#iseji

The sacred Fudō Waterfall (不動滝) with small sanctums to the deity Fudō Myōō (不動明王) and the rugged mountain ascetic En no Gyōja (役行者) in the foothills of Mount Tengura (天狗倉山) near Magose Pass (馬越峠) along the Iseji Route (伊勢路) of the old Kumano Road in Owase, Mie Prefecture

First hints of spring at the Yakiyama Kōjindō (八鬼山荒神堂), a modest chapel enshrining the fire & hearth deity Sanbō-Kōjin (三宝荒神) at the top of Yakiyama Mountain (八鬼山) in Owase, Mie Prefecture

The Tōitsu Verse Monument at Magose Pass (馬越峠) in Owase, Mie Prefecture

Image from an entry in the list of cultural properties on Owase’s official website (see source), the accompanying text of which my own rough & tentative translation follows, with the transliteration of local poetic names especially somewhat provisional:

A verse monument (total height 6.4 feet) established in the seventh year of Kaei (1854) by members of the Karyōen Society in memory of their mentor, Karyōen Tōitsu (可涼園桃乙).

Tōitsu, a haiku poet from Ōmi Province, set out travelling on a pilgrimage to Kumano in the fifth year of Kaei (1852), but on his way he planted his staff here in Owase and for about a year took charge of haiku instruction. In his record of the journey titled “Crow Diary” is the following poem:

At Magose: My footwear sweaty, Trudging forwards step by step Up Magose Pass

Tōitsu resided in Owase, Aiga, and Funatsu during this time, and in Owase had such poets as Sōka (早花), Shunzan (春山), Chikuri (竹里), and Sōkan (草干) as his disciples. Later with the arrival of the Meiji years Owase’s haiku world was formed by members of Tōitsu’s lineage, including such excellent leaders as Saisaien Kisui (Doi Mikio), Hirayama Kōu (Hayashi Hyōe), and Higashi Ryūson (Sōken) [細々園淇水 (土井幹夫), 平山香雨 (林兵衛), 東竜孫 (宗軒)].

This verse monument at Magose Pass has inscribed upon it Tōitsu’s poem:

Tonight up above The cherry blossoms, a sound-- Trickling mountain spring

A panoramic view of Owase, Mie Prefecture as seen from the surrounding mountains, Mount Binshiyama (便石山) unless I’m mistaken

The Five Ring Pagoda of Sone Danjō and Family in Sone, Owase City, Mie Prefecture

Located within Mukaichi Graveyard (向井地墓地) near the former site of Anjōji Temple (安定寺) is a five ring pagoda dating to the late 16th century along with another five ring pagoda and a stone tablet pagoda dating to the early 1600′s. The five ring pagodas are thought to be the graves of the local military lord Sone Danjō (曽根弾正) and his wife, and the tablet pagoda the grave of their eldest son.

After Danjō’s grandson retired to nearby Nigishima after defeat as an ally of Toyotomi loyalist forces at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, a related family of the same warrior clan, the Mukai, took over the administration of local religious rites in the Sone area, including worship services at this gravesite.

The “Hail Amida Buddha” Monument in Sone, Owase City, Mie Prefecture

This stone monument, inscribed with the standard invocation to Amida Buddha (阿弥陀如来) of the Western Pure Land, i.e. “Namu Amida Butsu” (南無阿弥陀仏), was established in 1718 on the grounds of what was then the location of Anjōji Temple (安定寺) by its head monk, Genkū Ryūshin (元空竜辰), in order to pray for the safety and well-being of pilgrims and travelers passing along the Kumano Roadway nearby.

Prior to that in the late 16th century during the Warring States period this was the site of one of a pair of checkpoints set up along the Kumano Roadway by Sasaki Uemon Masayoshi (佐々木宇右衛門正吉), a lesser known member of the Sasaki warrior clan of Ōmi Province who upon invitation settled down and built his castle in this area to maintain some level of civil order (changing his name to Sone Danjō (曽根弾正) to reflect his new role). When things settled down in the 1600′s the checkpoints were no longer necessary, and in 1661 the temple was built here instead with a monk from the Iga Ueno area brought in as founding abbot. The temple itself was moved to its current spot in 1828, leaving this monument behind.