Hikes around Sakurae

Tanijyugo to Itotani
October 11, 2004

Its a beautiful day for a bike ride. Someone has told me about a shrine in Itotani that has an interesting legend, and on the way to it we can pass through a couple of hamlets that Ive not been to before. We cross the Gono river into Kawado by the pink and green and blue bridge. First stop is the Kawado shrine. We were there a couple of nights ago to watch kagura and I noticed a painting and some interesting carvings of dragons that I want to check out in the daylight. The painting is faded with age and its hard to make out what it is, but the dragons carved into the eaves are quite interesting.
We take the back road out of Kawado that follows the Yato river. We pass another shrine before the river and road sweeps around a curve and heads towards Imada. Like most villages along thr rivers, the houses are pressed up against the mountains, and the flat areas along the river are reserved for rice paddies. We head up a side road to Imada shrine, and find that the main building is open and hanging inside are dozens of kagura costumes. Saturday night was the autumn all-night kagura performance and the costumes are on display. The inticate and vivid costumes cost thousands of dollars each, and here are dozens of them on display with no form of security, which says something about the level of honesty that still exists in the Japanese countryside.Behind the main building, across a stone bridge spanning the stream, is another Torii and a stone path leading into the dark forest. Here, inside a roped-off area is the remains of a rotted tree stump. This tree must be the Kami (god) of the shrine.
Carrying on along the road I spy another torii up a little side road. The map shows no shrine here, but there is one. Behind the shrine building, up on the mountainside is the hokora which houses the kami. A little old lady with a face creased like old leather comes out of her house opposite and chats with us. She tells us that the shrines Kami is Omeshikui, a Tsukurigami, a very ancient god of rice fields. The shrine is no longer in use. No priests visit it, but a few of the local people still look after it. We chat some more about the wild boars and monkeys that come down the mountain to raid the gardens and then head off on the next leg of our explorations.
As the road curves back to cross over the river at Eno we notice a sign under a tree just off the road. The tree is a huge Keiyaki (Zelkova), and the sign explains the tree has cloned itself into six trees. Its not particularly high, maybe 60 feet, but its base is enormous, with the roots gripping a rock outcropping overlooking a bend in the river. Behind the tree, among its roots, is a small stone shrine to the god of the tree. It reminds me of my own Celtic tradition of tree worship.

500 metres along the main road on the Ichiyama bank of the river and we cross back over to the other side.Against the mountain, overlooking the village is an impressive-looking temple that I have often seen while driving along the main road. With its huge black roof it is quite imposing and I have always wanted to check it out. Many temples in Japan are run-down. Same as with christian churches , some congregations are richer than others. This one is obviously quite well off. Its name is Fukuoji, and its a Zen temple. With its impressive gate and stone walls it looks somewhat like a castle. A lot of zen temples seem to have that characteristic. As we enter through the gate a Mamushi (poisonous snake) slithers away across the gravel. We have seen about 6 snakes on the road so far this trip. I guess with the cooler days they are out on the roads soaking up the heat.Now we pass through the village and take the side road into Itotani. It really is a hidden valley, the road going in is just a narrow road through the forest with no indication of anything beyond. I only know its there because I looked down on the valley on my last hike. In total there is maybe a dozen farms scattered along the length of the very narrow, steep valley. Passing through and leaving the farms behind we follow a track and come to Yajiemon Shrine. Built on a rock outcropping in the middle of the valley floor next to the stream, the shrine buildings are built around a large tree growing out of the rocks. A stone staircase leads up to the shrine. One unusual thing is that there is no torii for this shrine. The Kami of this shrine is Yajiemon, and he is considered a god of competition. The Yajiemon legend can be found here.