A morning walk through Senjokei
Ted of Notes From The Nog fame was visiting for a couple of days, so decided to take advantage of the fine weather and went for a hike down Senjokei, a local beauty spot.It's a narrow gorge that has 12 waterfalls within the space of 3 kilometres.We started at the top of the gorge in Hiwa, thinking, correctly as it turned out, that on top of the mountains the sun would have already burnt off the

Kosan-Ji: the statues...
This pair of Phoenix's stand in the grounds of the Kongo Kan (New Treasure House) across the road from Kosan-Ji Temple.The Museum houses a large collection of Buddhist art, mostly from Japan but some from Korea.Entrance to the museum is included in the entrance fee to Kosan-Ji. Within the temple there is also a large collection of Tea Ceremony objects, and a collection of Modern Art.Most of the

Shichi-Go-San
Stopped by an unusual Inari Shrine near Fukuyama on Saturday and there was a Shichi-Go-San ceremony going on. The song the priest is singing is not something I've heard before. There is a cadence and lilt to it that was quite foot-tapping, quite unlike the normal "shinto" chanting which sounds similar to the buddhist chanting it's influenced by.The Miko performs the purification part of the

October means Matsuri. Matsuri means Kagura. Part 9
The ninth, and final, matsuri I went to in October was in Waki-cho, a seaside village that is part of Gotsu.Earlier in the afternoon we stopped by a bunch of shrines in the area that were all having their matsuri that night. While we were at the shrine in Waki there was a ceremony going on for all the people of the village that had turned 60 years of age that year. The Chinese dating system that

A muted Fall at Gakuen-Ji
I had to go up to Izumo on Monday so I dropped by Gakuen-Ji on my way back.The fall colors were only just starting, and it was cloudy, so it was a more muted display rather than vivid.Gakuen-Ji is, I think, my favorite temple. Nestled in the mountains to the north of Izumo Taisha, the temple is actually older than Izumo Taisha.Except for the last couple of weeks in November when the place gets