Two weeks in northeastern Kyushu,
Japan (May 2024)
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This site
shows photos I took during a two-week trip to northeastern Kyushu in May 2024.
Although I did not have a single goal for this trip, I was particularly
interested in visiting sites of ancient stone Buddha sculptures called magaibutsu (磨崖仏), or sometimes sekibutsu (石仏), most of them dating from the 12th century (late Heian period). These
are large sculptures (see photos above) that have been carved directly into
natural rock walls and not detached from these walls. While such stone
sculptures have flourished in Afghanistan, India, and China, they are rarer in
Japan, where large Buddha statues are usually made of wood or metal and are not
permanently linked to any support. However, northeastern Kyushu is the region
of Japan that has the highest concentration of magaibutsu.
There, the sculptures were made in ignimbrite, a type of tuff produced by the
lithification of volcanic ash from Mount Aso. This rock being relatively soft,
it was suitable for making large carvings, but it was also subject to erosion.
Sculptors often chose well-protected sites, such as large cavities, or dug
cavities themselves, so a number of these sculptures remain surprisingly well
preserved today. The allure and proportions of several of these sculptures
(notably, those of Usuki, Sugao,
and Oita Motomachi) are typical of a sculpting style
created by Japanese sculptor Jocho (定朝) in the mid-11th century.
This interest
(and other interests) led me to lay out a trip with visits to the following
places (see above map): Usuki, Fuko-ji, Sugao, Takachiho, Kitsuki, the Kunisaki peninsula, Usa
Jingu, and Nakatsu. Because Oita City and Beppu were convenient public
transportation hubs and offer numerous hotel accommodations, I used them as
bases for reaching these various places. At the end of the trip, I did a
one-day excursion to Karatsu and the nearby fishing
village of Yobuko in northwestern Kyushu before
flying back home from Fukuoka. This excursion was an outlier in the overall
trip.
(Note: The distinction between magaibutsu and sekibutsu is a bit
subtle. According to these two sites (1 and 2), the term magaibutsu
refers to stone carvings that cannot be moved or seen from behind, like relief
and semi-relief, while the term sekibutsu refers to
fully three-dimensional stone statues that are physically separated from any
support. Hence, the term magaibutsu should be used at
all the sites I visited. However, at some of these sites (like in Usuki), certain sculptures stand so prominently off their
wall supports, without being separated from them, that they are sometimes
referred to as sekibutsu. So, I will drop these two
terms, and instead use words I am more familiar with, like relief, carving, or
sculpture, which do not suggest a physical separation from a support.)
To see
pictures of this trip click on the following links:
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To see
pictures of my other recent trips to Japan, click on the following links:
- 2016: Kiso valley and Kii peninsula,
Back to my
mountaineering/trekking/travel webpage