Seeing the contrast
From dark to green to glistening
On my quiet perch
違いを見て
黒いから緑からきらきら
静かな場所
-This photo is from Ohara, Okayama Prefecture. I recently posted a photo from Ohara in my 'The Distant Bridge' Post.
Ohara is the famed birthplace of Miyamoto Musashi. Ohara was a quick spur of the moment trip courtesy of of our hosts, The Nishiharas! We didn't have much time to spend looking at all of the sights. Our visit centered around the Musashi Museum. The museum was very interesting and had many artifacts and original works by Musashi. The displays included swords, tsuba (hilts), armor, and original artwork by Musashi. A definite must see for the samurai / bushi-do fan.
On our way to Himeji from Ohara we stopped at Hirafuku, Bansho province. Hirafuku is the location of Musashi's first duel. At 13 years old, Musashi fought and killed Arima Kihei. Read about the incident here.
Musashi's fictionalized life story has been re-told ad-infinitum. I would definitely recommend Yoshikawa Eiji's book Musashi. Of course you must see Toshiro Mifune's portrayal as Musashi in Samurai Trilogy, based on the book.
I was able to take a few pictures of Ohara. Which is the definition of a Mountain Hamlet. You can view those pictures here. We were especially lucky to get to see the site of the duel with Arima Kihei. See those photo's as well.
For more information on Ohara and its significance, select this link.
In the future look for my post on Ichijoji, for another encounter with Musashi!
All photo's, original works, and comments are my personal property. Please be respectful of the effort I've taken.
Your comments are welcome, be polite:
No throwing pebbles in my pool of zen.
Posts
I will have to put the Samurai Trilogy on my list of movies to see.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely worth a watch. I look forward to reading your review.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeletePreparing my honeymoon travel to Japan, I got into reading -again, oh yes - Yoshikawa's Musashi, in order to check on the map, the sites we could visit (not all of them, unfortunately).
So I googled Ichijoji, and clicked on your Pool of Zen link : I really need to dig deeper in your blog !!
But for the moment, my concern regards your trip to Ohara : one of your pictures shows a pole with places to go, one of them being Musashi's grave.
The info I had was that the great swordsman's grave was located in Kumamoto, on Kyushu island, not far from the cave he retired to to write Go Rin No Sho...
Could you cast a light on my doubts so dark ?
Thank you very much
Damien from France
HI Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI'm certain I responded to your comment about a week ago... I don't know what happened to it?
Wierd. Anyway. Yeah this is one of those tricky Japanese cultural things us silly Westerners will never understand. There are the "official / real" sites and then many locations will have similar, "not so official" sites. While Ohara is the Official site of the birthplace of Musashi, it is not the location of his grave. Maybe they have a shrine there commemorating his death, etc. The location you are indicating is the real deal.
Thanks for coming by, I hope you enjoy the blog!
Matt
Matt,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the answer, and don't overworry :
cyberspace dwelling
no message is ever lost
some just sightseeing ;-)
... now I know where to look.
Oddly enough, no pictures of Musashi's Reigando cave and then of his grave exist on Google Earth...
Once again, thank you
Damien
Any time my friend!
ReplyDelete