​Name: Kitamiya Aso Shrine (北宮阿蘇神社)
Enshrined Deity: Hayamikatama-No-Mikoto
​Address: 〒861-1305 Kumamoto-ken, Kikuchi-shi, Kitamiya, 64

Name: Myorenji Temple (妙蓮寺)
​Address: 〒861-1331 Kumamoto-ken, Kikuchi-shi, Waifu, Tatemachi 247

​~~ NOTE: This is part 2 in a 5 part series of my adventures around Kumamoto on January 22nd. ~~

It's certainly a lot more difficult to find information about small Buddhist temples.  You see one of the main differences between a temple (Buddhist) and a shrine (Shinto) is that shrines are always open and are structured to really welcome anyone to come and prey at any time.  Temples, on the other hand, are often literally closed up and are more designed for true Buddhists to come and prey.  So people don't often go exploring these smaller temples for fun and there isn't as much information available. 

So I've done my best to find information about this temple, but there isn't much.  The temple used to have a website, as various other places have referenced and linked to it, but the temple website no longer works.

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The temple was originally founded in 1594, but it was only a small meditation hall at first.  It wasn't until 1631 that it began to transform into a full temple.  Unfortunately, as often happens with wooden buildings in Japan, the temple caught fire and burned down.  So in 1672 it was rebuilt at its current location.  You can still find a monument to the original temple at the Shisui Machi Board of Education.  Cool!

In 1894, fire once against ravaged the temple and the main hall was burned down.  So the temple was rebuilt for the last time in 1897.  And so stands the current building (probably).

The temple itself represents the Nichiren School of Buddhism. If you know anything about Nichiren Shu (not to be confused with Nichiren Shoshu), know that they LOVE the Lotus Sutra.  It's their favorite thing.  Nuff said.

Sometimes I just like to go on adventures and see as many shrines and temples as I can in one visit.  But, it's a little crazy to throw five shrines/temples all together into one post.  So I will write these as five separate posts, one for each location I visited.  Okay, let's get started!

Name: Kikuchi Jinja
Enshrined Deity: Kikuchi Taketoki, Kikuchi Takeshige, Kikuchi Takemitsu
​Address: 〒830-0037 Fukuoka-ken, Kurume-shi, Suwanomachi

​~~ NOTE: This is part 1 in a 5 part series of my adventures around Kumamoto on January 22nd. ~~

Name: Suwa Jinja ( 諏訪神社 )
Enshrined Deity: Takeminakata
​Address: 〒830-0037 Fukuoka-ken, Kurume-shi, Suwanomachi

Most of my information on Suwa Jinja in Kurume comes from a wonderful blog that documents shrines in Western Japan.  So if you can read Japanese, please check it out here: 産土神名帳 (republished with permission)

​~~ NOTE: As always, the pictures below often have captions, so please click on them to enlarge and see my comments. ~~

​There are around 5,000 Suwa shrines throughout Japan.  But they are all connected to the main Suwa shrine in Suwa city, Nagano prefecture - Suwa Taisha.  These shrines all worship the god Takeminakata.  Suwa Taisha is a very old shrine, dating back to at LEAST the 7th century.  But Suwa Taisha is a separate post of its own, so let's move on to the Suwa Shrine in Kurume city.

Back in January, my friend and I drove down to Hitoyoshi in southern Kumamoto Prefecture.  This is actually the first time I discovered the shrine and temple stamp book and my life was changed forever.

We made three major stops while we were there: Eikokuji, Aoi Aso Jinja, and Bukekura.

Eikoku-ji

Address: 5 Dotemachi, Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, 〒868-0057

All information from this temple was obtained from a blog post on Nihon Fan by Tony Mariani.  Please check out their original post here:
https://nihonehime.blogspot.com/2013/10/eikokuji-temple-hitoyoshi-kumamoto.html

Eikoku-ji is a temple of the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism and is a direct branch of the Daihonzan Sojiji temple in Yokohama City. The temple was established in 1408 by the 9th Daimyo of the Sagara clan, Daimyo Sakitsugu. The principle Buddhist images enshrined at the temple are the Shakyamuni Buddha, the Monju Bosatsu and the Fugen Bosatsu.

Eikoku-ji is most famous for a scroll painting of a ghost that hangs inside the main temple purportedly painted by the founder.  The story behind the painting is quite interesting.  When the temple was built, there was a well know samurai in a neighboring town who had a jealous mistress.  In fact, she was so jealous of his wife, that she threw herself into the Kumagawa River and died.  In Japanese mythology, it's very common for jealous or resentful women who die unnatural deaths to return to our world and haunt the living as a ghost or a demon.  And so this jealous mistress returned as a ghost and haunted the wife until she was almost driven mad.  The wife fled to Eikoku-ji to seek the powers of the temple founder, Jittei Osho.  The priest then spoke to the ghost on the tenants of Buddhism, and the jealous ghost was thereafter shocked and appalled by her own appearance.  She begged Osho to pray for her and to help her become a Buddha so that she might escape her wretched form.  And so he prayed for her and she disappeared, never to haunt the wife again.

Because of this story, the temple is sometimes called Yurei Dera, or Ghost Temple.

~~ NOTE: As always, the pictures below often have captions, so please click on them to enlarge and see my comments. ~~

Back in December, some friends and I decided to go on a challenging hike in the mountains.  We decided to travel to Mount Unzen in Nagasaki prefecture.  Mount Unzen is actually a group of three volcanoes that are notorious for causing trouble.  It was most recently active in 1995 and had a major devastating eruption in 1991.  These eruptions actually formed a new peak on the mountain, Heisei-shinzan.   The mountain's two highest peeks are Fugen-dake (1,359 meters) and the newly formed Heisei-shinzan (1,486 meters).  For reference, that makes Mount Unzen about the same height as the 5th tallest High Peak in the Adirondacks, Whiteface Mountain.

Mount Unzen has always been a very popular hiking destination.  But after the 1990's eruptions, the trails were temporarily shut down for repairs.  I mean heck, there was a brand new peak on the mountain now!  After finishing some major restruction and repairs, they recently reopened the mountain to the public.  Lucky for us!

So that leads us to my adventure with some other ALTs from Kyushu.  We drove out to Nagasaki on December 12th, bright and early.  To get there from Kumamoto, it takes a fairy ride and lots of driving.

​Name: 太宰府天満宮​ - Dazaifu Tenman-gū
Enshrined Deity: Tenjin
​Address: 4-7-1, Saifu, Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture 818-0195
Size: 350,000 Square Meters - 86.5 acres

The deity of Dazaifu Tenman-gu is Tenjin, the deified name of the real life scholar Sugawara no Michizane.​  Michizane was a government official during the Heian period.  He rose to the prominent position of Minister of the Right, an action which inspired much envy and bitterness in his rivals.  So, in 900 BCE, the powerful Fujiwara family unleashed a devious scheme against him and he was subsequently demoted and exiled to Kyushu.  Upon departing Kyoto, he composed this poem:

~~~ NOTE: I write captions on many of the photos.  Please click on them to view them in full screen to read the captions. ~~~
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Name: 清水寺​ - Kiyomizu Temple
Enshrined Deity: Guanyin
​Address: Setakamachi Motoyoshi, Miyama City, Fukuoka Prefecture, 〒835-0003
Accessibility: You can drive to the top, but it is strongly recommended to park further down the mountain and walk up.  The path is quite beautiful if you're ready to walk for 20 minutes.

~~~ NOTE: I write captions on many of the photos.  Please click on them to view them in full screen to read the captions. ~~~
~~~ Unless stated otherwise in the caption, all photos belong to me~~~

​On November 23rd, I went to Yatsushiro City for their annual Myoken Festival (妙見祭).  This large festival is one of the three great festivals in Kyushu.  In fact, it's designated as an intangible folklore cultural asset by Kumamoto Prefecture.  The festival was started almost 400 years ago in 1636.

~~~ NOTE: I write captions on many of the photos.  Please click on them to view them in full screen to read the captions. ~~~

​On November 4th, 5th, and 6th I was in Nagoya for a Ogura Hyakunin Isshu Kyougi Karuta tournament (or as we call it in the west, Karuta).  It was part of the Aichi National Cultural Festival.  Full Japanese title: 第３１回小国民文化祭あいち2016小倉百人一首競技かるた全国大会.

 I was lucky enough to get to go with a mixed team of foreigners thanks to my karuta teacher in America!  It was such an excellent time, even if I was completely destroyed by the competition.