January 30, 2010

• Kurume Castle, Bairinji Temple - Jan. 30

  Today's "GO SOMEWHERE" was to the town of Kurume.  There was a very impressive clock at Kurume train station.

  

  We waited around until the clock struck one since we could see there was some mechanism on the other side.  A pre-recorded voice from inside the clock announced that the performance was canceled due to windy conditions.  Conditions were not at all windy, so I am not sure what the actual excuse was. 

  

  

  We made three stops on this trip to Kurume, the Castle Ruins, Bairinji Temple and the Ishibashi Art Museum.

  

  This is a map of the former castle grounds and its moats.  The moats have been filled in and only the "#1" castle site remains intact.

  

  

  This is the entry to the castle grounds, and if you turn to the left you will see (below) the walls and what remains of the moat.

  

  

  

  The castle no longer exists, and the Sasayama Shrine now occupies the former castle grounds.

  

  Here is a closer view of the main building and a view of the inside with a mirror, the symbol of the sun and bottles of sake that have been placed as offerings.

  

  

  Sasayama Shrine - side view

  

  Now here is something different, a Christian enshrined Shinto style.  They were nice and carved "X," a symbol of Christ on the little shrine.

  

  

  This emergency helicopter can be seen from the castle grounds.  It has nothing to do with the castle, but I had not seen one of these before.

  

  Ginko nuts were on the ground in profusion.  Enough time had elapsed for the aroma of the soft outer skins to dissipate some.  When you get into the actual nuts, they are quite tasty!

  

  Trees block the view from atop the castle walls.  I imagine that during the time the castle was in use the foliage was kept trimmed back to give a full view of the surrounding area.

  

  Here are some broken roof tiles, probably either from the castle or the surrounding wall.

  

  The following are a couple of small shrines behind Sasayama Shrine.

  

  

  

  Here is a well on the former castle grounds.  Take a look inside.

  

  

  Some of the tiles were falling off the top of the wall surrounding the main shrine.  Don't tell anyone that I brought one home!

  

  Our next stop is Bairinji Temple.  This is a Zen temple, and we could not view many of the buildings because people were using them for meditation.

  

  Above is the bell tower.  Turn left to go into the gate.

  

  

  Inside the temple grounds

  

  

  This is the main gate.  The carved wooden doors are protected by an iron grating.

  

  

  I found the roofs of these buildings of particular beauty.  The plum trees were beginning to blossom, and took a few pictures of these.

  

  

  

  On another part of the temple grounds were what seemed to have been discarded gravestones placed in rows.  Apparently the temple has lost contact with the families, but since grave markers are not so easily disposed of, they have all been placed here in rows.  I don't know what happened to all of the funiary urns and their contents.

  

  Another building and plum tree.

  

  More nice roofs

  

  Last stop was the Ishibashi Art Museum.

  • 06:44
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