72 » OpenRoad Driver
The Yasaka-jinja is one of 80,000 Shinto shrines in Japan.
Our arrival in Kitakyushu is seven hours
late due to a passport mix up that had
prompted Chinese authorities to detain
Canadians and delay our departure from
Tianjin. Still, the tugboat Misaki and a
spinning fireboat herald our arrival right
on cue in the early morning. They welcome
us, spraying high arches of seawater in
blue and red to escort the QM2 into port.
Cunard is the first cruise liner to ever visit
this modest port, and right from the start,
it’s clear that Kitakyushu wants to put on a
spectacle.
The Hibini industrial shipping terminal
has morphed into an impressive temporary
cruise ship terminal with immaculate
white tents throughout, wall-to-wall red
carpet, a Wifi terminal, currency exchange
centre, and the friendliest of greeters. A
charming children’s choir welcomes us
as we make our way to dozens of local
coaches. We feel spoiled on our way into
the city. Automated humidifiers work
overtime inside the transport coaches,
while public transit riders wave to us as if
we’re celebrities, and hundreds of Queen
Mary 2 banners greet us everywhere we go.
For all that Tianjin had given us a sterile
and rude kick in the butt out of China,
everything about Kitakyushu is proving to
be the opposite.
We start our visit at the only castle in
Fukuoka Prefecture, a short walk from the
Kokura railway station in the middle of
central Kitakyushu. Kokura Castle traces
its origins to 1602 in the Edo Period. Its
most famous resident was the renowned
swordsman philosopher Miyamoto
Musashi who lived in the castle in the
mid-1630s. It’s easy to imagine the
Kensei sword-saint of Japan roaming
the castle and its grounds. The founder
of the Niten-Ichi-Ryū style, it’s said that
Musashi was undefeated in an astonishing
61 sword duels in his lifetime. He went on
to write his master philosophy of warrior
craft, Go Rin No Sho or The Book of
Five Rings.
Today, with gleaming white facades and
sweeping lines, majestic Kokura Castle
appears to float above moats on two
sides. The surrounding grounds feature
hundreds of cherry trees on the other two
sides of the castle in Katsuyama Park.
Right at the entrance of the grounds,
a torii or large gate marks the main
entrance to the neighbouring Yasaka-jinja
or Yasaka Shrine, a traditional shrine
in the heart of the city dating from the
9th century. It is one of perhaps 80,000
Shinto shrines in Japan where we watch
worshippers honour the kami or Shinto
spirits.
Worshippers enter the grounds, purifying
at the temizuya fountain and moving ahead
with offerings at the shrine’s honden main
building. Bowing twice and then clapping
twice, they make silent hairei prayers.
Sacred gods are seen in the elaborate
shimenawa: nine large braided straw ropes
that hang prominently in front of the
building. One rope is chosen to ring a large
suzu bell that delivers further purification.
Visits end with a series of short bows.
Some enter the grounds in search of
good fortune and blessings. Having made
donations to seek clairvoyance, they carry
thin slips of paper omikuji, continuing an
ancient 1,000-year tradition of fortune-
telling. What will be their future careers,
travels, love lives and health? Fortunes are
revealed on the strips of paper, ranging
from daikichi excellent luck to kyou bad