Day 6a - Dazaifu for some Knowledge

On today's schedule is a day trip to the city of Dazaifu, about 30 minutes from Fukuoka, home of one of the oldest and most important Shinto shrines - Dazaifu Tenmangu. It is dedicate to Tenjin, a spirit/god representing knowledge and draws many, many students before the various entry exams. Fortunately, we are out of exam season so only have to deal with various tourists.

First we have to get there. The train to Dazaifu leaves, logically enough, from Tenjin station in central Fukuoka. A nice morning for a walk across the river to downtown and the station. Fukuoka is a pleasant city which has gone through a lot development – it is a tech hub in Japan – and promotion public art.

From the Tenjin station we ride a train that travels though the Fukuoka suburbs which have built up between the city and Dazaifu. Getting out at Dazaifu, we encounter the first of MANY Torii - this one the gateway to the shopping street leading to the shrine.

Like many major shrines and temples in Japan, the road leading to the main gate is full of shops – something that has been standard for as long as there has been holy places drawing pilgrims and tourists. Modern versions hold on to the traditional parts...

...while accommodating the modern trends and needs.

Leading to the Dazaifu Tenmangu main entry gate...

On entering the shrine, we are met by one of the main draws for lots of visitors, particularly pre-testing students, Shingyu (the divine cow statue). Entry exams for top universities and high schools put a lot of pressure on ambitious students. Dazaifu Temangu offers many things to “help” – good luck charms, blessings, etc. – and rubbing the nose and horns of the statue is one that they line up for.

Passing the cow and its line, the path leads to more Torii and a pair of bridges which lead to the main hall compound...

The shrine is filled with buildings, statues, stone monuments, and more in an old forest. The age of the place means they've had the time to collect, build and preserve the works.

Getting to the middle of the shrine, we entered the courtyard of the main hall to find...

It turns out that the old main hall is currently being restored, so the shrine created this temporary worship hall with a massive live roof - full size trees growing above a small hall. The old main hall is covered in a shroud behind the temporary structure while being worked on.

The ceremonies continue in the new space in the meantime.

	Charms and fortunes left near the main hall. Gourd prayer containers are not often seen, but the paper fortunes are common. You can get random fortunes and leave the less-than-positive ones here to expunge it.

After leaving the main shrine courtyard, trails lead to many side halls and shrines to explore. This being Shinto, that often means lots of Torii, stairs and smaller shrines on top of hills. Dazaifu Tenmangu sits in an old forest making visiting the side shrines a walk in the park - though sometimes more vertical that others. Off to Tenkai Inari Shrine, one of the main side shrines.

Behind this shrine hall is an older worship room built into the rocks.

Time to head home. Following the trail back to the main entrance we find another interesting way the shrine has of raising funds - an amazement park complete with roller coasters...

This gets us heading back to Fukuoka where we did more exploring, which will be the topic for the next post,

There are a LOT more photos here on the photoBlog - there was a lot to shoot and even selecting what made it here was tough.