Showing posts with label Toyokawa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toyokawa. Show all posts

Jun 27, 2012

More at the temple and shrine and then walking more

 This is the altar inside Toyokawa Inari Jinja.
 This is the house on the right of the shrine. It probably belongs to the caretaker, who is probably a Buddhist priest who also functions as a Shinto priest. I have seen this arrangement many times. It happens because Japan is getting less religious and fewer people are becoming priests, especially Shinto priests.
 As I was returning to the road, I noticed that, in the back of the building holding that first statue, there was a Buddhist altar in a very small room. The building was very small and at the street had that room with the statue, behind it was the stairs to the second floor, and at the very inside end of the building this altar.
 A little further down the street, I found this old style house.
 Just beyond it, I found this modern home but with a traditional Japanese garden.
I was crossing the last wide street before reaching the station, when I noticed this group of women. They were weeding and picking up the trash that had accumulated in the bed of plants.

Jun 26, 2012

Toyokawa Inari Jinja and Kozenji Temple

 I was walking into Sendai along the main road from Izumi Chuo to the downtown area. The road follows a shallow valley much of the way and the side streets are often narrow, going up steep slopes to reach the tops of the surrounding hills. Well before the road reaches downtown, the land flattens and there are more possible routes, all on back roads. I took one that I had never before walked on. It went through an area of one family houses and newer apartment buildings, plus a few small stores.
 All of a sudden I noticed this roof. It looked like it might be a temple or a shrine so I decided to investigate.
 I rounded the next corner and found a temple, occupying the first floor of a two story residential structure. The sign on the right says that it is Kozenji and the sign on the left indicates that it is Toyokawa Inari Jinja.
 The statue is definitely Buddhist as is the small stele besided it. I could not read the writing on the left.
 I walked around behind the building and discovered a Buddhist statue on the left.
Straight ahead there is a Shinto shrine. This was Toyokawa Inari Jinja. Toyokawa is a place name as well as the family name of a large clan from the old days. Inari is a fox god. Jinja, of course, just means shrine. There was no one around so I was unable to ask any questions.