Vegetation Near Kokubu-Daimyoji Jishu Shrine (Along the River)
When you go upstream on the Korida River and arrive at Daimyoji, you will see a water storage and distribution station on the left bank and a road leading to Daimyoji Valley Park on the right bank. The slope of the riverbed becomes steeper from this area and meanders to the right as it ascends further. The left side of the meandering section has a ring-cupped oak colony; in this area, bamboo planted in the past has formed a colony.
Among these bamboo, the ones with thick culms and spacing between them are called karadake in Kagoshima. They grow to a height of more than 15 m and a diameter of more than 10 cm, creating a colony. Bamboos with rounded culms growing in tight clusters are Southeast Asian bamboos, Bambusa multiplex, called chinchiku or chinchiddake in Kagoshima, and were deliberately planted since the feudal era to prevent river erosion and landslides because their underground stems grow without spreading deeply.
On the right bank, past the Jishu Shrine, Mousou bamboo has also spread recently. Bamboo grows new leaves every spring, and the color change is interesting.
This valley was eroded by the Kakuto pyroclastic flow about 330,000 years ago. The deep valley surface is covered with fern colonies of ferns such as Stegnogramma pozoi ssp. mollissima, Diplazium subsinuatum, and Lastrea subochthodes Tagawa. On the cliff on the road on the right bank side is a small settlement of Woodwardia orientalis, which is very similar to Deparia formosana (rosenst.) (Hachijo-Kaguma), a sizeable drooping fern with adventitious buds, is established. On the slightly dry, dissolved tuff of the Kakuto pyroclastic flow, Selliguea hastata with varied leaf shapes and Lemmaphyllum microphyllum Presl grow. This area provides a diverse environment for ferns.
Daimyoji Valley Park
This is located at an elevation of 64 m, some 400 m up the road on the right bank side of the river from Hie Shrine’s gate. Beeches, including ring-cupped oaks, cover the cliffs on both sides of the canyon.
Planted cedar forests cover both the park and the mountain streams. Still, along the mountain streams, you find tall forests consisting mainly of ring-cupped oaks, Japanese Chinquapin, Quercus salicina, and Elaeocarpus japonicus. Due to frequent landslides by the stream, the oak forests have many pioneer deciduous trees. red with the pale, shiny, moss-like fern Selaginella uncinata.
Persian silk trees, Toxicodendron sylvestre, Japanese snowbells, and Japanese maples grow. Plants in the shrub layer include:
- Schoepfia jasminodora, whose trunks are easily broken.
- Helwingia japonica, whose flowers are in the center of the leaves.
- Oriental photinia, which was once used as a sickle handle.
- Sacred bamboo and Lasianthus japonicus var. satsumensis.
In some places, the cliffs on the right bank are cover
Hie Shrine’s Grove
The approach to the shrine is lined with a dense forest of Quercus salicina and Japanese camellia, and then you have a very thick Hie Shrine grove.
First, there are two large camphor trees; the one near the entrance has a chest height diameter of 1.22 m and is thickly covered with Selaginella involvens and Lepisorus thunbergianus. The camphor tree at the back is said to be 800 years old, donated by Lord Shimazu Tadahisa. It is an imposing giant tree with a diameter of 2.2 m at chest height and is estimated to be about 400 years old.
Facing the plaza in front of the prayer hall are two giant cedars, one giant fir, and one giant Daphniphyllum teijsmannii, each with a diameter at chest height of 1.06 m and 0.79 m (cedar) 0.99 m (fir), and 0.59 m (Daphniphyllum teijsmannii), and each is over 25 m tall. The cedar is a native measus cedar recommended by the Satsuma domain. It is estimated to be more than 300 years old based on its diameter at chest height.
On the left side of the prayer hall is a signboard that reads “Aoba no Take (green bamboo)” and explains Pleioblastus hindsii that grows in this area. Pleioblastus hindsii is called Daimyo-dake (Daimyo bamboo) or Demedake in Kagoshima and is praised as the tastiest bamboo without harshness.
There is also a ginkgo tree with a chest height diameter of 83 cm, whose bark is covered with Lemmaphyllum microphyllum Presl creating a solemn grove with giant trees throughout.
Hie Sanno Shrine (Hie Shrine)
This shrine is located in Aza Fuzudo, Yamanomichi. The deity is Ooyamakui-no-Mikoto (Ooanamuchi-no-Mikoto), and the former shrine status was a village shrine. According to Sangoku Meisho Zue, in 1203, the Honjido, which enshrines the three Amida deities, was built near the shrine building as it is the guardian deity of the Daimyoji Temple. Three portable shrines are enshrined in the shrine, and it is said that 21 shrines have been transferred to them. The shrine platform is made of Yakusugi cedar, and the construction is said to have been finished with a plane by a master craftsman. The head priest of the shrine in the late Edo period was called Watanabe Ukyo, and the shrine was previously called Jishu Gongen.
The main shrine building is a shichiken-sha-nagare-zukuri, a distinctive sporadic form of architecture. In 2009, it was designated a Kagoshima Prefecture Cultural Property as the “Main Hall of Hie Shrine of Daimyoji Temple.” According to the Kagoshima Prefecture Survey of Cultural Properties Report 63, it is characterized by “…a nagarezukuri style with a front girder length of seven ken and a side beam length of two ken, and an unusually long and narrow plan with a huge number of spaces between pillars in the front.” It also notes that “each space between pillars has a shichito, wooden double doors, which is remarkable.” The reason for this is cited as “because Hiyoshi-Taisha was transferred to Hie Shrine, and all of the 21 shrines of Hiyoshi-Taisha, including the seven shrines of the upper shrine (Sanno-sha), the seven shrines of the middle shrine, and the seven shrines of the lower shrine, are all linked to the seven front doors, each of which is enshrined in three portable shrines in the shrine building.”
According to the “Shrine Description” kept by Hie Shrine, the main shrine was reconstructed using Yakusugi cedar in 1715 (Shotoku 5) and repaired in 1887 (Meiji 20).
The “Shrine Description” and “Origin of Aobadake” preserved at Hie Shrine are also valuable. The “Aoba no Fuechiku” mentioned there is also located in the current precinct. “Aoba no Fuechiku” also appears frequently in the “Daimyoji Documents,” one of which, dated 1202 (Kennin 2), clearly describes there was an order to keep the bamboo clean and well managed so that it could thrive as it was a tribute to the Imperial Court. According to Sangoku Meisho Zue, when Emperor Tenji made a pilgrimage to Kyushu before he acceded to the throne, he asked for bamboo for his flute. “Aoba no take” was then presented for flute use. The sound was so incredible that it was subsequently designated as an offering. The dedication states that the bamboo was dipped in Kagami Pond in Fuchu and dedicated with its leaves to Myoken Shrine (now the Inari Shrine in Himegi) before being presented to the Imperial Court by the Saijo clan. “Aoba no Fuechiku” also appears in Saiyuki, written by Tachibana Nankei, a doctor who traveled throughout Japan in the mid-Edo period. Nankei notes that when he visited, he brought bamboo of green leaves and made a flute in Kyoto, which was much admired.
Daimyoji Temple Ruins
As for the location of the temple, according to Local History of Kiyomizu-mura, the entrance to the temple is said to be from a place called “Asahi don Yuhi don,” where small snakes live in crevices in the rock wall along the Daimyoji River (Korida River). It is said that the place was worshiped as a deity by the villagers and that the gate of Hie Shrine, aka Chinju Sanno-sha, was built along its riverside.
Further along the clear waters of the Korida River, one finds Fudo Hall. Niomon Gate and the Daimyoji Temple are said to have been located past this and across a wooden bridge to the left bank of the river. In 1937, when Local History of Kiyomizu-mura was compiled, the site of the main hall was a terraced paddy field and a private house, and behind it were the remains of a hill and a fountain. To the south, the graves of generations of chief monks lined the developed paddy fields.
The illustration of Hiyoshi Sanno-sha Shrine (Hie Shrine) in Sangoku Meisho Zue shows Niomon Gate and Fudo Hall on the lower reaches of the Korida River, the buildings of Daimyoji Temple on the left bank of the river a short distance upstream from there, and Hiyoshi Sanno-sha Shrine further upstream on the proper bank slope. From these facts, it seems that Daimyoji had a vast temple area.
There are various theories regarding its founding, with the oldest theory attributing it to the reign of Emperor Jinmu. This is probably because of the megaliths in the temple area that are related to the traditions of Emperor Jinmu. As there is a legend that during the reign of Emperor Tenji, they produced material for “Aoba no Fuechiku,” we can assume it had been founded by then. The temple’s name can be found for the first time in historical documents, in the Daimyoji Documents, which is dated 1041 (Chokyu 2). The temple is believed to have existed at that time. The Sangoku Meisho Zue lists a bell inscription on the belfry dated 1257 (Shoki 1), which mentions a small bell of 946 (Tenkei 9). However, neither the bell tower nor the small bell is known to exist. It also reports that on October 19, 1203 (Kennin 3), Lord Shimazu Tadahisa built a hall where Amida Nyorai and other statues’ main image is enshrined. From these, it is understood that there was some kind of religious facility at Daimyoji Temple during the Heian and Kamakura periods.
As for the sect, it was not continuously a Tendai sect. According to Sangoku Meisho Zue, the Shimazu clan’s sect was switched to the Shingon sect in the Eisho era (1504-1504) during the reign of Tatehisa, the 10th lord of the Shimadzu clan.
Monument to Lord Shimazu Nariakira’s Ochanomizu
This is located along the road leading to the Daimyoji Valley, near the cemetery in which can be found the graves of the priests of the former Daimyoji Temple and Jishu Daigongen. The monument was erected in 1940 to commemorate the 2,600th anniversary of Emperor Jimmu’s reign, and the front of the monument reads. “On December 20, 1853 (Kaei 6), dedicated when paying respect to Hiyoshi Sanno. Written by Kawasaki Masanao, the chief priest of Shokoku shrine, Watanabe Kyugoro, priest, all parishioners.” Shimazu Nariakira, the 28th head of the Shimazu clan, worshiped at Hie Shrine, also known as Hiyoshi Sanno Shrine.
According to the “Diary of Yamada Tanemasa accompanying Shimazu Nariakira in Kaei 6 to the tour to Mukogata” in Materials on Nariakira in Kagoshima Prefecture Historical Records, Vol. 4, he arrived at Kokubu Headman’s temporary house around Nanatsu (after 4:00 pm) on December 19. The next day, on the 20th, they observed a kobari odori dance performed by about 500 Kokubu-go residents in Kokubu. Also, they observed a horseback riding performance at the Onumamisho (a place for observing horse riding). After that, it started raining sometime past yattsu (around 3:00 pm)
The Founder’s Monument
This is located along the road to the Daimyoji Valley. The monument reads, “Sono Kisuke, a landowner and founder of this mountain road, visited Dr. Sonoda Kametaro in Yamada-mura, Hyuga Province, in 1875 (Meiji 5) and requested that he be granted the blessings of the Buddha. He was in full agreement and subsequently guaranteed it. Kisuke then discussed this with Sonoden Uemon, the landowner, and all agreed. In November of the following year, the head temple in Kyoto sent a letter of agreement, and it was named Jiji Hyuga Uchiba Buppanko. March 24, 1930, initiators: Maeda Sanosuke, temple head, and others.”
According to Kagoshima Prefecture in Modern Times, freedom of religion was first recognized in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1876 (Meiji 9). It also reports that the movement to lift the ban on Shin Buddhism began around 1873 (Meiji 6). This monument indicates that this movement had also quietly started in Yamanomichi. However, there was a temple called the Daimyoji Temple of the Tendai sect in this area before the abolition of Buddhism in 1869 (Meiji 2). We can see that despite these religious facilities, there were still hidden Shinshu followers during the ban on Shinshu, and a move was made to lift the ban in 1875 (Meiji 8).
Shinoda
This is now a rice field. There is a stone monument known as “Children’s Forest” by the side of the rice field on the approach to Hie Shrine, and Shinoda is believed to be in that vicinity. There remains a massive stone on which Emperor Jimmu sat during his expedition to the east.
