Wonderful bike & train tour in Fukushima 福島大好きおじさんの自転車・鉄道旅日記

（Yakushinyorai at Enichiji Temple, Bandai, June 22, 2019. 慧日寺 の 薬師如来 磐梯町 6/22/2019）
Today I visited Enichiji Temple site and learned about Buddhist priest Tokuitsu, who founded the temple in 807, and Yakushinyorai or Buddha of healing which was the main image of the temple. Yakushinyorai statue was built in the very beginning of the temple foundation but has been burnt or damaged several times since then by fire and civil war. It has been restored every time it suffered a damage and the last fire was in 1872 when most of the body was burnt. Last year in 2018 the statue was restored again as close as possible to the original one at early 800’s. The photo above shows the current restored statue which was designed to look as it was when it was first built.
本日は、磐梯町にある慧日寺跡で、このお寺を807年に開基した徳一とお寺の本尊である薬師如来について学びました。この薬師如来は、創建時からありましたが、その後度重なる火事や戦火で被災し、その度に再建されますが、最後は1872年(明治5年)に焼けました。昨年、800年代初期の創建時に限りなく近い形で再建され、写真のようになっています。


Tokuitsu was a high-ranking Buddhist priest who lived between late 700’s and early 800’s. He learnt Hosso sect of Buddhism at Kofukuji Temple in Nara Prefecture, also known as a world heritage site. Nara, in the western part of Japan, was the political center at that time. But during his young age he started to move eastward aiming to spread Buddhism mainly in Ibaraki and Fukushima Prefectures. Photo above, which was a display at the site, shows a replica statue of Tokuitsu with a spearhead like thing at the bottom left. This thing was called “Sankosho” which was a rare treasure at that time made from cupronickel and was the evidence of highly respected person. Enichiji Temple was the center of Aizu Buddhism but he also established about 90 temples in Fukushima, Ibaraki and surrounding prefectures. Shojoji Temple was the most valuable one with many national treasures and important assets preserved to this date. Sitting statue of Tokuitsu made in 12th century was one of them.
徳一は、700年代中期から800年代初期(奈良時代中期から平安初期)に生きた高僧で、奈良の興福寺(世界遺産)で法相宗を学びました。その後、若いうちに仏教を広めようと東の方に向かい茨城と福島およびその周辺で活動しました。写真は、慧日寺資料館の展示にあったもので、徳一像(レプリカ)と三鈷杵(さんこしょ)が左下に置かれています。白銅製の三鈷杵は、当時の貴重な宝物で高僧の証となります。慧日寺は会津仏教の中心地でしたが、徳一はこの他にも、福島や茨城を中心に90ものお寺を建てています。その中でも、会津の湯川村にある勝常寺は、国宝や重文が多く残っており、極めて重要です。12世紀に作られた徳一座像もその1つです。








Today I attended a class held at the site where a curator of Fukushima Prefectural Museum gave us a lecture on the history of Tokuitsu and the spread of Buddhism in Aizu region. Some of the explanation panels on Tokuitsu and Yakushinyorai Buddha at Enichiji Temple were on display at the site as shown above. Enichiji site is located about 20-minute walk from JR Bandaimachi Station.
本日は、会場となった慧日寺跡で、福島県立博物館の学芸員の方の「徳一と会津の仏教美術」のお話がありました。写真は、会場の説明パネルのいくつかです。慧日寺跡は、JR磐梯町駅から徒歩20分です。

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。

（Water lilies at Janohana, Motomiya, June 6, 2019. 蛇の鼻 の スイレン 本宮 6/6/2019）
Today I cycled around Motomiya City, right north to Koriyama, and stopped at a couple of lovely gardens: Prince William’s Park and Janohana Garden. Photo above was a number of water lily flowers blooming in a pond of Janohana Garden. Even yellow one was seen among the major pink ones. It was the best season.
本日は、本宮にあるプリンス・ウィリアムズ・パークと蛇の鼻園をチャリで巡りました。写真は、蛇の鼻の池に浮かぶスイレンの花です。黄色もあり、ちょうど見頃でした。


（Water lilies at Janohana, Motomiya, June 6, 2019. 蛇の鼻 の スイレン 本宮 6/6/2019）
The large pond at Janohana looked as shown above. You can see the amazing view that the vast surface is covered by incredible number of water lilies.
写真は、蛇の鼻の池全体の様子です。無数のスイレンが水面全体を埋め尽くしすごい光景でした。


（Water lilies at Janohana, Motomiya, June 6, 2019. 蛇の鼻 の スイレン 本宮 6/6/2019）
Also a number of orange carp were moving around just beneath the surface as shown above.
赤いコイも数多く水面下を泳いでいます。（写真）




（Rose garden at Janohana, Motomiya, June 6, 2019. 蛇の鼻 の バラ園 本宮 6/6/2019）
There was a beautiful rose garden right next on the hillside, also was at its best season, as shown in the pictures above.
隣の斜面には、写真のきれいなバラ園もありました。これも見頃でした。




（Rose garden at Prince William’s Park, Motomiya, June 6, 2019. プリンス・ウィリアムズ・パーク の バラ園 本宮 6/6/2019）
Prince William’s Park is located in the eastern outskirt of the city. It was built in commemoration of the visit of Prince William of U.K. in 2015. An English rose garden was within the park as shown in the pictures above. The roses have just passed its peak season today but some of them were still beautiful.
プリンス・ウィリアムズ・バークは、本宮市の東郊外にあります。２０１５年にイギリスのウィリアム王子が本宮を訪れたのを記念し、造られました。写真のように、英国庭園のバラ園も併設されています。バラのピークは過ぎましたが、まだきれいなのも残っています。


There was a message panel from the current British Prime Minister Theresa May as shown above.
イギリスの現首相のテリーザ・メイさんのメッセージバネルもありました。（写真）




Some other views of the entrance and shop are shown above.
エントランスやお店の写真です。

Although I stopped at these places cycling around today, there is a public free bus service from JR Motomiya Station on weekends and holidays operated by Motomiya City, which will be very convenient.
本日、私はチャリで廻りましたが、本宮駅から市の無料の巡回バスが土日休日に運行しています。これも、大変便利と思います。

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。

Tohoku Kizuna Festival took place during June 1st and 2nd at Fukushima City, where six major festival floats and dances from each of the six Tohoku prefectures showed their performance in one place. This was a good chance to experience those at one time and I was one of a large number of spectators at the venue. The parade played out mainly on a section of national route 4 where car traffic was shut out. The photo shows a gigantic float of the famous Nebuta Festival from Aomori Prefecture. The figure was of a legendary general of samurai Minamotono-Yoshiie. One of his battlegrounds was Fukushima some 900 years ago and there are many places in the prefecture even today that shows his traces. The float, which was 9 meters wide, 5 meters tall, and weighed 4 tons, was newly created for this occasion.
東北絆まつりが、６月１日から２日間、福島市で行われました。東北６県の夏祭りが同時に見られ、私も大勢の見物客の１人でした。パレードは、主に国道６号を貸切り行われました。写真は、青森ねぶたの大きな山車です。今回は，源義家（八幡太郎義家）が題材です。約９００年前、福島のあちこちでも活躍した武将で、今日でも各所にその痕跡が残っています。このねぶたは、幅９ｍ、高さ５ｍ、重さ４ｔで、今回初めて作られたものです。




Fukushima showed off its Waraji Festival parade which was renovated for this year. Waraji means a straw sandal and the gigantic waraji was carried by many local people. Some of the scenes were shown above. In the top picture Fukushima City mayor was on top of the waraji. There appeared a smaller and golden waraji as shown in the bottom picture.
福島は、わらじまつりを披露しました。今回少し新しくしたもので、上の写真には福島市長が乗っています。また、下の写真には金の子わらじが担がれています。


Kanto parade, where large vertical bamboo poles each with nearly 50 lanterns were supported by hand, forehead, or shoulder walked along the way as shown above, came from Akita Prefecture. Highly trained skill was needed to keep taking balance of the lantern poles with winds blowing from all the directions.
秋田の竿燈まつりは、写真のように、５０近い提灯をつるした竹竿が、手のひらや、額、肩などでバランスをとりつつ支えられ、何台も行進します。風の強さや向きが変わるなか大変な訓練と技術が要るようです。


Yamagata Hanagasa dance parade went along the way with so many locals dancing with sedge hat, decorated with colorful flowers, in their hands as shown above.
山形の花笠踊りは、写真のように、色とりどりの花で飾られた笠を持ちながらの踊りです。


Morioka Sansa dance parade from Iwate prefecture came along with people carrying and beating a portable drum on each waste as shown above.
岩手県からの盛岡さんさ踊りは、写真のように、太鼓を抱え演奏しながらの行進です。


Lastly, Sendai Suzume dance from Miyagi Prefecture came along, as shown above, with each carrying unfolded sensu fan decorated colorfully.
最後は、宮城県からの仙台すずめ踊りです。写真のように、色とりどりの扇子をかざしながらの踊りでした。


And this picture above was of the last joint parade expressing gratitude to the world for helping recovery of the region from 2011 earthquake disaster.
写真は、バレード最終の共同行進で、世界に向かって東日本大震災からの復興支援の感謝を伝えるものでした。

The following very short videos each for Aomori Nebuta, Fukushima Waraji, and Akita Kanto may help giving you a sense of atmosphere at the venue.
以下に、青森ねぶた、福島わらじ、秋田竿燈の順に、極短いビデオを載せました。場の雰囲気が少しわかります。






Each of the regional festivals is scheduled to be held in early August this year as shown in the website http://tohoku-kizunamatsuri.jp/en/festival/.
東北各地での今年の夏祭りは、８月初旬の予定で、詳しくは公式サイトをご参照ください。http://tohoku-kizunamatsuri.jp/festival/

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。