lacquer technique called seikai-ha to produce wave forms; this technique is so difficult it had not been used for over a century.

However, although he used many revolutionary elements in his work, both technically and creatively, Zeshin's works were always, on the whole, very traditional. In the brand-new medium of lacquer painting, he would paint traditional subjects like birds and flowers, insects, waterfalls and dragons. He copied a famous painting of a tiger by his teacher Maruyama Okyo, in lacquer. A red, black and gold lacquer picnic set by Zeshin serves as another good example of this revolutionary traditionalism. The picnic set is made in very traditional style, almost entirely of red and black lacquer with gold decorations of leaves and branches. However, on the serving tray is a series of butterflies and dragonflies, inlaid into the surface of the serving tray and carved out of iridescent seashell.

Zeshin's signature was always quite subdued, and on occasion he would be playful with the idea of the signature. There is a decorative tsuba (sword handguard) made by him on which an ant, displayed in relief in lacquer, is carrying away the "shin" character (真) of Zeshin's signature to the other side of the piece.

It has been said that much of Zeshin's work strongly represents the aesthetic concept of iki (粋), which might be translated as "chic". The Edo concept of iki, known as sui in Kansai, was described most authoritatively by Kuki Shūzō, but like the English ideas of chic, cool, and stylish, the precise colors, patterns, and other stylistic elements that constitute iki are nearly impossible to pin down. Nevertheless, that said, Zeshin's works are often labeled as iki, and considered to have just the right balance of tradition with the new, being beautiful but not gaudy and simple but not boring and smart but not arrogant. His style has been compared by some to haiku, in that its beauty and meaning is more powerful in what is not shown than by what is.

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bokurin hikka 墨林筆哥（ぼくりんひっか）

- Reference -

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200 years since 1807 . . .
Exhibition at the Makie Museum, in 2007　蒔絵博物館
source :　makie-museum.com

quote
The Genius of Japanese Lacquer: Masterworks by Shibata Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin (1807–1891) is history’s greatest lacquer artist, recognized worldwide for his exquisitely detailed lacquered boxes, panels, sword mounts, and other objects, as well as scrolls painted in both ink and lacquer. In addition to his mastery of traditional techniques, Zeshin developed a range of daring new lacquer textures and finishes imitating rusty iron, rough seas, patinated bronze, and even the delicate grain of Chinese rosewood.
source : www.japansociety.org

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. Shibata Zeshin and HAIKU .

. Urushi laquer and Daruma .
Uzawa Shogetsu　鵜沢松月
Shirayama Shosai 白山松哉 (Shirayama Shoosai)

. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

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Suitengu Shrine

2011-12-02T16:39:00.000-08:00

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Suitengu 水天宮 Shrine for the Water God

Suiten 水天　God of Water

source :　doushu23

Suitenguu 水天宮 Shrine of the Water God
東京都中央区日本橋蛎殻町二丁目4番1号 Tokyo

It features the mask of a Lucky Kappa, a water goblin, called
Fuku-Taroo 河童は、福を呼ぶ.
Sometimes, even a Kappa is some form of Suijinsama.
This is an amulet against water damage, fire and avoiding all evil.

Kappa 河童　＜＞　The Water Goblin

Kappa and Haiku
Kappa ki 河童忌 Kappa Memorial Day, Akutagawa Ryunosuke

There are many Suitengu shrines all over Japan, but this one in Tokyo is most famous, and the one in Kurume, Fukuoka, is the head shrine
福岡県久留米市.

quote
In 1818, a branch of the original Suiten-gu Shrine in Kurume City, Fukuoka, was built in Edo (present day Tokyo), but it was moved to its present location in Nihombashi around 1872. This shrine embodies the Water Deity who brings smooth delivery of babies, protects children, and protects against drowning (安産・子授ける).
Like other Suiten-gu Shrines, it holds it annual spring festival on May 5th, which is its busiest day of the year. Benzaiten (the Buddhist goddess of fortune), is honored here as well. She is one of Japan's Seven Deities of Good Fortune. This shrine is also one of the sites on a local pilgrimage to the seven.

Another attraction of this shrine is its "Dog Deity," said to grant easy child delivery to those who touch it. Some say it embodies Oinari-sama, the god of rice and agriculture, whose messenger is the fox.

Suitengū Shrines 水天宮
Devoted to the Deity of Water, known as Suijin or Suiten or Mizu no Kamisama. This Shintō deity, often a goddess, protects not only fishermen but also serves as the patron saint of fertility, motherhood, and easy childbirth. She is mostly worshipped at "Suitengū" shrines throughout Japan, and votive stone markers devoted to her can be found frequently in the countryside. The Suitengū Shrine in Kurume (Fukuoka) is the main shrine of all Suitengū Shrines in Japan.

- Mark Schumacher -

Women come here on the day of the dog (inu no hi 戌の日) to pray.

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quote
Suitengu is a shrine located in the neighborhood of Ningyocho where you can still capture the atmosphere of Shitamachi (old Tokyo).

The shrine pavilion with its striking curving roof was built in 1967, using an architectural style known as "Gongen-zukuri". It has been gathering place for worship as the God of safe childbirth and blessing of pregnancy has resided here since the time of Edo period. Prayer for "Anzan Kigan," hoping for the safety of mother and safe birth of a baby, and "Kosazuke Kigan" for having children are mainly conducted. There are always many worshipping of couples and their families praying for safe childbirth and pregnancy blessings, paying a visit of thanks, and providing baby's first shrine visit both on weekdays and weekends.
source : www.japan-i.jp

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Deity in residence

. Amenominakanushi no kami 天之御中主神 .
Ame no minaka nushi no kami / 天御中主神

. Antoku Tenno 安徳天皇 .

Ame no Mikumari no Kami 天之水分神
Kuni no Mikumari no Kami 国之水分神

Prayers for a safe delivery, protection from water damage and other catastrophies.

Amulet set with a bit of rice, cake, and an ema votive tablet with a dog

ko sazuke 子授御守　amulet for getting pregnant
This amulet must be worn on the body by husband and wife,
with daily prayers.

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kodakara no ishi 子宝石 stone to get pregnant
This stone must be put on the shelf of the gods (kamidana) for daily prayers.
Put on a pink cushion, it can also be placed in the bedroom, with a prayer every evening.

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misuzu obi 御子守帯 (みすゞおび)

鈴の緒

Before praying a bell is hit to call the deities down to hear the prayer of the mother-to-be. 鈴の緒

obi iwai 帯祝い amulet for a safe pregnancy
a belly binding ritual, buy a stomach band, bellyband
In the fifth month of a pregnancy, on the day of the dog (according to the lunar calendar) women go to a special shrine or temple to get this amulet and a bandage to wrap around the body. Usually the mother buys it for her pregnant daughter.

quote
... in her fifth month of pregnancy and on Inu-no-hi (戌の日 / Day of the Dog), the mum-to-be will perform the Obi-iwai. She will bind her tummy with the cotton sash to ensure safe and easy delivery of her child.
Interestingly, dog seems to play a big part in the sash-binding ritual. Mostly because of the belief that mummy-dogs give birth to little puppies with ease and hardly any complication. So the doggy days are considered auspicious days to do the bellyband ceremony.

More about pregnancy rituals:
source : blackcabbit.wordpress.com

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ema votive tablet with Benten
宝生辨財天絵馬

fuku ema to bring good luck 福絵馬 and to ward off evil

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mi naru kane 巳なる金 (みなるかね)
serpent to get money

Sold at the Benten Shrine in the compound. The servant of Benzaiten is the serpent.
This is a pun with the word MI (serpent, to bring fruit)
実のなる金

More amulets from the shrine:
source : www.suitengu.or.jp

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Yanagawa Okinohata Suitengu 柳川市沖端水天宮

see below

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. The Water God 　Suijin-sama 水神様　 .

. Three Female Deities of Water.
The Munakata Shrine Cult - 宗像大社

.　Mikumari Jinja 御子守神社 and
Mikomori Myōjin 御子守明神. .
Komori Myōjin 子守明神,　Mikomori Sannyoshin 御子守三女神
Female deities to protect the mothers.

. Anzan Daruma from the Suitengu Shrine .
水天宮の安産だるま

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Kosazuke 子授けお守り amulets for pregnancy

. Shrine Tamaki Jinja 玉置神社 .
Nara prefecture

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H A I K U

kigo for early summer

. Suitenguu Matsuri 水天宮祭 Festival at Suitengu shrines .
柳川水天宮祭 festival at Shrine Suitengu in Yanagawa, Fukuoka
Okinohata Suitengu Festival 沖の端水天宮祭り
(May 13 - 15) 沖端水天宮祭り

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kigo for mid-winter

osame no Suitengu 納の水天宮 (おさめのすいてんぐう)
last visit to the Suitengu shrine
December 5

This is the last of the monthly prayer days (ennichi　縁日) for the year. A great fair is held and many visitors come to the shrine.

水天宮納め参りの雨となり
Suitengu osame mairi no ame to nari

Shrine Suitengu -
on the last visit of the year
it is raining

Kayama san 加山穂渓

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kigo for the New Year

Hatsu Suitenguu 初水天宮 (はつすいてんぐう)
first visit to the Shrine Suitengu

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. The Water God 　水神様　Suijin-sama .

. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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Munakata Shrine

2011-12-01T18:24:00.000-08:00

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Munakata Taisha 宗像大社
Munakata Jinja　宗像神社

Munakata Shrine in Fukuoka prefecture, Munakata village
福岡県宗像郡の宗像大社, 福岡県宗像市田島2331

Munakata no Kami 宗像神 the Munakata Deity

The group of three important female deities
Tagori-hime, Tagitsu- hime and Ochikishima- hime.
see below.

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quote
Munakata Taisha (宗像大社) is a collection of three Shinto shrines located in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is the head of the approximately 6,000 Munakata shrines all over the country. Although the name Munakata Taisha refers all three shrines
—Hetsu-gū, Nakatsu-gū and Okitsu-gū—
it is commonly used to refer to Hetsu-gū alone. As documented in Japan's second oldest book, Nihon Shoki, the shrines are devoted to the three Munakata goddesses. These kami are believed to be daughters of the god Amaterasu, the ancestor of the imperial family. Susanoo has also been worshipped there for many years as the god of mariners, and he has come to be worshipped as the god of traffic safety on land as well.

Munakata Taisha is also home to many Japanese treasures. Hetsu-gū's honden (main shrine) and haiden (main prayer hall) are both designated Important Cultural Properties. The Shinpō-kan (神寶館), the shrine's treasure hall located on the southwest corner of Hetsu-gū's grounds, houses many important relics including six National Treasures of Japan. Over 120,000 artifacts housed in the Shinpō-kan were unearthed on Okinoshima.

Three shrines
All three shrines are located in Fukuoka Prefecture, yet they are all on separate islands. The main shrine, Hetsu-gū, is located on the mainland of Kyūshū. Nakatsu-gū is established at the foot of Mt. Mitake on the island of Ōshima off the west coast of Kyūshū.

The final shrine, Okitsu-gū, is on the island of Okinoshima located in the middle of the Genkai Sea. The shrine occupies the entire island, therefore women are not allowed to set foot on the island and men must perform a purification ceremony before landing.

Hetsu-gū (辺津宮) Ichikishima Hime-no-Kami (市杵島姫神)

Nakatsu-gū (中津宮) Tagitsu Hime-no-Kami (湍津姫神)

Okitsu-gū (沖津宮) Tagori Hime-no-Kami (田心姫神)

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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quote
Munakata Shrines 宗像 and Munakata Taisha 宗像大社.
Munakata Taisha in Munakata City (Fukuoka) is the mother shrine for some 6,000 satellite Munakata shrines nationwide. Munakata shrines are dedicated to the Munakata Sannyoshin 宗像三女神 (also written 胸形三女神), the "Three Female Kami of Munakata."
These three are water goddesses, island kami, and patrons of safety at sea, bountiful fishing, guarding the nation, and protecting the imperial household. The trio appear in the Kojiki 古事記 (K) and Nihon Shoki 日本書紀 (NS), two of Japan's earliest official records of the 8th century, although the spelling of their names differ slightly.
Their worship began under the patronage of the Munakata 宗像 clan on Kyūshū (Kyushu) island, hence they are named the Three Goddesses of Munakata. In the 8th and 9th centuries, Japanese envoys to Korea and China visited Munakata Taisha before their departure to pray for safety on the sea voyage (in the Nihongi, the supreme sun goddess Amaterasu commands them to protect the sea route from northern Kyushu to the Korean Peninsula).
In the classical texts mentioned above, all three kami were formed when sun goddess Amaterasu broke Susanō's sword, chewed it in her mouth, then blew out a mist that produced the triad.

The three kami are:
Ichikishima-hime 市杵嶋姫命
Tagitsu-hime 多岐都比売命
Tagori-hime 田心姫

- MORE : - Mark Schumacher

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The deity in residence of this shrine is

Ichikishima hime 市杵島姫（いちきしまひめ）
Takishi hime, Takiri Hime タキツヒメ・タキリヒメ
daughter of Amaterasu and officially celebrated at the Itsukushima shrine in Miyajima, Hiroshima.

The shrine overlooks the Genkai Nada 玄界灘 open sea off Kyushu.

People pray here for safety at sea, but also for progress in the arts and good business (kooyoo no kami 交易の神).
交易＝市 explains her name.

Munakata Taisha is also called "Michinushi no Muchi" .
Muchi is noble honorific for god. Nihon-shoki describes the Munakata Daijin as the best way of god.

The Divine Message of God
"Ye three Goddesses shall descend to Michi-no-Naka, help the successive descendants,
have them hold ye in reverence."
(from the Nihon-shoki)

quote
Ichikishimahime (Kojiki)(Nihongi)
Other names: Sayoribime no mikoto (Kojiki)
One of the three female kami produced as a result of the trial by pledge (ukei) between Amaterasu and Susanoo, Ichikishimahime is enshrined at the Hetsugū, one of three shrines at the Munakata Taisha in the old province of Chikuzen (present-day Fukuoka). She is believed to have originally been a sea tutelary protecting the sea lanes in the Genkai Sea, and is later known as one of the kami enshrined at Itsukushima Jinja (Hiroshima Prefecture), where she may have been brought after the Engishiki period and enshrined as central object of worship.

At Itsukushima, Ichikishimahime was also the object of combinatory currents in the medieval period, and came to be identified variously with the daughter of the Indian dragon king Sagara or a younger sister of Empress Jingū, while alternately receiving worship as the Indian goddess Benzaiten. See also Tagorihime.
source : Kadoya Atsushi, Kokugakuin, 2005

Mede TAI 目出鯛 auspicious sea bream amulet

quote
Munakata Shinkō - Munakata shinkoo　宗像信仰
The faith related to Munakata Jinja
The faith has elements of guarding the nation and protecting the imperial house, as well as safety at sea and ensuring fishermen a bountiful catch. Munakata can also be written with the characters 胸形 or 宗形. The Jinmyōchō section of the Engishiki records that there were Munakata shrines stretching from northern Kyushu to the Kantō area. Among these, Munakata Taisha located in Fukuoka Prefecture is the most famous.

The shrine's enshrined kami's (saijin) are the "Three Female Kami of Munakata" (Munakata Sanjoshin), Ichikishimahime no kami enshrined at Hetsumiya in Genkaimachi Tashima, Munakatagun, Tagitsuhime no kami, enshrined at Nakatsumiya on the island Ōshima, located roughly ten kilometers from land, and Tagorihime no kami, enshrined at Okitsumiya on the island of Okinoshima in the center of the Genkainada sea.

That the Munakata Sanjoshin are worshipped individually at a different location is recorded at an early date in such documents as the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, but there are variant characters for the kami's names and different locations for their enshrinement. At the approximately six thousand Munakata shrines in Japan, the respective "enshrined kamis" (saijin) worshipped vary according to each shrine's origin legend.

The Sanjoshin are said to have been born on the occasion of the "divination trial" or "contract" (ukehi) between Amaterasu and Susanoo. The original meaning of the names of each kami derives from "female mediums" (miko) (Ichikishimahime), rough water (Tagitsuhime), and fog (Tagorihime), and the Sanjoshin are deifications of miko, rough water, and fog.

In the Nihonshoki Amaterasu ōkami commands that the three kami of Munakata "descend to the middle of the route (the sea route from Northern Kyushu to the Korean Peninsula), assist the heavenly grandchild (tenson – i.e. Ninigi no mikoto) and allow yourselves to be worshipped by the heavenly grandchild." The kami was also prayed to for safe sea travel by emissaries along northern routes, such as the early envoys to China (kentōshi) and demonstrated wondrous efficacy at the time of Empress Jingū's military expedition to the Korean peninsula.

The kami developed into a guardian of the nation and protector of the imperial house, as well as a protector of sea travelers, and enjoyed the fervent faith of people from all walks of life. The Munakata clan officiated at the festival of the Sanjoshin. Along with the new system of land governance instituted during the Taika Reforms, the county Munakatagun was designated a "shrine tribute land" (shingun) and the Munakata clan simultaneously occupied the post of governor (tairyō or kōri no miyatsuko) of that county.

The Munakata clan not only had close ties to the imperial house, but established marriage connections with powerful people on the continent. Even after the Japanese government stopped sending envoys (kentōshi) to China, the clans trade with the continent continued and they were powerful with regard to rights of sea travel and trade.

Today only shrine priests (shinshoku) reside on the island of Okinoshima, which has a circumference of approximately four kilometers. The island has a tremendous "altar constructed from stones" (iwasaka) which was the subject of a fieldwork study from 1954-1972. Research revealed the remains of ceremonies and objects in the crevices of the rocks dating back to between the fourth and ninth centuries, elucidating the development of early Shinto rituals and how people worshipped.

The more than 100,000 ceremonial objects discovered originate not only in Japan, but also include objects from the Korean peninsula, China, and even Persia. Many have been designated National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties. There is a taboo against speaking about Okinoshima and against removing any objects from of the island.

source : Nogami Takahiro, Kokugakuin, 2007

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Sato Masato writes:
Due to belief in the "Three Female Kami" (sanjoshin) of Munakata at Itsukushima Jinja, the Itsukushima kami was worshipped as a protector of fishermen and boats.

. Itsukushima Shrine 厳島神社 Itsukushima Jinja .

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Amulets from the shrine

eto ittobori 干支一刀彫り zodiac animals
cut with one blade

Auspicious items for the New Year 正月縁起物

Kootsuu anzen 交通安全守 trafic safety
and more
source : www.munakata-taisha.or.jp

Munakata Taisha blesses all the good human behavior and is considered a most precious god by people.　
source : English Homepage

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H A I K U

kigo for mid-winter

Munakata sai 宗像祭 (むなかたさい) Munakata festival
koshiki sai 古式祭（こしきさい）festival in the old style
古式祭（御座）/ 鎮火祭

For the ceremony,which dates back more than 800 years, special food offerings are made, consisting of rice, sake, salt and water, gebasa seaweed ゲバサ藻, soy beans, and miso paste blended into a kind of salad (aemono). Kunenbo mikans 九年母 and a special kind of hishimochi ricecakes 菱餅 are also offered. After the ritual offering, the food is eaten by the participants to honor the deity, pray for a long life and give thanks for her bountiful protection.

Admission for this ceremonial feast is 1000 yen.

約８００年の伝統をもち、特殊な神饌（九年母・ゲバサ藻・菱餅）を神前にお供えして、今年最後の収穫を感謝するお祭りです。祭典に引き続き、神様とともに一年の喜びを分かちあい、「神人和楽」を共にする”延命招福の集い”「御座」が催されます。
source : www.munakata-taisha.or.jp

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The Menu of the Ceremony

Deities and Men eating together

Look at more photos:
source :　wakemitama

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observance kigo for the New Year

Ichigami matsuri 市神祭 (いちがみまつり)
festival for the God of the Market

Celebrated in many towns of Japan, but especially at Munakata Shrine in Kyoto at the first market day, usually around January 10.
People take part to ward off evil in the coming year.

. New Year Markets .

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Kitty Chan
in the driver seat -
are you surprized ?

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. Suitengu 水天宮 Shrine for the Water God .
Deity in residence
. Amenominakanushi no kami 天之御中主神 .
Ame no minaka nushi no kami / 天御中主神
. Antoku Tenno 安徳天皇 .
Ame no Mikumari no Kami 天之水分神
Kuni no Mikumari no Kami 国之水分神

. Festivals, Ceremonies, Rituals - SAIJIKI .

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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Suzuki Chokichi

2011-11-30T21:59:00.000-08:00

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Suzuki Chokichi 鈴木長吉
1848 - 1919
Metal craftsman

鈴木長吉（すずきちょうきち)
嘉永元年8月15日（1848年9月12日） - 大正8年（1919年）1月29日）
日本の金工家。
本名は鈴木嘉幸（かこう）。 His real name was Suzuki Kakoo.

source : tougyou

This huge piece is now in posession is Swizzerland, if I remember well.
It takes a few people to assemble the various parts of this masterwork, a bronze stand for incense, about 2 meters high.
Each part is decorated finely with patterns and motives, like small animals in the waves.

The original is made with a special wax preparation, then covered in a non-meltable substance to produce a form for the melted metal to be poored in.
roogata chuukin 蝋型鋳金

After the casting, it has to be reworked and polished to make the various joints invisible.

. . . CLICK here for Photos !

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The 12 Hawks 十二の鷹

Chokichi worked 4 years to complete them.
They look almost alive and ready to take off any moment.

Look here for more masterpieces of metalwork, of the Bakumatsu / Meiji period of Japan.
source : alexleo.blog.so-net.ne.jp

Most of the metal work was done under government protection for export, after the Paris exhibitions created an interest in Japanese artwork.

The Paris Exposition of 1867
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Flying Dragon and Pearls 飛龍青銅

made about 1877

總高五尺飛龍青銅岩朱銅玉大小水晶
source : yajifun.tumblr

Onchin Zuroku 温知図録

東京国立博物館
In posession of the Tokyo National Museum

. . . CLICK here for Photos of the Catalog !

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. . . CLICK here for Photos !

shibuichi taka-zoogan 　四分一高象眼　relief inlay

。Reference .

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幕末・明治の超絶技巧　
Craftsmen of the Bakumatsu and Meiji period
Click on the image for more of the metal work of this period.

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. shippoo 七宝（しっぽう）cloisonne .

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Izumo Grand Shrine

2011-11-30T18:03:00.000-08:00

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Izumo taisha 出雲大社 Izumo Grand Shrine

. Izumo Kaido 出雲街道
The Old Trade Road of Izumo .

quote
Izumo-taisha 出雲大社 , Izumo Grand Shrine,
also Izumo Ōyashiro

A style of architecture, taisha-zukuri, takes its name from the main hall of Izumo-taisha.
Festivals in Izumo are a time when the people gather around the god to fulfill their wish to live a happy life. One of the most important festivals in Izumo-taisha is the Imperial Festival held on May 14. Following the Imperial Festival is the Grand Festival on May 14 and 15.

Festivals in Izumo are a time when the people gather around the god to fulfill their wish to live a happy life. One of the most important festivals in Izumo-taisha is the Imperial Festival held on May 14. Following the Imperial Festival is the Grand Festival on May 14 and 15.

Some other major festivals are January 1, Omike Festival; January 3, Fukumukae Festival; January 5, Beginning Sermon Festival; February 17, Kikoku (prayer for abundant crops) Festival; April 1, Kyoso Festival; June 1, Suzumidono Festival; and August 6–9 is Izumo Oyashiro-kyo Religion Festival.
In October of the lunar calendar, a festival is held to welcome all the gods to Izumo Grand Shrine. It is believed that the gods gather at Izumo Shrine in October to discuss the coming year’s marriages, deaths, and births. For this reason, people around the Izumo area call October kamiarizuki ("the month with gods"), but the rest of Japan calls October kannazuki'' ("the month without gods").
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

quote
Izumo Taisha 出雲大社.
The Grand Shrine of Izumo (Izumo Taisha) in Shimane Prefecture is one of Japan's oldest shrines. It is devoted to Ōkuninushi 大国主命, the Shintō kami of abundance, medicine, luck, and happy marriages. In Japanese mythology, Ōkuninushi (lit. = Master of the Great Land) built and ruled the world until the arrival of Amaterasu's grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto 瓊瓊杵尊. He then gave political control to Ninigi but retained control of religious affairs. In gratitude, Amaterasu presented Ōkuninushi with the Grand Shrine of Izumo.

According to Japanese tradition, all Shintō gods meet in Izumo each year in October. October is thus known around Izumo as Kamiarizuki 神有月 (Month with Gods) and everywhere else in Japan as Kannazuki 神無月 (Month Without Gods). Ōkuninushi's Buddhist counterpart is Daikokuten (the god of agriculture and fortune, and one of Japan's Seven Lucky Gods).
In addition, Izumo no Okuni 出雲の阿国, the so-called founder of Japanese Kabuki 歌舞伎 theatre, was a shrine virgin (miko 巫子) of Izumo Taisha 出雲大社. She was the subject of a painting genre that flourished in the 17th century known as Fūzokuga 風俗画, and is credited with a devotional dance called Nembutsu Odori 念仏踊り.
- Mark Schumacher -

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Izumo Fudoki (Izumo Fuudoki 出雲風土記)
Records of Ancient Izumo, 733

Kannabi, a special place for GODS ... My Introduction
神奈備(かむなび)

(1) Memories of the sacured site --- Buried myths-
(2) The Izumo Grond Shrine --- epiphany of pillars
(3) All deities gather in Izumo in every October
(4) Offerings to the deities
Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo
External LINK

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Okuni-Nushi no Mikoto (Ookuninushi) 大国主命
Okuninushi no Mikoto
is the most important deity, revered at the grand shrine of Izumo.

. The White Rabbit of Inaba .

His Buddhist incarnation is

The deity Daikoku of the Izumo Grand Shrine

. Daikoku Ten 大黒天 .

O-Kuni-Nushi-no-Kami
Ōkuninushi 大国主命, the Shintō kami of abundance, medicine, luck, and happy marriages. In Japanese mythology, Ōkuninushi (lit. = Master of the Great Land) built and ruled the world until the arrival of Amaterasu's grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto 瓊瓊杵尊. He then gave political control to Ninigi but retained control of religious affairs.

MORE
- Mark Schumacher -

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enmusubi 縁結び　amulet for a good partner

Izumo Oyashiro - Shrine Homepage
source : www.izumooyashiro.or.jp

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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出雲から紙来て障子あらたまる
Izumo kara kami kite shooji aratamaru

from Izumo
paper came and we renew
the sliding doors

Ameyama Minoru 飴山實 (1926 - 2000)

The strong washi paper from Izumo was especially liked for shoji.

. shooji no harikae 障子の貼替（しょうじのはりかえ）
new paper for the sliding doors 　
kigo for mid-autumn

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quote
Izumo Orochi Festival 出雲おろち祭り
(August 12, November 3)
The myth that has grown up around Hii-gawa River, flowing along the east part of Izumo city, goes like this:

Hii-gawa River is the very place where Susano-no-mikoto, younger brother of the Sun goddess, Amaterasu-omikami, descended from heaven. He saw an old couple sobbing in deep sorrow there. He asked what's wrong with them. They told him that there is a monstrous snake with eight heads and eight tails which comes to take their daughters one by one every year, and the time has come when their last daughter would be taken by the snake, called Yamata-no-orochi. The young prince, boasting of his strength, made the snake drunk before killing it with his sword. At that moment, a sword came out from the snake's tail. This is Kusanagi-no-tsurugi sword, one of the three divine symbols of the Japanese Imperial throne.

The Izumo Orochi Festival, which is held in summer and autumn every year, is associated with this myth. A big fire works festival at the Hii-gawa River bank in summer, and a dancing parade with a 10 meter monstrous snake in autumn, bring out the real feeling of the respective seasons.
source : hometown.infocreate.co.jp

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H A I K U

kigo for early summer

Izumo matsuri 出雲祭 (いずもまつり) Izumo festival
Izumo daisairei 出雲大祭礼（いずもだいさいれい）
great festival at Izumo

From May 14 to 16

With shooting performance and shooting from horseback (yabusame).
The great summer purification festival at Izumo.

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The tenth lunar month (now November)
was known for the great migration of the Japanese gods. They would all go to celebrate at the great shrine of Izumo, so the rest of Japan was "without gods, kami no rusu".

"gods-present month", month with the gods
kamiarizuki 神有月

This kigo for early winter could only be used in IZUMO itself, where the gods were present.

Month without Gods and HAIKU

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kigo for early winter

Izumo Ooyashiro niiname sai 出雲大社新嘗祭
(いずもおおやしろにいなめさい)
Harvest Thanksgiving Ceremony at Izumo Shrine
On November 23
A tradition of the family Izumo no Kuni no Miyatsuko 出雲国造家 with prayers for peace in the land and thanksgiving for the harvest.
出雲国造（いずものくにのみやつこ、いずもこくそう）

Kuni no miyatsuko (国造 - also read as Kokuzō or Kuni tsu ko) were officials in ancient Japan at the time of the Yamato court.
They were in charge of provinces (国), although it is not always very clear what those provinces were. Kuni no miyatsuko had most certainly vast powers and were local lords simply "appointed" by Yamato court.
Kuni no miyatsuko as rulers were abolished during the Taika reforms, and provinces were reorganized under the ritsuryo system. Kuni no miyatsuko were appointed gunshi, whereas provinces became ruled by kokushi.
The post remained after the Taika reforms, but the Kuni no miyatsuko were now in charge of spiritual and religious affairs.
A few Kuni no miyatsuko clans however retained influence after the Taika reform, such as the Izumo no Kuni no miyatsuko (出雲国造).
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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kigo for early winter

Niiname no matsuri 新嘗祭
Imperial Ceremony of New Food Offerings
..... New Food festival. Niinamesai 新嘗祭（にいなめさい）
Shinjoosai 新嘗祭（しんじょうさい）、shinjooe 新嘗会（しんじょうえ）、oonie matsuri 大嘗祭（おおにえまつり）、daijoosai 大嘗祭（だいじょうさい）

quote
Literally, "Celebrations of the First Taste,"
niiname sai
refers to the set of harvest festivals in November carried out at the imperial palace and shrines throughout the country. Complements the Kinen sai, a rite involving prayers for a healthy crop and held in on the fourth day of the second month. In ancient times also called nihinahe and niha’nahi.

Motoori Norinaga suggests that, since it appears in the "feting anew" section of the Transmission of the Kojiki (Kojiki den), that it was a festival in which new rice was offered to the deities. As in the ancient Chinese celebration "Name no matsuri," a rice festival held in the autumn, this was a typical festival expressing gratitude to the gods for exercising their powers on earth and bringing about a successful harvest.

The origins probably date back to the Yayoi period when rice cultivation began. The niiname sai is mentioned in both the "Era of the Gods" section of the Nihon shoki ("when Amaterasu ôkami honorably performed Niiname") and in the entry for year forty of its "Nintoku" section ("In the month of Niiname, since it was a day of banqueting, sake was given to the palace ladies").

For a long time it was held on the latter "Day of the Rabbit" in the eleventh lunar month (or the middle "Day of the Rabbit" if there were three such days in the month), but with the conversion to the new calendar in 1873, it was changed to the November 23.

In the Ninth Article of the 1908 "Prescriptions of the Imperial House Rituals," this celebration is named as one of the Major Rites (tai sai), and listed as occurring between November 23 and 24.

For the rite two dais, one for the deities (kamiza) and one for the emperor (goza), were constructed inside the Shinka Hall, then the emperor makes food offerings to Ama-terasu and the many divinities twice, once at dusk on the twentythird and again at dawn on the twentyfourth. The emperor arranges an offering of sake, rice porridge, and steamed rice (made from the newly harvested rice) served in special vessels crafted from woven beech leaves (kashiwa) and presented to the kami on a special reed mat (kegomo).
Following this evening meal (yūmike), the emperor purifies himself in seclusion (kessai) for the night and, after changing robes (koromogae), prepares the morning offering of food for the kami.

Also listed in Article Two of the "Regulations for Shrine Rituals" of the Association of Shrines (Jinja honcho kitei) as a Major Rite, it is performed at shrines throughout the country to accompany the rites at the palace. Besides the yearly Niiname sai, the one which is the first performed after a new emperor’s ascendance (sokui) is called the Daijō sai.
source : Nakanishi Masayuki, 2007, Kokugakuin

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. Izumo Soba　出雲蕎麦　いずもそば
buckwheat noodles from Izumo .

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. Izumo Kaido 出雲街道
The Old Trade Road of Izumo .

. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja) .

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Kano Kazunobu

2011-05-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

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Kano Kazunobu 狩野一信

1816 - 1863
文化13年（1816年）誕生日不明 - 文久3年9月22日（1863年11月3日)

The Five Hundred Arhats by Kano Kazunobu
Exhibition of the Zojoji Icons in Commemoration of the 800th Memorial of St. Honen
Edo-Tokyo Museum.

. Fivehundred Arhats
Gohyaku Rakan 五百羅漢

. Reference .

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quote
Edo disaster images strike grim chords
By EDAN CORKILL

How will the experience of the recent natural disasters impact on the work of Japan's artists? It's a question that is playing on the minds of many observers of the art world here these days, and it's a question that is somewhat answered — at least by way of historical parallel — in a show currently under way at the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku.

A little over a 150 years ago, at about 10 p.m. on the night of Nov. 11, 1855, the million-plus inhabitants of Edo (present-day Tokyo) were shaken from their sleep by an earthquake now thought to have been magnitude 6.9. With an epicenter directly below the city — a chilling reminder that there is historical precedent for the most feared quake scenario today — it unleashed massive destruction. More than 4,300 lost their lives and more than 10,000 saw their houses collapse or burn in the fires that followed the jolt. One of the latter was an artist named Kano Kazunobu, who was then in his 39th year.
...
A year earlier, in 1854, the head priest at the Genkoin Temple (in present-day Shibakoen, Tokyo) had asked Kazunobu to create a series of 100 scrolls depicting the lives of the "500 arhats."
...
Needless to say, Kazunobu's experience of the earthquake of 1855 provided him with graphic motifs for his depictions of the fates of those who lacked piety. If it was fire and brimstone that was called for, then he had personal experience on which to draw.
...
From scroll 21, however, the arhats emerge from their idyllic domain, and really go to work. Their first stop is hell.

Kazunobu's images of hell are frightening in their detail. In one, a demon stokes a fire that heats a giant cauldron in which numerous unfortunates boil. They desperately reach up to grasp the staff of a benevolent arhat hovering above.

In another, dragons direct their fiery breath at townsfolk while more kindly arhats send gusts of wind to protect them. Yet another shows arhats sending down shafts of light — heat beams, apparently — that melt a frozen pond that traps a teeth-chattering group of the damned.

Looking at these scrolls now, it is easy to see parallels with the kind of suffering that victims of the 1855 earthquake would have endured. Kazunobu would have known that his audience at the time would have its own memories of those experiences. And so in order to achieve the pictures' didactic objectives — "Stray from Buddhist teachings and this is how you'll be punished!" — all he would have had to do was provide enough visual clues to trigger images of the horrors imprinted in his viewers' minds.
...
That said, curator Yamashita sees in these same images evidence of other influences, too. Kazunobu's renderings of people plunging into red molten pools have parallels with the renowned "Hell Scrolls" of the Heian Period (794-1185), he says.

source : Japan Times, May 19, 2011

The 100 Arhats scrolls

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. Japan after the BIG earthquake March 11, 2011

. Kano Eitoku 狩野永徳
（1543 - 1590)

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Shinran Shonin

2011-04-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

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Saint Shinran

Small statue for your home :
source :　www.kaiyodo.co.jp

Shinran 親鸞
(May 21, 1173 – January 16, 1263)
was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino (now a part of Fushimi, Kyoto) at the turbulent close of the Heian Period and lived during the Kamakura Period. Shinran was a pupil of Hōnen and the founder of what ultimately became the Jōdo Shinshū sect in Japan.

Shinran was born on May 21, 1173 to Lord and Lady Arinori, a branch of the Fujiwara clan, and was given the name Matsuwakamaro.

1173 Shinran is born
1175 Hōnen founds the Jōdo Shū sect
1181 Shinran becomes a monk
1201 Shinran becomes a disciple of Hōnen and leaves Mt. Hiei
1207 The nembutsu ban and Shinran's exile
1211 Shinran is pardoned
1212 Hōnen passes away in Kyoto & Shinran goes to Kantō
1224 (?) Shinran authors Kyogyoshinsho
1234 (?) Shinran goes back to Kyoto
1256 Shinran disowns his son Zenran
1263 Shinran dies in Kyoto
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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observance kigo for mid-winter

Shinran ki 親鸞忌（しんらんき）
Memorial Day for Saint Shinran
Goshoo-Ki 御正忌 Memorial Services at Temple Hongan-Ji
Betsuji Nenbutsu-E 別時念仏会 Nenbutsu prayer Service for Shinran Shoonin
Otorikoshi 御取越　（おとりこし） "Passing into the New Year"
November 22 till 28. 28 is the death memorial day.
(November is now "early winter" season, this might be confusing. But here we deal with the old lunar calendar.)

hooonkoo 報恩講（ほうおんこう） Ho-onko, Hoonko, Hoon-Ko service for Shinran
"honorable preaching ceremony"
Hoon-ko memorial service for Shinran
okoo 御講（おこう） "honorable preaching"
oshichiya, o-shichi ya 御七夜（おしちや） "seven nights"
oshimotsuki お霜月（おしもつき）"honorable frost month"
injoo e 引上会（いんじょうえ）

shoojin katame 精進固（しょうじんかため）
eating vegetarian food
... shoojin ochi 精進落（しょうじんおち）
(even on the days before the ceremonies, also during O-Bon and the solstices)

. Reference : Hoonko service for Shinran .

. Narutaki no daikotaki 鳴滝の大根焚
cooking radish soup at Narutaki
..... daikotaki 大根焚（だいこたき） .
temple Narutaki Ryootokuji in Kyoto 京都鳴滝了徳寺.
Ryotoku-Ji

. . . . .

heaven kigo for early winter

okoonagi 御講凪 calm wind during the honorable preaching ceremony
okoobiyori お講日和（おこうびより） fine day on the honorable preaching ceremony

observance kigo for the New Year

. Kenpaishiki 献盃式 in memory of Saint Shinran 　
Drinking sake in a memorial service, at temple Honganji and others
January 1. Shinran Shonin 親鸞聖人

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from the Daruma Museum

南無阿弥陀仏
The Amida Prayer, Namu Amida Butsu
Buddha Amitabha vowed to save all beings, even those who have committed serious transgressions. This vow prompted Saint Shinran, the founder of the True Pure Land school of Buddhism, to write,
"A good person will be reborm;
how much more so the evil person."
. The Amida Prayer 　

. Shinran and the three persimmon trees
Legend at Keitaya, Niigata (Toyama) prefecture,
Kurobe Town, Shimoniikawa 新川（にいかわ）/ 黒部市三島

. Haiku poetess Tagami Kikusha 田上菊舎　
(1753 - 1826)

Commemorate Shinran Shonin's 750th Memorial Observance
with Poetry Calling for Haiku and Tanka
. BCA Shinran Shonin 750th Memorial 　

. Honen Shonin 法然上人 Saint Honen 　
Hoonen Shoonin

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Shinran : The Founder of the Jodo-Shinshu Buddhism:
His Life and Legacy
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, till May 29, 2011

A preeminent work in the Shinran exhibition is "Portrait of Shinran" (1255). It depicts an 83-year-old Shinran sitting on an animal pelt, an accoutrement of itinerant priests that allowed them to sit anywhere to dispense their doctrine. Such aspects of quotidian life were distinctive of new Buddhist portraiture and were no doubt indicative of the religion practiced among the people rather than that practiced in cloistered confines. Such portraits are concerned with likeness and prone to distortion.
One leaves these exhibitions with similar thoughts on religions.
source : Japan Times

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The Essential Shinran:
A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting
Alfred Bloom

Call of the Infinite: The Way of Shin Buddhism
John Paraskevopoulos

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H A I K U

親鸞聖人お花松 "Flower Pine" of Shinran
Temple Zenko-Ji

蝶とぶやしんらん松も知った顔
choo tobu ya Shinran matsu mo shitta kao

a butterfly flits--
even Shinran's pine
seems to know

しんしんとしんらん松の春の雨
shin-shin to Shinran matsu no haru no ame

perfect calm--
Shinran's pine
in the spring rain

Kobayashi Issa

This haiku has the prescript, "Zenko Temple." Shinran was the founder of the Jôdo shinshû branch of Buddhism, Issa's sect. When he visited Zenkôji, Shinran planted the branch of a pine in a large pot in the main hall-- a plant which, evidently, was still alive in Issa's time, over 500 years later.
See Issa zenshû
(Nagano: Shinano Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1976-79) 3.352, note 4.

. Tr. David Lanoue .

. . . . .

親鸞上人腰かけの松 Pine where Shinran sat down

On the way, when Shinran had to go to exile in Echigo in 1207, there was this pine where he sat down to rest, along the "beach road" 浜街道. There was a whole pine grove at the time of Sain Shinran.
The tree is maybe 500 years old.

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source : Takada betsuin Temple 高田別院
beautiful collection of haiga

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. WKD : Saints and their Memorial Days 　

. Personal Names used in Haiku . 　

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Nyudo Priests Kiyomori

2011-03-27T00:44:00.000-07:00

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Nyudo Priests

nyuudoo 入道 is a Buddhist concept.
It means to get rid of the bonno　煩悩 worldly defilements and enter satori, enlightenment.

Based on this, it also refers to monks and priests who have taken the vows and shaved their head, living according to Buddhist pecepts.
Thus it is translated as
monk, man with a shaven head

Next it refers to members of the Emperor's family and the nobility, when they take the tonsure and use Buddhist robes.
One of the famous nyudo is Kiyomori 清盛入道.

quote
Taira no Kiyomori 平清盛
1118 – March 20, 1181
was a general of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan.

After the death of his father Taira no Tadamori in 1153, Kiyomori assumed control of the Taira clan and ambitiously entered the political realm in which he had previously only held a minor post

In 1156, he and Minamoto no Yoshitomo, head of the Minamoto clan, suppressed the Hōgen Rebellion. This established the Taira and Minamoto samurai clans as the top warrior clans in Kyoto. However, their new strength in effect caused the allies to become bitter rivals which culminated three years later during the Heiji Rebellion in 1159. Kiyomori, emerging victorious with Yoshitomo and his two eldest killed, was now the head of the single most powerful warrior family/clan in Kyoto.

However, his clan's power and influence in the provinces at this time is a matter of debate. Kiyomori showed mercy and exiled a few of Yoshitomo's sons, including Yoritomo, Noriyori, and Yoshitsune – a benevolence that would turn out to be the Taira clan's downfall later on.

Taira no Kiyomori is the main character in the Kamakura period epic,
the Tale of Heike (Heike monogatari 平家物語) .

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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In 2012, the famous yearlong drama of NHK features
2012年大河ドラマ「平清盛」

. Taira no Kiyomori 平清盛 .

and the shamoji rice ladles of Miyajima Island

quote
Heian Period 'Godfather' brought to life on NHK
Kenichi Matsuyama takes title role in 'Taira no Kiyomori' drama
NHK executive director Takeshi Shibata first announced the new drama, "Taira no Kiyomori," in October 2010. At the time, he didn't know who would play the lead role, but he knew what he wanted from the show: "an energetic Heian Period (794-1185) version of 'The Godfather.' "
... Not that the tale of the Taira clan — or the Corleone family, for that matter — has much to do with pensions. What it does have to do with is the importance of strong family bonds — something that Matsuyama thought contemporary Japanese society needed to be reminded of. He asked his staff to contact NHK to get some information about the project.

Taira no Kiyomori (or Kiyomori of the Taira), is one of the best known people in Japanese history, and aspects of his life have been depicted in every form of popular entertainment from novels and painted scrolls to films and manga.

The most famous is the 14th century epic poem "Heike Monogatari," which has been translated into English several times, usually as "The Tale of Heike." Up to 500 pages in length, the English translation is considered along with the "Tale of Genji" as one of Japan's classics of literature.

Kiyomori's story inevitably begins with the mystery surrounding his birth. What's clear from historical records is that he was born in 1118 in an area that is now part of Mie Prefecture and raised as the son of the Taira samurai Tadamori. What's not so clear is by whom he was actually conceived.
...
source : Japan Times, December 30

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source :　Toshitoshi Tsukioka

新形三十六怪撰 - New forms of thirty-six ghosts

. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡芳年 .
(1839 – June 9, 1892)

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. WKD : Taira no Kiyomori

. Taira no Tadanori 平忠度
brother of clan head Taira no Kiyomori

. Taira no Tokiko 平時子
widow of Taira no Kiyomori

. Minamoto no Yoshinaka 源義仲 .
and Tomoe Gozen 巴御前

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There are also tonsured goblins with this name.

wanyuudoo 輪入道 "monk in a wheel"

Wanyūdō is said to take the form of a burning oxcart wheel bearing the tormented face of a man. Various folklore purports him as the condemned soul of a tyrant daimyo who, in life, was known for having his victims drawn on the back of an oxcart.

He is said to guard the gates of Hell and to wander back and forth along the road between this world and the underworld, scaring townsfolk as he passes and stealing the souls of anyone who gets too close in order to bring them to Hell with him.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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H A I K U

kigo for the New Year

kadonyuudoo, kado nyuudoo 門入道（かどにゅうどう）
"Nyudo goblin the gate"

Two simple wooden figures, male and female, with simple eyes, nose and mouth painted in ink. They are put up at the entrance to the home to ward off evil. This is a custom of the Tohoku region.

small amulet, click for more illustrations

. Wood kigo for the New Year .

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. nyuudoogumo 入道雲 "monk clouds" 　
"clouds entering the Buddhist way",
large columns of clouds

These clouds look like huge white mountains shining in the sky. They are formed when the earth is very hot, thus creating rising hot air currents.
They are cumulonimbus clouds, sekiran un 積乱雲 or
very large cumulus clouds, yuudai sekiun 雄大積雲.

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While I watched the fairly big clouds(入道雲）passing across the blue sky, I think it over to reflect upon the disaster and the mushroom of the atomic bomb and came up with the picture embedded with haiku.

夏けらし天は鬼神か入道か

summer is at the corner
which clouds does the heaven show
merciful priest or god of devils?

星舟 Seishu, Terry Ishii from USA

. Japan - after the BIG earthquake 　

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nyuudoo …
the winding path
of Spring

lost and found
a Nyudo Priest
once again

finding myself
I've lost my keys ...
nyuudoo

monk clouds
the thundering
of satori

Don Baird, California

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. Yokkaichi oonyuudoo 四日市の大入道
huge monster with a tonsured head
Mie prefecture

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Stamps with Statues

2011-03-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

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Stamps with Buddha Statues

仏像がデザインされた切手

Look at all the photos HERE
source : jooko/buddha

. . . CLICK here for more Photos !
仏像切手

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. Maya Bunin 摩耶夫人 and temple visit 　

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バーミヤーンの大仏の切手
Buddha from Bamiyan

. . . . .

This stamp pattern has been used to make T-Shirts in Japan.
Ｔシャツのデザイン
source : yosukenaito.blog

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Heroes from the "Journey to the West"
Saiyuki 西遊記

source : blog.kunio

Journey to the West
(simplified Chinese: 西游记; traditional Chinese: 西遊記; pinyin: Xī Yóu Jì; Wade–Giles: Hsi-yu chi) is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.
Originally published anonymously in the 1590s during the Ming Dynasty, its authorship has been ascribed to the scholar Wu Cheng'en since the 20th century. In English-speaking countries, the tale is also often known simply as Monkey.
This was one title used for a popular, abridged translation by Arthur Waley.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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H A I K U

切手が伝える仏像意匠と歴史

travel the world
with Buddha stamps -
letter writing in spring

Gabi Greve

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following Buddha -
every journey begins
with the first step

. Buddha's Footprints ー　Bussokuseki 仏足石

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Stamp Collection from my friend
Mark Schumacher

A TO Z PHOTO DICTIONARY OF
JAPANESE SCULPTURE & ART

A special set
平城遷都1300年記念

Dokomo Butsu
in the mail
sun rain snow or hail

This is a play on the US post office motto:
"Come sun, rain, sleet, snow or hail,
the postman always delivers your mail."

. . . . . Thank you, Mark dono!

docomo is the name of a Japanese service for mobile phones.
But read Mark's comment, it was ment in a different meaning.

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. Japanese Stamps with Haiku 　　

. Japanese Stamps with Folk Toys 　　

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Hooryuuji Temple Horyu-ji

2011-02-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

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Temple Horyu-ji (Hooryuuji)

Hōryū-ji (法隆寺, lit. Temple of the Flourishing Law) is a Buddhist temple in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is
Hōryū Gakumonji (法隆学問寺), or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as seminary and monastery both.

The temple's pagoda is widely acknowledged to be one of the oldest wooden buildings existing in the world, underscoring Hōryū-ji's place as one of the most celebrated temples in Japan. In 1993, Hōryū-ji was inscribed together with Hokki-ji as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area. The Japanese government lists several of its structures, sculptures and artifacts as National Treasures.

2 Architecture
2.1 The present complex
2.2 Characteristics
2.3 Pagoda
2.4 Kondō
2.5 Yumedono (Hall of Dreams)

3 Treasures
3.1 Murals
3.2 Kudara Kannon 百済観音
3.3 Yakushi Nyorai 薬師如来
3.4 Yumedono (Guze) Kannon 夢殿
3.5 Shaka Triad 釈迦三尊 Shaka sanzon

The temple was originally commissioned by Prince Shōtoku; at the time it was called Ikaruga-dera (斑鳩寺), a name that is still sometimes used. This first temple is believed to have been completed by 607. Hōryū-ji was dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of healing.

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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「法隆寺」　金堂西の間天蓋
. Tengai 天蓋 canopy from Horyu-Ji 　

法隆寺の涅槃図
. Nehanzu 涅槃図 Painting of a Nirvana Scene 　

. Shotoku Taishi 聖徳太子 Imperial Prince Shotoku 　

. Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of Medicine 薬師如来　

. Kannon Bosatsu 観音菩薩　

. Shaka Nyorai 釈迦如来　Gautama Buddha 　

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H A I K U

柿くへば鐘が鳴るなり法隆寺
kaki kueba kane ga naru nari Hooryuu-Ji

eating a persimmon
the bell reveberates
at Horyu-ji temple

Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規
. WKD : OF PERSIMMONS AND BELLS 　

. Stamps with this haiku . 　　

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菜の花の化したる蝶や法隆寺
nanohana no ka shitaru choo ya Hooryuuji

rape blossoms reborn
to be butterflies -
temple Horyu-ji

Matsuse Seisei 松瀬青々

. Rape blossoms (na no hana) 　

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●法隆寺 Haiku collection about temple Horyu-Ji

炎天やいつまでのこる法隆寺
enten ya itsu made nokoru Hooryuuji

blazing sunshine -
how long will it remain
this temple Horyu-Ji

Sano Seiyoojin 佐野青陽人 (1894 - 1963)

くらがりの方かみなりと法隆寺和田悟朗法隆寺伝承
しぐるるや松美しき法隆寺阿久津都子
ぶつかつてくる黄金虫法隆寺原田喬
まぶた重き仏を見たり深き春綾子 (法隆寺百済観音)
仏あまた集ひて月の法隆寺猿橋統流子
初松籟はるか雲ゆく法隆寺山内遊糸
十六夜のひかり洽き法隆寺山内遊糸
卯月野の法隆寺なり詣でけり尾崎迷堂孤輪
古代蓮現代蓮や法隆寺塩川雄三
可憐な智慧の次男と長女法隆寺八木原祐計
夕焼いま炎上のごと法隆寺塚原岬「鶴俳句選集」
妻子つれし初旅法隆寺に暮れぬ川口川郎
寒肥や南に日ある法隆寺大峯あきら鳥道
帰り咲く八重の桜や法隆寺正岡子規
斑猫の土塀翔んでは法隆寺住友勝一
新松子大ぶりに生む法隆寺松山足羽
日傘ゆく法隆寺西一丁目木内怜子
月明の東西の門うち對ふ(法隆寺三句) 加倉井秋を
村の名も法隆寺なり麦を蒔く高浜虚子(1874-1959)
松の花或は踏みて法隆寺阿部みどり女
柿くへば鐘が鳴るなり法隆寺正岡子規(1867-1903)
柿落葉踏みて到りぬ法隆寺雑草長谷川零餘子
柿食へば鐘が鳴るなり法隆寺正岡子規
歸り咲く八重の櫻や法隆寺帰り花正岡子規
水澄むや物皆古き法隆寺岸本尚毅
法隆寺からの小溝か芹の花飴山實『次の花』
法隆寺みち携へし夏のもの原裕青垣
法隆寺前の往来や草芳し野村喜舟小石川
法隆寺南門に見ぬ穴まどひ冨田みのる
法隆寺塀にこぼして春の柝宮坂静生
法隆寺村にやすらふ夏氷下村槐太天涯
法隆寺白雨やみたる雫かな飴山實「辛酉小雪」
法隆寺裏の平郡の時鳥京極杞陽
法隆寺近しと思ひ雲雀きく前田六霞
法隆寺道秋声の中にあり百瀬美津
法隆寺道鶏頭の抜かれたるふけとしこ鎌の刃
法隆寺駅太子忌の人の渦西谷貴志雄

白昼と同色のシャツ法隆寺進藤一考
白菜の荷を降ろしゐる法隆寺角光雄
稲妻や稲の山辺の法隆寺松瀬青々
稻の香や汽車から見ゆる法隆寺稲正岡子規
腹に響く夜寒の鐘や法隆寺夜寒正岡子規
色変へぬ松なみ法隆寺へますぐ上村占魚
苗代の畦より見えて法隆寺遠藤梧逸
菜の花の化したる蝶や法隆寺松瀬青々
菜の花や法輪法起法隆寺和田悟朗法隆寺伝承
薄氷に乗る一葉あり法隆寺瀧澤和治
藪巻の松千本や法隆寺細川加賀生身魂
蜻蛉の群れゐる方に法隆寺五十嵐播水播水句集
蝉落ちてひびきわたりぬ法隆寺原田喬
行く秋のしぐれかけたり法隆寺行く秋正岡子規
行く秋をしぐれかけたり法隆寺行く秋正岡子規
行春やほの～のこる浄土の図秋櫻子 (法隆寺玉虫厨子)
行秋をしぐれかけたり法隆寺正岡子規
門閉ぢてからを遅日の法隆寺竹中碧水史
青き踏む丘のつゞきや法隆寺岩木躑躅
鵯のことばここでは分り法隆寺森澄雄
黐の実の真紅きはまる法隆寺佐々木蔦芳
黒揚羽水の匂ひの法隆寺あざ蓉子(1947-)

Shaka Sanzon, The Shaka Triad
礼すれば釈迦三尊に暮の秋下村槐太天涯

source : HAIKUreikuDB

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法隆寺伝承 Tradition at temple Horyu-Ji
和田悟朗 Wada Goro (Goroo)
(born Taisho 12, 1923 June 18)
Haiku collection

現代という危うさよ涅槃像
gendai to iu ayausa yo nehanzoo

all these dangers
of our modern times -
Nirvana scene

時流れ時滞り秘仏たり

止利仏師衾裾を刳り春の宵

仏像の残像檸檬供えたく

火柱や不動明王立ちあがる

はつなつの弥勒菩薩に見つめらる

日光もて拝す月光菩薩かな

半睡のほとけに対す菊明り

問答のしばしみほとけ呼吸せる

崩れゆくみほとけならん雷を背に

難海に迷い無月のほとけかな

上陸し帰化し夏野や仏の顔

夕小径冷たくなりぬ仏の域

胎内になおみ仏や春霞

はつなつの弥勒菩薩に見つめらる

瓔珞のゆらめかんとす萩のころ

春めくや百済観音すくと立ち

観音をかくまう夏や肌荒び

Theme old temples 古寺

こがらしの古寺までの強歩かな
はたた神古寺巡礼のはたてにて
古寺うらを犬が嗅ぎおり現世かな
古寺の蝶その極彩の重たさに
古寺を訪いし日のわが伏所厳寒よ

めぐる日や釈迦三尊に虎落笛 Shaka sanzon
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

source : HAIKUreikuDB

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Haiku about Kudara Kannon 百済観音

The Kudara Kannon is a statue of Kannon and made of gilded camphor wood.
The word "Kudara" in Japanese stands for the Korean kingdom of Baekje (Paekche).

百済観音シルクロードの月に濡れ
Kudara kannon shirukuroodo no tsuki ni nure

Kudara Kannon -
wet from the moon
of the silk road

Yoshihara Ayane 吉原文音

まぶた重き仏を見たり深き春綾子 (法隆寺百済観音)
春めくや百済観音すくと立ち和田悟朗法隆寺伝承
涼しやな百済観音酒買ひに松山足羽
胸うすき百済観音冴返る川崎美知子

百済観音右手(めて)の撓ひに氷置け加藤秋邨吹越
百済観音木枯きくや身の細り加藤知世子花季
百済観音背高におはし花あしび鈴鹿野風呂
source : HAIKUreikuDB

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Haiku about Yumedono 夢殿

Yumedono (Guze) Kannon 救世観音
This Kannon is a statue that supposedly is the representation of Prince Shotoku. It is approximate six feet and one inch and some sources believe that Shotoku was that height. It is 197 centimeters in height.[20] The kannon is made of gilded wood. It is suggested that the statue was made to assuage the dead prince's spirit based on the fact that the halo was attached to the statue by a nail driven through the head.

"Hall of Dreams" Yumedono

句集夢殿 Yumedono Haiku Collection
角川春樹 Kadokawa Haruki

This collection also contains haiku about other temples.

天蓋のしだれ桜や虻びより
tengai no shidarezakura ya abu biyori

the hanging cherry branches
of the canopy -
a day for gadflies

歳晩や仁王の脛の吹かれをり
貝寄風や秘仏にそなふ酒その他
山の辺の文殊菩薩や亀鳴けり
榧の実や杣のほとけを担ぎだす
花時雨ほとけを念ふことばかり
大西日いつぽん足らぬ千手仏
微笑仏雪くる前の薄あかり
胸赤き毘盧遮那仏や月と萩
ほたる烏賊越よりとどき仏生会
花よりも柿に親しき仏生会
鳥貝や背をまろやかに奈良の山
飯貝や花をたのみの浄土寺 Jodoji
大寺や桜月夜の青葉木菟 Daiji
木蓮の美しかりし深大寺 Jindaiji
絵襖も月の唐招提寺かな Toshodaiji
菩提寺の法事にまぎる花の客 Bodaiji
あずかのやつるべ落しに飛鳥寺 Asukadera
なつはぎをしきりにこぼす伎芸天 Gigeiten
伎芸天夏おほまたに来つつあり Gigeiten
大仏を蔵する鴟尾の二日かな Daibutsu

. . . . .

About the secret Kannon statue

夢殿灼け秘仏は秘して見せざりき塩川雄三

夢殿のみほとけ匂ふ鵙の昼和泉千花

夢殿をのぞみ石仏野に凍る大島民郎

夢殿の観音びらき鳥雲に小檜山繁子

夢殿は観音開き菖蒲葺く河合佳代子

夢違観音までの油照り坪内稔典「百年の家」

夢違観音仰ぎ年惜しむ市野沢弘子

夢違観音春の夢消さな鈴木昭子

太子会の夢殿秘仏現じけり水原秋桜子

遅日光御手たをやかにうけたまふ秋櫻子 (夢殿秘仏)

About Guze Kannon

かまつかや救世観音の髪の燃ゆ磯貝碧蹄館
白牡丹救世観音に献ぜばや大橋敦子匂玉
野火はみな救世観音へ向かひけり九鬼あきゑ

source : HAIKUreikuDB

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kigo for all winter

. kazakirigama 風切鎌 (かざきりがま) "wind-cutting sickle" 　
sample of the wind-cutting sickle at the temple Horyu-Ji 法隆寺

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Okayama Shrines

2010-12-30T20:54:00.000-08:00

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Shrines in Okayama 岡山県の神社

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Achi Jinja 阿智神社
Dedicated to Kurashiki's patron deity
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Kibitsu Hiko Jinja 吉備津彦神社
Okayama
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

Kibitsu Jinja 吉備津神社
Okayama
. Daruma Doll Family 　

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Konoha Sakuyahime Jinja 木華佐久耶比咩神社
Kurashiki
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Munetada Jinja 宗忠神社
Okayama. Origin of Kurosumi Sect
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Okayamaken Gokoku Jinja 岡山県護国神社
Okayama
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Tatsu no Kuchi Hachimanguu 岡山龍ノ口八幡宮
Okayama . Hachimangu
This shrine goes back to the Nara period.
The deities are
神功皇后 Jinguu Koogoo - Jingu Kogo
応神天皇 Oojin Tennoo - Ojin Tenno
玉依姫命 Tamayori Hime no Mikoto
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

. Hachiman Shrines and their festivals 　

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H A I K U

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Tokaido 53 Stations

2010-12-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

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The 53 stations of the Tokaido

The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō
(東海道五十三次, Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi) are the rest areas along the Tōkaidō, which was a coastal route that ran from Nihonbashi in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyoto.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Nihonbashi
. . . CLICK here for Photos of the woodblocks !

. Hatago (旅籠, 旅篭) lodgings along the Tokaido 　

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. Edo 江戸　/ 大江戸 The City That Became Tokyo 　

. Nihonbashi bridge (Nihonbashi 日本橋) 　

. 1. Shinagawa-juku (Shinagawa)

Kanagawa Prefecture

2. Kawasaki-juku (Kawasaki)
3. Kanagawa-juku (Yokohama)
4. Hodogaya-juku (Yokohama)
5. Totsuka-juku (Yokohama)
6. Fujisawa-shuku (Fujisawa)

. 7. Hiratsuka-juku (Hiratsuka) 　

8. Oiso-juku (Ooiso)
9. Odawara-juku (Odawara)

. 10. Hakone-juku (Hakone) .

Shizuoka Prefecture

. 11. Mishima-shuku (Mishima) .

12. Numazu-juku (Numazu)
13. Hara-juku (Numazu)
14. Yoshiwara-juku (Fuji)

Ando Hiroshige 安藤広重
15. Kanbara-juku (Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka)

16. Yui-shuku (Yui, Ihara District)
17. Okitsu-juku (Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka)
18. Ejiri-juku (Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka)
19. Fuchū-shuku (Aoi-ku, Shizuoka)

. 20. Mariko-juku (Suruga-ku, Shizuoka) 　
tororojiru とろろ汁 yam soup porridge

21. Okabe-juku (Okabe)
22. Fujieda-juku (Fujieda)
23. Shimada-juku (Shimada)
24. Kanaya-juku (Shimada)
25. Nissaka-shuku (Kakegawa)
26. Kakegawa-juku (Kakegawa)
27. Fukuroi-juku (Fukuroi)
28. Mitsuke-juku (Iwata)

. 29. Hamamatsu-juku (Hamamatsu)

30. Maisaka-juku　舞阪宿 (Hamamatsu)
.... take a short boat ride to the other side of Laka Hamanako 浜名湖　

. 31. Arai-juku 　新井宿　(Arai, Hamana District) 　
32. Shirasuka-juku (Kosai)

Aichi Prefecture

33. Futagawa-juku (Toyohashi)
34. Yoshida-juku (Toyohashi)

. 35. Goyu-shuku (Toyokawa) 　

36. Akasaka-juku (Otowa, Hoi District)
37. Fujikawa-shuku (Okazaki)

. 38. Okazaki-shuku (Okazaki)
"salt road" 塩の道 shio no michi 　

39. Chiryu-juku (Chiryuu)

. 40. Narumi-juku (Midori-ku, Nagoya) 　

. 41. Miya-juku (Atsuta-ku, Nagoya) and Atsuta Shrine

Mie Prefecture

42. Kuwana-juku (Kuwana)

. 43. Yokkaichi-juku (Yokkaichi) .

44. Ishiyakushi-juku (Suzuka)
45. Shono-juku (Shoono, Suzuka)
46. Kameyama-juku (Kameyama)
47. Seki-juku (Kameyama)
48. Sakashita-juku (Kameyama)

Shiga Prefecture

49. Tsuchiyama-juku (Kōka)

. 50. Minaguchi-juku (Minakuchi) (Kōka) .

51. Ishibe-juku (Konan)
52. Kusatsu-juku (Kusatsu)

. 53. Otsu-juku (Ootsu) 　
Otsu Paintings (大津絵 Otsu-E)

Ando Hiroshige 安藤広重

Sanjo Ohashi bridge 三条大橋 Kyoto endpoint

. Kyoto 花の都 Hana no Miyako
Sanjo Ohashi (Kyoto)

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水木しげる妖怪道五十三次

The Fifty-three Stations of the Yokaido
by Shigeru Mizuki

. Gegege no Kitaro ゲゲゲの鬼太郎

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Shoono 庄野 Shono Juku

Stamps of the Tokaido Stations by Ando Hiroshige
source : a-kumamoto

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H A I K U

比もよし五十三次華見笠
koro mo yoshi go juusan tsugi hanami-gasa

what a timing !
along the road of the 53 postal towns
straw hats of cherry blossom viewers

Kobayashi Issa

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Fukuda Kodojin

2010-11-27T17:15:00.000-08:00

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Fukuda Kodojin
(1865-1944)
福田古道人 Fukuda Kodoojin

quote
Backhamn Eckstein, Japanese Art
Kodojin was born in the small town of Shingu in rural Wakayama Prefecture. Although he became so skilled in Chinese poetry that he published a collection of verse while in his twenties, Kodojin switched to making modern-style haiku after becoming a follower of Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) in 1889.

Writing under his haijin name, Haritsu, Kodojin frequently published haiku in poetry magazines in the late Meiji period, and he became widely known as Shiki's diciple. In the last thirty years of his life, he again wrote Chinese verse and began to paint distinctive literati landscapes signed with his painting name, Kodojin.

He also made simple paintings of plants and flowers that emphasized his dramatic brushwork and inscriptions of Chinese poetry. Kodojin was one of the earliest admirers of Tomita Keisen, who possessed a similar taste of unusual compositions and unconventional brushwork. Although the details of Kodojin's patronage remain unclear, a great many of his paintings are exquisitely mounted, suggesting that his works were acquired by wealthy collectors. - Cf. Morioka, Michiyo and Paul Berry: Modern Masters of Kyoto. The Transformation of Japanese Painting Traditions (Nihonga from the Griffith and Patricia Way Collection), 1999 Seattle Art Museum, pp. 216-217.

Exhibition about Fukuda Kodojin
source : www.bachmanneckenstein.com

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Fukuda Haritsu, as Haiku Poet

He was born in Shingu, Wakayama.
After meeting Shiki he choose the haiku name Kodoojin (Old Taoist).
Apart from haiku, he wrote waka and also painted haiga.

quote
The Haiku of the “Old Taoist” Fukuda Kodojin.
Stephen Addiss

It is generally accepted that the traditional Japanese literati world of art and poetry came to an end with the modernization and Westernization that began in the late nineteenth century. The persona of a poet-sage who embraces poverty, creates art primarily for his own and his friends' enjoyment, and devotes himself to self-cultivation would seem to have no place in a society that values economic growth and public achievement.

It is therefore a considerable surprise to discover the art of Fukuda Kodojin (1865-1944), who lived almost through the Second World War and maintained a literati lifestyle to the end of his days. His art name Kodojin literally means “Old Taoist,” and he was a master of painting, calligraphy, kanshi (Chinese-style poetry), and haiku. How did Kodojin reconcile such cultural values in the modern age? What success could a poet-painter expect, and indeed how much success would he desire, in industrial Japan? Do his life, poetry, and art represent the resiliency of an old tradition faced with new conditions and new challenges?

Showing his literati talent at a young age, Kodojin wrote his first haiku at age five (by Japanese count; we would consider him to have been four years old).

tsurube kara yo ni tobidetaru i no kawazu

Jumping from the
bucket into the world—
frog in the well

snip
It was from his poetry that Kodojin's paintings emerged, functioning as another expression of his inner feelings and values. Although many more of Kodojin's nanga (Chinese-style literati paintings) than haiga (haiku-paintings) survive, there are still a number of fine haiga from his hand. One example shows a hibachi (brazier) with smoke billowing forth, carrying with it a few ashes from the charcoal fire. Next to the hibachi rests a Chinese-style round fan, significantly decorated with a painting of the literati theme of orchids. The inscribed haiku descends in counterpoint to the rising smoke

kayari shite tsuma ko to kataru ukiyo kana

Smoking out insects,
chatting with my wife and children -
this floating world

A second haiga by Kodojin shows a folk-subject, the Snow Daruma. Since there is a legend about the First Patriarch of Zen that his legs fell off during his nine years of meditation, a snowman is known in Japan as a Snow Daruma.
In this work there is a stress on the word “jakumetsu,” which can mean both “nirvana” and “fading away.”

Yuki Daruma sude ni jakumetsu itaku kana

Snow Daruma
already extinguished—
what joy!

The calligraphy of the haiku encloses this sad-faced figure with a touch of whimsical humor— is melting away a sadness or a joy?

source : www.simplyhaiku.com, October 2004

. . . . . . . . . . . . . A note about the translation

The above was a spelling mistake in SH.

The last line reads : itaru kana
jakumetsu itaru (寂滅至る) means "reaching Nirvana"

Yuki Daruma sude ni jakumetsu itaru kana

snowman Daruma -
already he has reached
its final destination
Tr. Gabi Greve

. Discussion at Facebook

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Offered here an ink landscape on paper by the eccentric and highly sought Japanese artist Fukuda Kodojin (1865-1944) dated 1919.

Birds fly over the stubble of harvested rice fields, while odd thatch-roofed huts sprouting from wind beat grass focus our attention on the dark forested left of the scene. The vigorous brushwork and complexity of the scene belie the typical scenes of cold winter death, and seems to intimate a hidden energy busy at the task of Preparing for spring. It is set in an unusual border of olive brocade patterned with manjirushi (symbols of eternity) and flower dials.

He was self taught, part of a small group of artists existing outside conventional circles in pre-war Japan. Taking the time just before his death to destroy the large portion of his remaining own work, leaving only that which must have met some personal criteria.
For more on his life see the book
Old Taoist, or Unexplored Avenues of Japanese Painting.
His work also was recently presented for exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and is part of the Hakutakuan collection among many others.
source : www.the-kura.com

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. Ogawa Haritsu 小川破笠 Haiku Poet
1663 - 1747

. Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets 　

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M.C. Escher

2010-11-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

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M.C. Escher

Maurits Cornelis Escher
(17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972)

マウリッツ・コルネリス・エッシャー

Escher's first print of an impossible reality was Still Life and Street, 1937. His artistic expression was created from images in his mind, rather than directly from observations and travels to other countries. Well known examples of his work also include Drawing Hands, a work in which two hands are shown, each drawing the other; Sky and Water, in which light plays on shadow to morph the water background behind fish figures into bird figures on a sky background; and Ascending and Descending, in which lines of people ascend and descend stairs in an infinite loop, on a construction which is impossible to build and possible to draw only by taking advantage of quirks of perception and perspective.

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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If he never met Daruma, that is just too bad.
But I am sure the two would have chuckeled together.

M.C. Escher
Great Artist of Illusion

M.C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist, most recognized for spatial illusions, impossible buildings, repeating geometric patterns (tessellations), and his incredible techniques in woodcutting and lithography. M.C. Escher was born June 1898 and died March 1972.

His work continues to fascinate both young and old across a broad spectrum of interests. M.C. Escher was a man studied and greatly appreciated by respected mathematicians, scientists and crystallographers yet he had no formal training in math or science.

He was a humble man who considered himself neither an artist or mathematician. Intricate repeating patterns, mathematically complex structures, spatial perspectives all require a "second look". In Escher's work what you see the first time is most certainly not all there is to see.

. Escher : Reference

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H A I K U

The World in a Dewdrop

autum dew -
before daybreak
miracles unfold

Gabi Greve

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. . . gravity -
holding on to
what you have

Gabi Greve

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above the desk
two hands
haiku-ing each other

Brenda

. MANDALA and HAIKU .

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Puddle, three block woodcut, 1954
Escher describes this work as follows:

The cloudless evening sky is reflected in a puddle which a recent shower has left in a woodland path. The tracks of two motor cars, two bicycles and two pedestrians are impressed in the foggy ground.

He neglects to mention the moon, which gives this image such a poetic, oriental feeling, like a visual Haiku. Such works must be ranked among the highest achievements of this genre, comparable to the pastorals of Samuel Palmer.

source : www.escapeintolife.com. Essay by Tony Thomas

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Temple Ryohoji

2010-11-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

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Temple Ryohoji
Shooeizan 松栄山, Ryoohooji 了法寺（りょうほうじ）

This temple in Hachioji near central Tokyo belongs to the Nichiren sect.

Happy Birthday Buddha poster
For the Festival, including a maid coffeshop

It is one of the famous temples for visiting the seven gods of good luck (shichi fukujin) during the New Year Holidays.

The statue of Benzaiten 新護弁財天 is venerated in this temple.

Lately it has become famous because since may 2009 the present head priest, Shoko Nakazato, has been putting up big boards with manga illustrations to remind the parishers of festivals and events.

Many young people have their photos taken in front of these billboards and fame is spreading.
The temple is even called a moedera 「萌え寺」, a newly budding temple.

The manga are painted by the illustrator Toromi とろ美.

She is represented as TORO BENTEN とろ弁天:

On November 7, 2010, a new statue has been placed, called the
とろ弁天像 Toro Benten Statue

. . . . .

There is also a new pop song about the temple
寺ズッキュン!愛の了法寺!

. Reference : 了法寺

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S E N R Y U

Toro Benten -
to cherish the image
or the name ?

Gabi Greve

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. Benten, Benzaiten 弁天　弁財天　

. Maid-Coffeeshops メードﾞ喫茶 meido kissa 　

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