architecture

Kanagi Town 金木町

/ JapanFolklorist

A look back at the town of Kanagi 金木町 in Aomori prefecture, now Goshogawara City 五所川原市(photographed in 2005, early morning). The town is known as the birthplace of Tsugaru-jamisen 津軽三味線 (Tsugaru style shamisen music) and as the hometown of the well-known author Dazai Osamu 太宰治 (1909-1948).

A shrine’s horse statue.
Street light with festival decorations.
Main street.
Unshō Temple 雲祥寺.
Statues of Jizō Bodhisattva 地蔵菩薩, a popular Buddhist saint who acts as a guardian of children and the patron deity of pregnant women.
Statues of Jizō Bodhisattva offered in memorial to the departed.
Phone booth elevated to compensate for heavy snowfall.
Dazai Osamu’s home, previously an inn, now a museum. When originally built, it offered a commanding view of the surrounding countryside from its second story (as most homes and businesses were single story structures).

The Faithful’s Graffiti: Senjafuda 参拝者の千社札

/ JapanFolklorist

Visitors to shrines and temples sometimes commemorate their visit by pasting a paper bearing their name (千社札 senjafuda) on the shrine and temple buildings and gates. Some shrines and temples treat this as a form of graffiti and warn against it. Nonetheless, the faithful seemingly do so as to receive some efficacy and as a way to say, “I was here.”

Here are some photos from the famous Eiheiji (永平寺) Buddhist temple in Fukui prefecture of a shrine covered with senjafuda.

Graffiti? Or a symbol of devotion?

Gokayama gassho-zukuri 五箇山合掌造り

/ JapanFolklorist

Part of the area known as Gokayama (Toyama Prefecture), the village of Suganuma is a registered World Heritage Site. It is known for its traditional gassho-zukuri style roofed buildings. The steeply angled roofs, designed to let the snow fall off, resemble the shape taken by the arms when the palms of the hand are brought together for prayer. Here are some photographs during the month of January.

世界文化遺産 菅沼合掌造り集落.

Suganuma village.

Gassho-zukuri architecture.
Thatched roof, wooden walls, paper windows.
Firepit in the home.
Stairway to the shrine.

Yamanokami Shrine 山神社

/ JapanFolklorist

yamanokami shrine

The mountain goddess enshrined at Yamanokami Shrine in Miyagi Prefecture’s Misato Town is known far and wide for her efficacy in relation to childbirth. Women have long come to the shrine to borrow a tiny pillow which they take home to ensure an easy and uneventful, that is safe, delivery of their baby. They return the pillow after their child has been born. Many believe that the color of the pillow (red, white, and blue) correlates to the sex of the child, but the priest explained that from the perspective of the shrine the color has no such meaning. The display of phallic offerings in the anterior of the main building attests to the shrine’s strong connection to fertility. Alongside those is another point of interest, a stuffed bear, which is a curious but amusing artifact. During the summer, many visitors come to take a stroll through the multicolored hydrangea in the garden.

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Tiny pillows are dedicated on top of the offertory box.

shrine bldg

ajisai

ajisai 2

bridge