Journey : Ise ~ Kumano to Tenkawa 6

After leaving Takahara-no-miya shrine, I drove on Route 42 for quite a while. There were no traffic lights and the road was on a high hill looking down towards the Pacific Ocean. It was a pleasant drive. As we got close to Kumano City, the road becomes closer to the seashore. A huge ferry had a falling-load accident and was stranded off the coast of Kumano. The towing ships looks so small, and the ferry doesn’t seem like it was going to move at all. It looked like a lying whale. The accident happened before my visit to Kumano. Kuma(熊), bears, meant God as an archaic word. And the accident happened here at the offshore of Kumano. However, fortunately, no one was hurt from this accident and to me this whole incident was felt as a message.

After leaving the scene, we arrived to Kumano Hayatama Taishya. The whole surrounding area had become very commercial. When I read the history and origin of this shrine, it said that the god worshipped at this shrine, his body resides at Kamikura Jinjya as a Iwakura (a divine energy descending giant rock) named “Gotobiki-iwa”. I sent my gratitude in front of the vermilion main shrine of Hayatama Taishya and moved on to visit the rock.

Gotobiki-iwa resided at the top of a hill after climbing over five hundred old wobbly stone steps. This place appears in the Kojiki, Records of Ancient Matters, as Emperor Jimmu visited this Iwakura rock and overlooked the city of Shingu. Naturally I sensed a very ancient energy at this place. It was much older than the time of Jimmu (around 660 BC). I saw a vision of Jōmon people (14,000~400 BCE ) holding a ritual at this place.

The ritual looked like they were worshiping the two giant rocks as a couple of giant toads’ copulation. In spite of my family’s worry, I had to climb up to the top of the rocks to see what was in between. As I expected, a bunch of small round stones laid there. It was done in an artificial manner. In the ancient times, people did not live long and the idea of procreation was an important factor to receive blessing from the gods.

Going down these steep steps were even harder. It felt like the sharpest steps were as steep as 70 degrees. There are no handrails of any sort. If you have a bad back or weak legs, I don’t recommend you to go there. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
It came to a big surprise to see young teenage students running up and down these steps for their training.

They looked like a Ko-tengu (small mountain long-nosed goblins). Next visit will be to The Great Water Fall of Nachi.

Ikashite-itadaite arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

Ise ~ Kumano to Tenkawa - Preface

Something came into my mind around October 26th. It was the time of one ending of the first Bardo/spiritual purification period (see previous articles for Bardo) of this year for the earth.

It was a sense of dark clouds coming from foreign countries to our Japanese society. The dark clouds will affect those who still cling to old values such as status and opulent outlook. If you already see good and healthy values in your heart, you don't have to worry. Yet, the first phase that brought big financial downfall and contagious diseases are definitely creating an emotional turbulence in many of us. I was concerned about the vulnerable children who are most effected by their parents.

The shift is starting from the material civilization to the spiritual civilization. And we cannot avoid the friction caused in the early stage. When you look at the creatures casting off its skin, it doesn’t look like a pleasant experience. It must be uneasy. This is a similar situation. You need to let go of the old values in order to outgrow.

I strongly want to make this shift a smooth and easy one for everybody. Starting from Japan and to the world, as easy as the Othello pieces flipping one after another. As I thought of this, along with my innate god, I decided to go around to important key sacred places to offer my gratitude towards the ancient spirits who reside on the land of Japan.

In order to calm the dark clouds from a foreign land, I thought it is important to go to Tamaoki-jinjya(玉置神社). This shrine was well known to clear off evil spirits from the ancient days. Tamaoki is located in the deep forest between the three mountains of Kumano. Like the saying, an eye for an eye, to clear off evil spirits we need a spirit that can be powerful like a kishin(鬼神) demonic god to work on it. I had to go there to find out for myself if the shrine still had that kind of power.

Another thing is that the location of the three key places, Tenkawa-jinjya(天河神社), Tamaoki-jinjya and the Nachi Waterfall（那智の滝） in Nara positions in a straight line on a map. Visiting these three places has been an important path for the shugendo(修験道), the mountaineering asceticism.

In the past, I had received a revelation about this line. When you extend this line straight into the Pacific Ocean, it is pointing to the location where there was once a giant continent. This floating giant island was made by extinct giant seaweeds that were about 1meter wide. The birds’ droppings piled over the seaweeds for ages and created this island. The land was very rich and human civilization progressed immensely at this period.

Eons ago, these three places were connected to this floating island on the Pacific Ocean by a spiritual pipeline. I wanted to go and check the condition of the spiritual energy of these places.

I reverently gazed at Haku-san shinning by the rising of the sun. And imagined carrying the god of Haku-san on my back, I left to first greet the Sun Goddess in Ise.

The story begins of my five day journey.
(this photo is the sun that welcomed me in the beginning of my trip at Gekū.)

Ikashite-itadaite arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live

Just the way it is

Ise is the land of the rising sun where the sun appears from the ocean.

In Kumano, the sun is hidden in the morning looking from Ise. And the ancient Shintoist acknowledged the area as Yomi-no-kuni (the land of the dead).

Thus the god worshipped in Ise has been the sun goddess Amaterasu-Ohomikami. And the god worshipped in Kumano was the god of the land of the dead, Susanoo, in the ancient time. The original shrines worshipped one or the other. But nowadays, other gods are added from humanly thoughts and the distinction of shrines has become dim.

The essence of Japanese Shinto is the teachings of nature. The name of the gods expresses the different functions of nature.

Amaterasu = sunlight = activate lives.
Susanoo = moonlight = give rest to lives.

This morning, I received a message from a god that Susanoo = sunaosa (meaning honesty). Susanoo is also a god of harai purification. So this message means that one’s honesty will purify one’s impurity and problems.

In the mythology, Susanoo was unruly to his father, a rebel. But old tales are often told the other way around.

In this world, we have day and night, light and dark. Some spiritual gurus would say they are no light and dark, it's just in your imagination. But that is not true.

I would say, just look at your life the way it is with honesty. We humans have gone through many problems through out our lives from ancient times. That has been the same. We need those problems in order to grow. It’s meant to be the way it is.

How do we get through our problems? Look at it with your honest feelings. Don’t get sucked into the problem. Observe. If you look at your problems from the point of life and death, it’s really no big deal. Time will be the solution. Accept the way it is with honesty.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live