A drive to a hilly area

We are living in an inland area of the northern part of Kanto Plain. It is 30 or 40 miles west of the coast of the Pacific Ocean. To simplify explanation, between this area and the Pacific Ocean, there are two mountains, that is, low mountain ranges, and a river. From west to east, these geographical structures are the Yamizo Mountains, the Kuji River and the Abukuma Mountains. We are pretty close to the skirt of the Yamizo Mountains, which becomes ranges of low hills in this area. I have least knowledge of geological structure in these areas but still suspect our place is geologically connected with the Abukuma Mountains north of here. An evidence is that our area had pretty big earthquake motion in 2011 while the area west of here was spared with it. It reminded me of the continuity of geological structure from here to Fukushima and the epicenter of the big earthquake in 2011 in the Pacific Ocean.

I have enjoed driving these areas with family since we started living here. Sometimes with my children and mother. It was a fine and cool day inviting me for another drive in that area. I just wanted to see fall scenaries and, if possible, to get some fresh apples harvested at farms along the Kuji River and some fresh fish at the coast, both of which I could not achieve due to tight schedule this time. Maybe, in next drive.

Driving on streets among rice paddies, I have extended right arm out and have had cool breeze into the car. Rice has been harvested everywhere. Leaves have not changed their colors not so much yet. Perssimon has got ripe but has always not harvested.

In a valley between ranges of hills, I have parked along a road. It was in the Yamizo Mountains. There were farm villages scattered in the valley. As told above, the rice has already been harvested and paddies were empty everywhere.

I have found a shrine on a hill. It was named as Hoshimiya shrine. Hoshimiya stands for stellar palace in Japanese. I thought it was a pretty romantic name. As I looked up this shrine or this group of shrine in the internet, I knew it was a common shrine group in this area. It worships a number of gods in Shinto. One of them is a god describen in Nihonshoki, that is, Chronicle of Japan, published the 8th century. It seems this shrine group goes back to the 18th century for foundation. The shrine building didn't seem to be so old. Maybe, it might be constructed a century or so ago. 

Anyway, it was a quiet place on top of a hill. The precincts, not large at all, was well cared for without weeds grown. It seemed the shrine parishoners still held festivals regularly.

The shrine building on the hill. Pretty neatly cleaned and cared for. On the back of this building, there was a small shrine, which must contain something ancient.

This shrine must have been the object for worship by the people in this area. It has been respected especially for ancestor worship. I admit that religious tradition should revered as a culture. But the nationalism Shinto, that was the traditional Shinto put together with the Emperor system, was formed by the political authority in Meiji Era in order to have the center among the people in the nation. The nationalism Shinto has become like a cult with eliticism which lead to the invading war into the Asian countries in WWII and to the catastroph in the end. The nationalism Shinto was supposed to be ceased at the end of the war. However, the emperor system has been alive with the ally but different thoughts between the Emperor and the GHQ. The Emperor was concerned only about persistence of the emperor system in our country while the US military would utilize it as a tool to govern our country. It should have been thoroughly abandoned at the end of the war. The ghost of nationalism Shinto seems to survive and to revive at present, I am afraid.

Anyway, such a shrine should be respected since it has been worshipped by our ancestors even if it is only a primitive regional religion. I imagine a lot of old people have attended to the shrine either they had anxiety or pleasure in their lives. They kept this place as an object for worship for their ancestors. In their mind, ancestors should be something supernatural or transcendental over themselves.  

I have driven along the Naka River which runs from the mountains of Yamizo toward the Pacific Ocean. I was surprised to see various parts along the riverbank were flooded. The water seemed to spill over the bank and left much dirt there, either housing areas or farms. People were working to clean it up. 　

On the way to the Kuji River, I knew it could be dark when I ran near to my home. I decided to come back home. There is a straight truncal road running from east to west, which I used to drive with my family and my old mother. The sun was starting to sink on the horizen. I remembered, whenever my mother saw that sinking sun, she used to say "The fall sun sets as quickly as a bucket dropping into a well". This saying was quite common in our generation or older ones who know of the old well. It is only less than 30 years since we had that pleasant drive together.

On the way back home, I have donated a little money to a person who were working for those victims by the thyphoon in our area.