Visiting the Kumano Sansha

After meeting at Sendai Station, Ian and I took a train to the Minani Sendai Station (minami=south) and then walked west along the southern levee of the Natori River. After about four kilometers we arrived one of the three Kumano Sansha shrines, literally the Three Bear Field shrines.

As we entered the grounds, we found something unusual. The bell that belongs to an adjacent Buddhist temple is actually located on the shrine grounds. In the picture the temple is off to the left (you can just see a corner of the red roof) and the shrine buildings were beside me on the right as I took the picture. There seemed to be nothing special about the bell or the building in which it is hanging, other than its location.











This is the actual shrine building. Ian is looking at the lion that protects the entrance from evil spirits or demons. After putting a 10 yen donation in the box between the two sections of red fencing, I pulled on one of the hanging ropes, ringing a bell to notify the god that I was there. I then clapped my hands twice and closed my eyes for a few moments of meditation, bowed and left the raised area.

I then snuck up so that I could see inside. There was very little light, not enough for a photo, but I could see that there was a very fancy candleabora, almost Jewish looking, and behind it a closed door that hid the object that the god resides in, probably a miror.

On the way out of the shrine grounds, I noticed that off to the side there was a set of engraved stones. According to the tall post on the left, this is the grave of the Old Woman of Natori who apparently figures in some Buddhist folk tales from the area. I have, however, not yet discovered who she is or the content of the stories. Finding out will be a project for after the Henro trip.








We next planned to visit the Kumano Nachi Jinja (I have no idea what Nachi means but Jinja is shrine), which is about 2 kilometers away on the top of a tall hill. However, I made a mistake and we missed our road and got lost. By the time we discovered this and had backtracked, we decided to go to the third of the Kumano Shrines instead - it was closer.

It turned out that this was actually two shrines on one lot: Kumano Shingusha and Kumano Jinja - both meaning Kumano Shrine.

This was extremely well laidout, containing a small pond with a building on an island. You can see them in the picture on the right. Although it was closed up, the far end of the building has moveable panels so that people can sit and enjoy the view, probably while drinking tea. Being a shrine, I would also bet that there are times when the people drink Japanese sake.

In the distance there is a red roof. It covers an outdoor corridor that connects the two main buildings. You can see the same roof it the picture below.

This is the main building of the whole complex and it is on the left side just out of the range of the above picture. Again I peeked inside and it appeared to be similar to the inside of the first temple, although the details were a little different.

After leaving here, we decided that our altered route was too short so we consulted our map for someplace to use as a goal. We found a Zen Buddhist temple that seemed to be the correct distance away and started walking towards it.