Narrow Road to the North: Religious Sites in Tohoku

[rug]

A shrine at Shōbōji showing the tendency in Japan to mix Shinto and Buddhist symbols and objects.
Image Credit: John W. Traphagan

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself home. Matsuo Bashō



Bishamon-ten, a Buddhist temple built into a cave near Hiraizumi in Iwate prefecture.
Image Credit: John W. Traphagan

By John W. Traphagan
August 22, 2015

Following the tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear disaster of 2011, the Tōhoku region of Japan became widely known as people around the world followed the events presented in various news outlets. Since that time, little has been presented in the media about northern Japan outside of the events related to the disaster and its aftermath. The photographs in this essay center upon one aspect of the culture of northern Japan: its complex and varied religious sites. From the mountain Buddhist temple complex at Hiraizumi, which dates back at least 1,000 years, to the tiny Shinto shrines that dot the countryside, the region provides visitors with a tremendous variety of locales dedicated to the memorialization of ancestors and expression of concern about nature through the kami or Shinto deities.



Stairs leading to the mediation hall at the Soto Zen monastery known as Shōbōji, which was established in 1384 and continues to train monks today.
Image Credit: John W. Traphagan

http://thediplomat.com/2015/08/narrow-road-to-the-north-religious-sites-in-tohoku/

More photos at link.

[mmonk]

1. Interesting. Thanks.