This is the main entrance. After it there is almost a kilometer long street covered in light arcades. Every year the design is different. The crowds are big but never monsters. You have a nice classical music in the background.

One important point about Kobe Luminarie is that it has nothing to do with Christmas. The timing is just a coincidence. The main reason for the creation of the Luminarie was to help reinvigorate Kobe after the devastating earthquake of 1995. The entrance is free but even now there are people with boxes collecting money from the visitors. I think the main purpose of the event nowadays is to commemorate the victims of the earthquake.

After the entrance street comes the “citadel”:

The previous year the structure was much more “light” in comparison with the more robust from this one. Here is a picture for comparison:

The new one indeed looks to me like a citadel – build to resist and defend weather the old one is more like a castle from a fairy tail story.

Anyway – in both of the “castles” you can enter:

In the center of the castle there is a small temple with a “golden” dome:

We couldn’t reach this year the “golden” temple but the last one in it there were many small bells. The people were throwing money and trying to hit some of the bells. Every time they succeed you could here the sound of the bell. By the way it was not easy at all to hit one – theey were just too small so one had to use many rounds of “munitions” – especially the kids (sponsored by their parents). I suppose this was one of the strategies to raise additional funding for the event.

If you want to see photos from inside the “castle” please follow the links to 2009 Luminarie – link 1 and link 2 (the same as in the beginning of the post).

Here are several more photos from the intricate pattern of the “citadel” and the surroundings:

This time it is from Sasayama (篠山) Hyogo prefecture. It takes around one hour by bus from Kobe – Sannomiya but you can reach it with JR railway also. We stayedd in Unitopia Sasayma (ユニトピアささやま) – a nice hotel with big lake in front (actually the lake was under reconstruction but this didn’t kill the charm of the place at all it just make it look more surreal).

The hotel is situated in a narrow valley and you must walk almost 1 kilometer from the parking before you reach it. All the photos are from this path.

Here is the first one – no photoshop was used in this photo or any other of the rest.

Koyo in its best – the autumn leaves beauty of Japan.

The above pictures are of momiji (紅葉) – the Japanese maple tree. Another spectacular Koyo tree is the Chinese sequoia:

And a small forest of them:

The next pictures are from different momiji trees. Even though they belong to the same area and most probably they are exactly the same species – the variety of colors and their configurations is unbelievable.

Not a momiji tree but still present in every koyo composition (unfortunately forgot the Japanese name):

The momiji, the Chinese sequoia and the satured red bush. What is missing for the Koyo picture to be complete? The parsimon tree of course :) :

Sasayama late November – you can already see frost in the morning:

Another morning shot – the frost was melting under the rays of the sun and transforming into morning mist:

And yet even more Sasayama Koyo photos:

And for the end something different – a little bit of Sakura – a flowering cherry tree and spring snowflake:

Almost forgot – there were many birds in the area. So if you are an ornithologist and decide to visit Sasayama – do not forget to take a camera with you:)

It takes around 25-30 min from the center of Kobe to reach the winery (with the school bus). Basically you have to take a long tunnel starting from Shinkansen Kobe station and once you are out of it you are on the other side of Rokko mountain. Then another 15-20 min ride and you are there – the Kobe winery:

The main building of the winery is actually a complex of hotel, restaurants and other facilities. There are playgrounds for kids and even a small lake with with something like boats on it:

The next photo is from inside the complex – one of the restaurants:

Here we tried the first really good Kobe wine – the Benediction Riesling 2008 (white wine):

Kobe’s Benediction (at least the white one) is really good. I strongly recommend it. There were also some red wines but you better avoid them. Later there will be some more photos of excellent Kobe wines but for now let’s go to the vineyard itself:

Yea – a real vineyard in the center of Japan. I don’t think it is any different form the same from France, Spain or Bulgaria.

The Riesling grape was already collected but the Cabernet Sauvignon was still there:

Another great thing about Kobe winery is that near the main building there is a huge barbecue place. It can easily accommodate several hundred people. This is where we spend most of the afternoon. I must admit though that my memories form this afternoon are slightly blurred as a results of several bottles of Kobe rose and white wine but here are the photos.

First, some of the main culprits (for my blurred memories) – the white Kobe wine:

And the rose:

Both white and rose Kobe “Choice” whines are excellent choice. The only problem is that you can find them very rarely in the local shops. As a matter of fact the only shop in which I remember they were selling them is one of the foreign food shops in the center of Kobe (Sannomiya). Even though now I will be looking more carefully for these wines and hopefully I will find some additional selling spots in Kobe.

The next photo is still from the BBQ place and it is strictly not for vegetarians:

Just to mention that during the most of the BBQ the kids were playing in the nearby playground under the supervision of the teachers so no obstructions in the wine consumption process. In general Kobe winery is very children friendly place and if you could find a dedicated parent to supervise the kids until you become familiar with the local wines I am sure you will enjoy it a lot :)

Just one last photo taken in front of the BBQ place:

Nice scenery. The house in the base of the hill is almost the same as some European old houses (Poland).

In conclusion – if you are near Kobe – visit Kobe winery (with or without kids either way is OK).

Kobe wines – white and rose – excellent, red – be careful (rather avoid, at least the one named simply ‘Kobe Wine’).

As usual there were a lot of food, drinks (beer) and of course dances.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Actually some of the food – frozen, white, sweet liquid in the form of sausages was distributed for free. On the next picture you can see what is happening when it arrived in the center of the festival.

Just one more picture of the dancing people:

It is really nice that both old and young people are participating. There are many local festivals like this in Japan every year and I thing they are one of the reasons to keep the communities “healthy”.

The official Obon Odori finished around 9:00 p.m. but after that the people started many small hanabi’s (fireworks). Here is a picture from our own one:

Proud to say that we were the last to stay in the park. It was almost 11:15 when we finally finished with the fireworks. I was really surprised that the people leaving in the neighbors didn’t call the police (some of the firecrackers and small rockets were really very noisy). But it was Obon Odori night after all and may be even the policemen themselves were celebrating somewhere :)

The observation point was the same as the previous year – HAT Kobe marine promenade:

The main difference this time was that we climbed high on the stairs of Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art so we had a nice vintage point toward Kobe Harbor Land – the main source of the fireworks. Needless to say we were completely surrounded by people (you can hear their voices in the background of the videos). It is interesting also that this time the fireworks continued for almost 40 minutes without any big interruptions – a really worthful to see event if you are around Kobe on 7th of August.

So let’s not lose time any more but jump right into the middle of the Hanabi action:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I took and a few shots with my camera but keep in mind that the main event was several kilometers from us and I had to use a really big zoom. Nevertheless some of the pictures are quite interesting. This is my favorite – it looks like battleship in its final hours (actually it is one of the Sannomiya storehouses):

Here are a few more “classical” photos from the fireworks:

After the end of the official city fireworks we moved (together with friends) to the nearby park and the hanabi continued for another almost 2 hours. Here is a small selection of our hanabi materials (and these were by far not the most powerful):

I think this night the inhabitants of HAT Kobe must have been very happy that the marine promenade park is well isolated from the rest of the complex by a chain of big office buildings :)

All the Sumiyoshi shrines (the main one is Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka) worship three sea and sailing related deities – the Sumiyoshi Sanjin together with the legendary Empress Jingū (who allegedly waged a successful military invasion in Korea in 2nd – 3rd century). Interestingly, the deities are most probably three deified stars from the Orion constellation (which in ancient times was used by sailors  as an important navigation sign).

As for the name – Sumiyoshi (住吉) – one of the possible translations is – happy (吉) dwelling (住) which (I think) makes sense for a shrine place.

This is the haiden (the oratory) of the shrine:

There were several really big stone lanterns. Here is one of them:

Also there were many additional small shrines (sessha or massha). You can find most of them to the right of the shrine alongside a small alley submerged in green (mainly bamboo but also wintersweet which bloom in yellow and have intensive scent with pinch of vanilla). First the sessha alley:

And second the wintersweet (I mistakenly took it for a yellow sakura tree last week but when it is fully bloomed the difference is obvious (thank you jtomi and Zichi for pointing out the difference)):

Here is a small gallery with selection of the sesshas (the bright red belongs to Inari the god of fertility and rice you always can recognize it by the two foxes in front of it – Inari’s messangers):

And here are the rest of the sesshas:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

As for the main temple the golden decoration was particularly impressive:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Another particular thing about this shrine is the fact that the people were entering and reaching the main building with their cars. I have never seen such thing in other temples but apparently there was no problem here (may be it is a kind of special local tradition).

The rest are mainly pictures focusing on details so please enjoy :) :

The rope of the of the shrine’s bell and glimpse toward the interior of the shrine:

—————————————————————————————————————————-

The wooden wish tablets (ema):

The Inari’s fox and the “golden” locker of the sessha:

————————————————————————————————————————–

And the last one – the small stone pond:

I will start with the statue of Batou Kannon (馬頭観音) – the Horse Head Kannon (also known as Hayagriva).

Yes, indeed – there was a 6 meter tall statue of a Buddhist deity just 20 minutes walk from our place and we didn’t even suspect it.

What does Kannon mean?

Kannon is most often translated in English as the God or Goddess Of of Mercy & Compassion in Buddhist mythology but this is a little bit misleading. Kannon is one of the bodhisattva – an entities which have achieved enlightenment but decided to stay in the world of constant life and death to help the rest of us to reach enlightenment (the Buddhas – and there are 28 of them – are also enlighten but they are completely outside of our world (they didn’t take the responsibility to help us)). As a matter of fact anyone of us can become a bodhisattva or even Buddha if he or she achieves enlightenment (and as a result automatically acquire status equal to this of a Kannon). That is what I meant when I said that simply stating that Kannon is a God/Goddess is a little bit misleading.

Kannon may take many different forms. Sometimes some of this forms can take different forms on their own. To make it even more complicated some of the Buddhas can manifest themselves as a Kannon too.

Who exactly is Batou Kannon?

Batou Kanon is one of the six Kannons responsible for saving all the sentient beings in the six realms (gods, semi-gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, hell). He is in charge of the 4th realm – the animals (by the way all the animals are nothing else but our reincarnations). Also he is always represented in its angry form and red skin.

It is said the angriness represents his (and sometimes her) determination to help us save our souls.

I spent quite some time in the Japanese language blogosphere to try to find some additional information about this statue and the temple complex in which it is situated (I used Google translate extensively for this purpose). What I could figure up (or rather conjure) is that the statue was build most probably around 1930 – 1933. It is related (together with some of the temples) with horses and even horse riding was mentioned in some of the blogs . You can see that Batou Kannon is standing on a lotus which is situated on the top of a horse. Also in the the complex one of the temples had two small horse statues in front of it (you can see one of them on the picture below – you may wish to click on the picture to enlarge).

Also it seems that if the pets of the people are sick they will visit the temple to pray to Batou Kannon for help. As a matter of fact we noticed many well fed cats around the temple complex. I think they are most probably something like temple animals (if I got it correctly something similar was mentioned and in one of the blogs).

Here is one of the most comprehensive blogs in Japanese I found dealing with the subject -  http://blog.bonmee.com/. If your reading Japanese skills are good you can go and verify on your own what I got right and what I got wrong.

The complex itself was composed of 4 or 5 different temples – mainly Buddhist one but there were and some Shinto elements like this three small torii just next to the entrance:

Here is a selection from the rest of the photos from the complex:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

For an end of this post I would like to show a short movie from the area (the place where Saigo river leaves the mountain and enters the city):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Actually a nice mountain path starts from this place. I hope one day I will have an opportunity to explore it – (moreover I have learned that it leads to a small tea plantation!).

First we entered a new looking Buddhist temple and this was the place where we saw the blooming in yellow tree:

———————————————————————————————————————

Even though the tree was resembling a cherry it was most probably a kind of plum tree (or ume – 梅 in Japanese). The rest of the temple’s garden was also very nice:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

As to the temple it turned out to belong to Nichiren Buddhist Sect and its name was Kyofukuji (教福寺). The first two kanji of the name literally mean “teaching lucky” or “happy teaching” (the third one (寺) means temple) .

Nichiren Buddhism is one of the biggest sects in Japan. Its followers believe that every person can reach enlightenment during his/her own life. Their teaching is also closely related to the so called Lotus Sutra (you can see stylized representations of the lotus on many places around the temple).

What I liked most about the temple (apart from the nice garden) was the clean, white lines of its architecture.

———————————————————————————————————————–

Here are the rest of the pictures:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Just one last image from the edge of the roof of the temple (I like the shape and shadows in it):

To be honest – this was a warming post. The real canopy of shapes and colors was a little bit further the road (where the rest of the complex was situated). I will need a day or two more to sort out all the photos from there. I am starting to have a feeling though that I am living in one of the most rich of cultural heritage places in Japan and I never even suspected this before I joined the Japanese blog-shpere. I wander what will happen if one day I start to thoroughly explore and the adjacent to Nada-ku wards :)

The easiest way to reach is Hankyu railway line (Rokko station) – the station is literally next to the shrine. Alternatively you can take JR (Rokkomichi station) but you will have to walk 10-15 minutes toward the mountain (the only advantage of this approach is that you will enter the shrine from the main entrance (not from behind as it is the case with Hankyu Rokko station)).

In case you are interested in history – the shrine was established in 1026 during the reign of Emperor Goichi. Later Taira Kiyomori (a powerful general from Heian period) relocated at the same places another Hachiman shrine (the famous Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine)  from Kyoto.

First – the dragon from the water spring (I think I am getting obsessed with them but they are really beautiful):

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Here is the haiden (oratory) of the shrine (notice the red vortexes on the paper lanterns – the symbols of Hachiman the God of War and protector of Japan):

——————————————————————————————————————–

A glimpse of Rokko Hachimangu’s honden – the real dwelling of the kami  in Shinto shrine (no mortals are allowed there):

.

——————————————————————————————————————-

There is a small Inari shrine deeper in the forest. To reach it you must pass by trees like this:

And the Inari shrine itself with the guardian foxes and bakus (the elehpant like creatures eating dreams and nightmares):

——————————————————————————————————————–

Usually you have small shisas protecting the Inari shrine together with the foxes but here they were missing. You can find them though on the roof of the entrance of the shrine (the haiden) (the shisas were really small – all the pictures below are taken with optical zoom 16 to 20):

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

I am not sure if it is a rule but it seems that if you have guardian foxes in the Inari shrine you can have only baku or shisa additionally as protective spirits. But if the foxes are missing – than you need both shisa and baku to protect the small shrines.

I would like to finish this post with a picture of a metal lantern form the shrine. It is thanks to the vortex on this lantern that I realized that I was in yet another – god of the war Shinto shrine (it is really nice when you start to be able to “read” at least some of the Shinto signs (and kanji)).

The shrine is located in Nada-Ku, Kobe and the closest station to it is Oishi (Hanshin railway). If you are coming from Sannomiya you just have to walk a hundred or so meters back next to the railway (on the side of the sea) and you will see it.

The shrine is dedicated to Hachiman – the god of war (mainly) and protector of Japan. I learned that this the second most common type of Shinto shrine in Japan (in Nada-ku may be the most common one). You can recognize them easily by the spiral element/logo (also used by many samurai clans):

By the way the above picture is from Rokko Hachimanguu – another beautiful Shinto shrine in Nada-ku (I will post pictures from it in few days)

I would like to start with the water dragon as a first picture from Funadera Hachimanguu:

Just two more pictures of the dragon (notice the still green bamboo – the old one are burned in the new year fire):

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

The temple itself (notice the Hachiman’s spirals or vortexes on the curtains):

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

The real surprise though was the little Inari shrine behind the main temple:

You can see such small shrines in almost every Shinto shrine but this one was particular because of the saturated blue colored animals part of the decoration (one of the animals resembled shisa and the other one an elephant).

Here is a close view of the shisa (a protective spirit with head of lion and body of dog – very popular in Okinawa)

And here is a close view of the elephant which turned out to be baku – a creature capable of eating nightmares!!!

I do not think that in such company kitsune (or fox – the Inari messenger) should worry about anything:)

Just one more photo of the torii leading toward the Inari shrine:

As I like everything local in Japan I would like to finish this post with two photos from the neighborhood of  Funadera Hachimanguu Shrine (it is really as local as it can get):):

——————————————————————————————————————————–

The next post will be about Rokko Hachimanguu – yet another god of the war Nada-ku Shinto shrine.