In a garden near the torii marking the road to Kifune Jinja, I found this amazing little pansy...If Sunako (from Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge) were a flower, this would be the perfect plant manifestation.
Blinded by "creatures of light," hehe...
the first torii on the way to Kifune Jinja
one of many waterfalls riding alongside Kibunegawa river
I actually remember this waterfall from when we were going back to the train station
after climbing and descending Kurama-yama--it was particularly difficult to photograph
in the low light of the evening
There are a number of restaurants between Kibuneguchi--that is, where Kuramagawa and Kibunegawa rivers meet--and Kifune Jinja, where all of us hungry travelers can stop for a rest and a bite to eat. Actually, I was the only biker I saw up there; I think most people prefer to take the bus up into the mountains. I spoke with a lady who owned the teashop or restaurant below when I stopped to take a couple of pictures, and she seemed a bit surprised that I'd rode my bike all the way up there from the university. She might have seemed interested in hopes for some business though...
Kifune, or Kibune Jinja is said to be about 1600 years old and is dedicated to a rain goddess called Takaokami no Kami. Myth holds that Takaokami no Kami came down from the heavens to Kibuneyama in search of water.
She discovered a spring where Okunomiya now stands; this was the location of the original shrine. Later Takaokami no Kami transformed into a water-kami dragon and returned to the heavens.
Starting in the Heian period, the Imperial Court sent delegations with horses as offerings in times of drought or calamitous weather: white and red horses for good weather, and black horses for when they needed rain. (I don't think this is still the custom in Shintoism these days...)
Kifune Jinja is not only famous for its status as a weather-related shrine. In the Heian period, the famous poet Izumi Shikibu visited the shrine to pray for reconciliation with her husband. Later they were able to resolve their differences, the tale of her success spread across the land, and the shrine also became a popular place to pray for success in romantic or marital endeavors.
Here at the main shrine, you can buy omikuji. You take a sheet of apparently blank paper and place it on the stream of water--then the ink bearing your fortune appears! If you receive a bad fortune, you tie it to one of these wire stands, or to a pine tree. (Since the readings for "pine tree" and "to wait" are both "matsu," the idea is if you tie it to the pine tree, the back fortune will stay with the tree instead of attaching itself to you. )
In 1055, the main shrine was relocated to its current position at Kifune Jinja after several disasters (probably fires) damaged it, but the legendary stones from the dragon-kami's boat still remain in the secondary Okunomiya and Nakamiya shrines. Nakamiya, below, is a short distance further up the road from Kifune Jinja, and Okunomiya lies just beyond that.The shimenawa is hidden by some of the growth around the trunk on this tree...
As if there was any question that this tree was the divine residence of some kami.
One of Takaokami no Kami's legendary boat stones at Nakamiya
There is also a "dragon cave" supposedly nearby, which practitioners of Onmyodo and Feng Shui believe is a natural nexus or focal point of power. It is said that long ago, when a carpenter dropped a chisel into it, the skies darkened, and violent squall rose as the chisel was mysteriously blown back into the air.
the entrance to Okunomiya, the original site of the shrine
If you look up at the hills above and behind Okunomiya, you can see
this curious grid structure overgrown with weeds and brush.
Perhaps it was the foundation of parts of the original shrine which were destroyed...
Meet Gumi-san, a musician who plays a kind of Indian bamboo flute. We had a great conversation in Japanese, with a little English,
and he was kind enough to give me a bag of chai, that is ground masala chai, for free.
Awesoooome.
Now I have to figure out how to prepare it from the raw ingredients...
Once the sun began to sink in the sky, it got cold up in the mountains.
It was time for the easy-peasy downhill-trip back to I-House...
a last peek into one of those restaurants over the waterfalls, aglow with lanterns
I'm not sure if the poster dog is a Golden, but I remember with perfect clarity Peaches giving us that exact same look
A small shrine I missed on the uphill journey: Okami no Yashiro
yet another spectacular sky
Down near Kokusaikaikan Station, I found Hataeda Miyashaki shrine.
In the evening, the shrine grounds were completely empty, except for a group of students exercising by running up and down the stairs to the front torii.
A couple of streets over and down, you can find Souhondan Myomanji temple,
which has a beautiful lily pond and garden out front, complete with carp and ducks.
I shall have to return during the temple's open hours sometime
so I can have a better look at this stupa. It's a smaller copy
of the Bodh Gaya stupa in India, where the historical Buddha achieved nirvana.
"I'm turning off the waterfall, the tourists can go home,
Feel it time to travel, time to write a poem,
Time to seek some therapy, I'm goin' walkabout,
Answers are the easy part, questions raise the doubt"
~ Off to See the Lizard (Jimmy Boofey. Take it away, Jim.)
