Takachiho's Many Shrines

Oh, the places you'll go...

I had the luck of finding this along the way...

A home I wouldn't mind having.

The statues greeting visitors to Takachiho

...And the lovely view.

More of that fantastic view. The nearby outskirts of Takachiho.

After days of only rain, which failed to dampen our spirits, we departed the town of Yoshii for Takachiho, Miyazaki, a town deep in the mountains of central Kyushu, and just southeast of Mount Aso. Our route.

Mount Aso is the largest active volcano in Japan, and a 120-kilometer caldera that we drove around. We didn't get a shot of Aso-san itself, but it provided for us some beautiful sights of mountainous farming villages, as we passed through and around several en route by car to our hotel. We checked in and left our bags behind, leaving immediately to visit the many shrines of the area. The rain had let up but clouds still covered the sky, spilling diffuse light everywhere.

Our hotel, Kamigakure, is just six minutes by foot from Takachiho Shrine, the nearest of many shrines in the area. We started our pilgrimage there.

Cell-phone selfie.

Here, guests wash their hands as a symbol of cleansing, before entering the shrine.

The kanji here mean "heart" and "wash," literally.

I washed my hands and, of course, my heart with it.

Climbing the stairs to Takachiho-jinja

"Take one of me in front of the big tree!"

"I'll get you too!"

The lovely construction of the shrine. When you approach the shrine itself, as the people photographed are,
you give a small donation, bow twice, clap twice, pray, and bow once more.

From there we ate udon at a place called Marathon-tei, because the owner has been running marathons his whole life. Neglected to get a picture of that, but if you find yourself in Takachiho and like soft-noodle udon, try it out.

We then drove to the nearby Takachiho Gorge, where the demon Kihachi caused trouble by lifting a 200-ton stone to show off his strength. He was killed and his body was cut into three pieces to prevent him from coming back to life. Those pieces were buried in three different places near Takachiho.

And the view of the gorge itself is, how would you say... gorgeous!

Cell-phone selfie!

You can see the bridge in the background, there.

Taking my own version of Ayumi's shot of Takachiho-kyou

The two-hundred ton rock that a demon lifted to show off his strength.

Back on the bridge, over the gorge.

The nearby shops.

 Takachiho is also home to Ama-no-Iwato Shrine, the cave in which the sun goddess Amaterasu hid until Ame-no-Uzume lured her out. The place is riddled with old history. We're talking stuff from the Kojiki old. We visited Ama-no-Iwato Shrine...

An image of Tajikarao, as he moves the seal to Amaterasu's cave.
And my best impression.

Ama-no-Iwato shrine.

These shrines are some of the most gorgeous things I've seen.

...And the nearby Ama-no-Yasugawara cave. There I could feel the power of the written word, of folklore and mythology, of the belief of the millions of pilgrims and tourists alike traveling to this place, taking in its gravity and adding to it in their awe. My fingers wanted to touch every part of every building, and I could barely resist the urge to touch the stacked rocks.

Cell-phone selfie.

My trigger finger's itch I could not resist.

The cave in which Amaterasu hid.

If you're able to stack three or more stones here, you will have good luck. So of course the shrine is full of them.

Ten thousand jagged black stones,
whetted
with holy water from some ancient matter,
reach up in prayer to
the dripping cave ceiling
and call down what will gradually wear them round.

Silent.

But then
the sound of drops
and water rushing past
stops my breath, and
some thirty cicadas
cry nearby, with
smooth black bodies
succinctly,
concealed.

The nearby river.

The bridge on the way to Ama-no-Yasugawara.

Tired from our pilgrimage, we returned to our hotel and looked at our room (which had not been ready for us when we arrived). Then we were treated to a twelve-course meal with deliciously small portions and wonderful samples of the nearby seasonal food.

Shion was the theme of our room.

Our shion-themed room.

...Was totally lovely.

And the bath tub used priest-blessed purified water. Ayumi comically
calls it "god water," since it's called ご神水.

"Delicious" was the theme of our food.

And then, we made our way to the kagura dance, back at Takachiho Shrine. There, we watched a shortened version of four of the 33 kagura dances, including those where Tajikarao listens for Amaterasu, Uzume does an entertaining dance to trick Amaterasu into peeking out from her cave, and the final dance where Tajikarao opens the cave door.

Tajikarao as he checks for sounds to make sure Amaterasu is in the cave.

Uzume, performing a fun dance to entice Amaterasu to come out.

Tajikarao preparing to move the stones.

Still preparing!

These bows are put over your back, to keep your sleeves rolled up
while you do hard physical labor. Such as moving giant cave stones.

Tajikarao really liked his hairdo.

...It seemed to give him strength.

The fourth dance was a special treat involving the old gods Izanagi and Izanami, who gave birth to the islands of Japan. In the dance, the two spouses brewed sake together and drank it, and later went into the audience to flirt with them.

Izanagi, left, and Izanami, right, brew sake together. Then they got drunk,
and tried to make each other jealous by flirting with the audience.

And guess who got chosen...

He actually shoved me out of the way. Blurry action shot.

Probably my favorite mask out of the bunch.

Finally, we retired back to our hotel room after a long day.

The next morning, after an eight-course breakfast, we departed our hotel to see one more shrine: Aratate.

The prayers tied up at Aratate-jinja, which anyone can put up.

In front of Aratate-jinja.

From there, we made our way home. Of course, we couldn't do that without making several stops for pictures (thanks for being patient, Ayumi), and then making one more important stop in Kumamoto to see the

castle.