shrines and temples

(or fukuoka, japan part four)

there are tons of temples and shrines dotting the map of fukuoka. i made it to three. oh well, better luck next time, but with only two days, i had to choose wisely. it would be nice if there were some kind of ultimate guide to shrines and temples in fukuoka (or even japan for that matter) but if there is, i didn't have it. so i just had to go with my gut. the ones i visted were based on proximity to where i was and where i needed to be.

on friday, shortly after leaving the hostel (headed for the festival) i came upon ryuguji temple. it is tiny and hidden between two large office buildings, but being the first one i saw in japan, i had to stop in.

ryuguji temple

it's just a tiny little place and sorry the picture isn't that good... but (again) the weather was horrendous the whole time i was there. the story (according to the little plaque outside the temple) goes:

In 1222, a mermaid was cought, a sign which was taken to mean the eternity of our nation and thus was buried in the compound of ukinido temple. it was thought that the mermaid came from ryugu (sea god's palace) and hence the temple was renamed ryugu temple. in 1480, priest sogi who was a noted verse linking poet stayed here and held a hakata verse linking meeting where they linked verses composed of 100 phrases. he is also the author of the "chikushi travel sketch" describing his tour of kyushu.

sunday was my day of temple and shrine visiting, since i made it to two of the bigger ones in fukuoka. the first was kushida shrine.

kushida shrine (photo courtesy of may's there was all kinds of scaffolding up the right side when i was there...)

kushida was founded in 757 AD (now that's old!). it is in the heart of the old city of hakata and has many special items: the Eto arrow plate with carved chinese zodiac (see below), the brace of anchor stones recovered from the bay from mongolian invasions, the yamakasa portable shrine (see below), a ginko tree that is puportedly more than a thousand years old, and the grand deity Ohata Nushina-mikoto in enshrined there.

the Eto Arrow plate

the yamakasa portable shrine

a close(r) up shot of the yamakasa

in july the oiyama event of the Yamakasa-gion festival is held at kushida shrine. men wearing loincloths race carrying heavy wooden shrines (above) through the streets in a set route.

the front entrance to kushida

inside the main shrine

an artsy shot

another artsy shot

the old part of kushida shrine.

these are called torii gates. they mark the entrance to a shrine but since these were in the back of the main building i'm assuming they're the old ones. click for more detailed info on shinto shrines.

the last temple i visited (briefly) was tochoji temple. it really started pouring when i got there and my second memory card was full so i only got a few shots. again, i wish i had known more about the place before i wandered in, because now, having looked it up on the web it's a lot cooler than i thought and would have warranted deleting other pictures. Tochoji was founded in 806 by saint kobo after his return from china. it is the oldest temple in fukuoka.

tochoji temple - really doesn't do it justice... it was pouring and if you enlarge the picture you can see the rain.

all the statues were wearing aprons... not sure why...

buddha - 11 meters high and weighing 30 tons (photo courtesy of yahoo)

wish i'd gotten a picture of it myself... but i didn't even know that it was there. there are a bunch of other objects at this shrine i would have liked to see: the tombstones of the lords of the Kuroda clan, examples of calligraphy by the artist-priest Sendai, a thousand-handed statue of the goddess of mercy (designated an important cultural asset), and the calligraphy of the temple's founder, Taishi Kobo. next time?

well, i hope that's enough to satisfy your curiosity about temples and shrines... probably not, but you'll have to deal! coming up random bits of fukuoka (or the last post on this subject!)... so stay tuned!