As the birthplace of the Japanese syncretization of Shintoism and Buddhism, Kunisaki Peninsula has lots of shrine and temple. Shinto shrine and temple are exist at the same time. The number of shrine is almost equal to temple. There are some famous temples such as Futago Temple, Ankoku-ji, Kodo-ji and so on.Famous shrine like Usajingu, Sakurahachiman Shrine. We have gone to one village of Kunisaki Peninsula named Kunisaki, where Kodo-ji and Sakurahachiman Shrine are. So I’d like to introduce this two place to you.
Kodo-ji
Kodo-ji located in the town of Kunisaki is also a separate item of Sakurahachiman Shrine, which is founded by kuya clergy. At the time, Kodo-ji delivered the whole area of the current Tsurugawa area, and the Jizo Bodhisattva has been believed for a long time. It’s placed in Jizo Hall in normal times, and become a secret statue.
The owner of Kodo-ji is a very nice man. He always guides for tourist who visit Kunisaki. He took us to the kuya pond. Walking from Kodo-ji to the kuya pond is just about 3 minutes. The owner told us that the pond is the place which originally belongs to Kodo-ji.
If you ask is there any interesting thing can you do? Well, I’ll tell you that you can experience Syakyo. I believe that you guys never do that before, right? The owner introduced that to us, and told us it means writing the Buddhist Scriptures with Chinese brush by hands. And you can take what you have written back home or just put them in the kuya pond. Through writing the Buddhist Scriptures,
We can experience important cultures little by little and try to understand the history. I think the most important thing is that you can calm down and relax yourself from busy daily life.
Sakurahachiman Shrine
Sakurahachiman Shrine is located in the center of village Kunisaki. There are many tree of a flower named Sakura, which Japanese like most. The flower blossoms in full bloom in spring, so it seems to be a popular place. When we went to there, the staffs of the s hine was doing some cleaning. They saw us and have known that we are foreigners, so one man of them (maybe the leader of them) told us how to make a formal visit. First you should make a deep bow at Toriyi , which is the entrance of a shrine. And if you wear a cap, you’d better take it off. Then you will go through a palce named Sandou. You shouldn’t walk on the middle of Sandou because Japanese believe that it is a place where the god walk on. After going through Sandou, don’t forget to wash your hands. It shows your respect to the god. Then you can make your formal visit. There always a bell in front of the shrine. You should make it alarm to tell the god that you are coming. When you make your formal visit, you should make two deep bow, clap your hands for twice and make a deep bow once again. How many times you should bow and clap is depend on which shrine you are visit. The rule is usually written in front of the shrine, so you’d better read it before you make your formal visit in case that you will do something wrong.
By the way, I want to say something about the toilet of Sakurahachiman Shrine. I went to the toilet there, and I thought it must be a dirty toilet. But I found that it was very clean! So if you go to there too, don’t worry about the toilet!
It’s no doubt that there are many other famous temples and shrines where we didn’t go. If you guys went there, please tell us something interesting about that. I’d love to hear that.
by Luyan