30/08/2014

Yakubyogami

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- - - - - eki-ki 疫鬼 Oni bringing disease - see below
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Yakubyoogami 疫病神 / 厄病神 Yakubyogami, Deity of Diseases
eyami no kami えやみのかみ gyooyakujin 行疫神 gyoyakujin
ekijin, yakujin 疫神 / byoshin 病神 / yakushin 厄神 (ヤクシン)

A deity that brings epidemic diseases.
It was feared a lot, since there was no medicine for empdemic diseases in former times.
He takes on the form of an old man or woman with pale skin color and appears in all parts of Japan. He walks into homes and brings epidemic illness and misfortune to its inhabitants.
Many villages hung a sacred rope (shimenawa) in front of the village entrance to keep him out.

疫病神 Yakubyo-gami

- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

During the Heian period, it was thought of as a demon, like the Demon of Illness 疫鬼 from China.

There were some rituals to appease him and keep him out of the town.
People also bought amulets to keep healthy.


To hang an image of Shoki 鍾馗, the Demon Queller, in a room was also thought to keep him out.


Shoki fighting against the demons
Kawanabe Kyosai 河鍋暁斎画
. Shooki 鍾馗 Shoki The Demon Queller .


Images of Ganzan Daishi 元三大師, priest Ryōgen 良源 were also presumed to keep off epidemic diseases.


source : en.wikipedia.org

. Ganzan Daishi 元三大師 . - (912 – 985)

Abe no Seimei was also fighting the Yakubyogami folks.
. Abe no Seimei 阿倍晴明 .
(February 21, 921 – October 31, 1005)

. Yōka 八日様 Yoka Sama, the Honorable Day Eight .
with rituals for Yakubyogami

. Rokusan Sama 六三さま Six-Three Deity of Illness .
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. hashika, mashin 麻疹と伝説 Legends about measles, rubeola .

. hoosoo 疱瘡 伝説 Hoso - Legends about Smallpox .
- tennentoo 天然痘 / toosoo 痘瘡 smallpox, variola

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不動利益縁起絵巻 - Fudo Riyaku Engi Emaki
- 鎌倉期14Cより - 泣不動縁起絵, 証空絵詞
From temple 三井寺 Miidera.



This piece is also known as Naki Fudō Engi-e (Story of Crying Fudō) or Shoukū Ekotoba (Illustrated Story of Shoukū).

There are parts missing before and after this emaki, but the story is roughly the following. Chikoo 智興 of Mitsui-ji 三井寺 temple became ill, and his disciple Shoukū 証空 decided to take on the illness in his place.
The first picture depicts a scene where Shoukū's mother is grieving upon hearing his decision.
In the second scene, Chikou and the demon of ill health are in his quarter of the temple, and following that, Abe no Seimei sets up an altar and prays for the substitution of the ill body. There are ghosts in front of the altar.
In the third scene, Shoukū, who took on the illness, prays to Fudou Myouou (a powerful deity) for help. Then Fudo Myo-o takes on the illness, thereby Shoukū's pain disappears. Fudou Myouou was tied up and sent to the realm of the dead. The ruler of the realm was astounded by that, and released Fudou Myouou immediately. He returns riding on a cloud. After this scene, only the words survived, which says that Shoukū, recovered from illness, meets his mother again, rejoicing.

The story seems to have been popular in the medieval period, as there were a number of versions produced in that period that have survived. Among them, this piece is a rare one for its time of production in the late Kamakura period, which is indicated by its features of the solid lines for the shapes of buildings, and the free and easy style of the landscapes and mists, which is not formalized yet.
This piece can be said to be one of the most valuable emaki in the history of Japanese art.

「泣不動縁起絵」、「証空絵詞」の名でも知られる。
絵巻の前後に欠失があるが、およその話は次の通り。三井寺の僧・智興が病にかかり、弟子の証空が師に代わってその病を受ける決意をする。
第一段の絵は証空がその決意を母に告げ、母が嘆き悲しむところ。
第二段は智興の坊に病の彼と病魔がおり、つづいて阿部清明が祭壇を設けて病身身代わりの祈祷を行うところ。祭壇の前にはもののけたちがいる。
第三段では病を受けた証空が、苦しみのなかで不動明王の画像に助けてくれることを祈ると、不動明王がその病を受け、証空の病は消える。不動明王は縛られて冥府に向かうが、冥王はそれを見てびっくり。不動明王は直ちに解放され、雲に乗って帰還する。このあとは第四段の詞のみが残り、病の癒えた証空が母と再会し喜ぶことが書かれている。
- source : www.emuseum.jp/detail


. Naki Fudo 泣き不動 / 泣不動 Weeping Fudo .

. Fudō Myō-ō, Fudoo Myoo-Oo 不動明王 Fudo Myo-O
Acala Vidyârâja - Vidyaraja - Fudo Myoo .


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. shimenawa 注連縄 a sacred rope .

. yakuyoke 厄除け amulets to ward off evil .
ekibyooyoke 疫病除 ekibyo-yoke, to ward off disease and illness

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ekijin 疫神 ekijin
. Ootokuji 王徳寺 Otoku-Ji . - Matsumoto, Nagano


gyooyakujin 行疫神 gyoyakujin
The god of epidemic diseases 行疫神(ぎょうやくじん) had to be appeased by scattering cherry blossoms in the wind.
. Mount Miwa (三輪山, Miwa-yama, Miwayama) .
Hanashizume matsuri 鎮花祭 "appease the blossoms"


. Kakinomoto Hitomaro 柿本人麻呂 Hitomaru 人丸 / 人麿 . .
seen as yakubyoo yoke no kami 疫病除け神 - Yakubyo Deity to ward off infectious diseases

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. akamono, aka mono 赤もの red things .
They ward off smallpox and other diseases of children. Also to ward off evil generally.
doll of aka Tenjin 赤天神 red Tenjin sama

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Yakubyogami - by Kurokawa Hiroyuki

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source : Matthew Meyer

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- quote
Monster Papercraft - Yakubyogami


Yakubyogami - a demon that causes illness, misfortune, and sorrow.
Until the late 19th century, Japanese people believed illness was spread by evil gods called yakubyogami. At first these gods were thought to take human form, but later, influenced by thinking in texts from China, some people came to think of them as little beasties small enough to enter the body.
- source : paperkraft.blogspot.jp

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- - - The three deities most feared in Japan:

. Shinigami 死神 God of Death "Grim Reaper" .

. Binbogami, Binboo Gami 貧乏神 Bimbogami, God of Poverty .

. Yakubyoogami 疫病神 Yakubyogami, Deity of Diseases .

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- Reference : 疫病神
- Reference : yakubyogami

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疫鬼 eki oni (エキオニ) // eki ki, eki-ki (えきき) Oni bringing disease
ekki 疫鬼(えっき)



source : www.emuseum.jp/detail...
Painting from the Heian period

. tsuina 追儺 "demon exorcism" rituals .

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. Japanese Legends - 伝説 民話 昔話 – ABC-List .

疫鬼 eki-ki
During epidemics people made small dolls and let them flow away in rivers, especially on the 30th day of the 6th and 12th lunar month.
The origin was the purification ritual at 伊勢神宮 Ise Jingu in the sixth lunar month.
Tsuina 疫鬼 eki-oni,家鬼 ie-oni (home-Oni) exorcist rituals were also performed at the Imperial palace.

In China it was also customary to drive out the 疫鬼 yakuki,疫神 yakugami Deity of Illness by putting an image of them on a boat and let if float away.

................................................................................. Hiroshima 広島県
三次市 Miyoshi

yakuki 疫鬼,yakugami 疫神,binbogami 貧乏神
Once upon a time
at 備後国三好鳳源寺 the temple Hogen-Ji in Miyoshi an old skinny man with white hair and a pale face wanted to come in. But the priest threw him out and the figure soon disappeared.
Around this temple there had been an epidemy, but since this event, the village had been spared any contagious disease.



................................................................................. Shizuoka 静岡県
浜松市 Hamamatsu

yakuja 疫邪 / yakuoni 疫鬼
Once upon a time
some people from Hamamatsu met a huge old priest of more than 180 cm hight clad in red robes, with 錫杖 a red walking staff in his left hand and 払子 a priest's fly-whisk in his left. The old priest had many disciples walking with him.
They had a session of questions and answers. The old priest opened a box he had carried and showd them a cut-off head, which gave of a very bad smell. When the villagers begun to shout in disgust, the old priest suddenly disappeared.
But the bad smell remained in their noses and many of them fell ill very soon after that meeting.



................................................................................. Tochigi 栃木県

. オカイモ Okaimo potatoes to keep away Yakubyogami .



................................................................................. Yamanashi 山梨県

. Yamanokami and Yakubyogami .


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source : ameblo.jp/blue-hiro-bigboy.....
hōsōshi 方相氏 Hososhi, demon exorcist with a mask of four eyes


寃鬼 enoki, enki ,疫鬼 eki-ki
In former times, even Tengu were seen as some kind of enoki, yuurei 寃鬼(ゆうれい) ghost.
They take over the curse of someone killed or who died unnaturally.

Legend knows that the three children of a Chinese emperor became Eki-Ki after a violent death.
In Japan they are mentioned first in a book called
儺祭詞 - なのまつりのことば Nanomatsuri no Kotoba : 穢悪伎疫鬼」きたなきおに - kitanaki oni - "dirty demons".
They were driven out at the Imperial palace with the Tsuina rituals.
They are also known in Korea.

When a person has just died and his soul is still hanging around, it might become a konpaku 魂魄 Enoki demon and visible to other people. This is also called yuurei 幽霊 a ghost.
This Enoki looks like clouds and haze. Just like weather clouds and haze can gather in the sky and the earth, the vapor of an Enoki can gather and become visible.
If someone has died a while ago and Enoki is seen, it will turn into a yookai 妖怪 apparition of a Fox or Tanuki badger.
If the soul hangs inbetween the realm of Yin and Young and becomes hardened, it is called 疫鬼 Eki-Ki, a "Disease Demon".

Once upon a time
a priest went to a bookstore to buy 易経 the I-Ching. When he read some of the hand-written comments in the book, be begun to laugh. That night he developed a fever and headache and was about to die.
Just then at the nearby home of a Master Confucianist a strange thing happened. One of his disciples, who had died some months ago, came to the gate and wanted to visit him.
He explained that after his death his wife had written some comments in the I-Ching and a priest, who had read them today and laughed in mockery, was now just about to die. He had gotten angry and knocked the priest on his head, but wanted to see his Master to have a look at the priest too. The Master suggested that his disciple would agree to have his grave built at the temple to save the priest. And indeed, the priest came back to life and begun reading the sutras for the Eki-Ki disciple.

. konpaku 魂魄 legends about two souls .

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takebungani 武文蟹 / 武文ガニ Takebun crabs
- - - onigani 鬼蟹 demon crabs
- - - kimengani 鬼面蟹 crabs with demon faces

a kind of Heikegani 平家蟹 Crabs of the Heike clan - Heikea japonicum
... a species of crab native to Japan, with a shell that bears a pattern resembling a human face which many believed to be the face of an angry samurai hence the nickname Samurai Crab.


source : blog.livedoor.jp/ufodouji-tec_rec/archives.....

These crabs are also called
Shimamuragani 島村蟹
named after 島村武文 Shimamura Takebun

. Heikegani 平家蟹 Crabs of the Heike clan and Heike legends .

................................................................................. Hiroshima 広島県
尼崎市 Amagasaki 大物町 Daimotsucho

takebungani 武文蟹 Takebun crabs
In the port of 摂州大物浦 Daimotsu-no-Ura there are Takebun crabs, Samurai crabs.
attributed to the soul of 秦武文 Hata no Takebun, who had to kill himself in the port of Hyogo 兵庫湊 in 1331.
His Enoki demon soul eventually shape-shifted into a crab.
(They are a kind of Heikegani 平家蟹 Heike crabs, Heikea japonicum).

People hang the these crab shells at the entry of the home to prevent demons and bad luck to come it.


- and the opposite reading, another Yokai monster

kanioni, kani-oni 蟹鬼(かにおに) Crab-Demon monster


source : youkaiwiki.com/entry...


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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -
56 病神 byoshin to collect
28 厄神 Yakushin to collect

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- - - - -  H A I K U  - - - - -

疫病神貧乏神もお立ちかな
ekibyogami binboogami mo o-tachi kana

the god of disease
and the god of poverty
are both leaving . . .


Maruyama Ryuugen 丸山柳絃 Maruyama Ryugen

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. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja 神社) - Introduction .

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- #yakubyogami #ekibyo #akamono #yakushin #yakujin -
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09/08/2014

Ahiru Kusa characters

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ahirukusa moji 阿比留草文字 ahiru kusa characters
(あひるくさもじ)

Izumo moji 出雲文字
Fujihase moji 節墨譜文字
Hayahito no te 薩人書 (from Satsuma)

jindai moji 神代文字 “scripts of the age of the gods”




- quote
Jindai moji or Kamiyo moji (Japanese: 神代文字 “scripts of the age of the gods”)
are characters that was said to be scripts used in ancient Japan. Debates since Edo period and Japanese academic society regard Jindai moji as forgeries. Although ancient character researchers insisted the existence as Uetsufumi or Hotsumatae found, it is denied in historiography because of no existence of earthenware with it. People who believe in the existence use the word Jindai moji in the meaning of "ancient characters". Since around mid-Edo period some people have been saying ancient characters were found in remains, Kofuns and mountains such as Chikushi characters, Hokkaido characters. Hundreds kinds of Jindai moji were said to be found.

History
Jindai moji was firstly addressed in the end of Kamakura period by Urabe no Kanekata (卜部兼方) in Shaku Nihongi mentioning his father, Urabe no Kanefumi, assumed ancient people could not have performed oracle bone style fortunetelling with turtles (亀卜, Kameura; turtle fortunetelling) as described in Nihon Shoki without having characters. Though there was no Jindai moji characters introduced in Muromachi period, some types of Jindai moji appeared in Edo period and each of them named after the source article or the place the characters discovered. Debate over the existence erupted in Edo period. Japanese academic society denies the existence.

... While scholars generally have negative opinions, Some scholars such as Inbe Masamichi (忌部正通)、Arai Hakuseki、Hirata Atsutane 、Takamasa Omiya(大国隆正) affirmed the existence of Jindai moji which Urabe no Kanekata (卜部兼方) first mentioned in Shaku-Nihongi in Kamakura era.

- - - - - Famous Jindai Moji
Woshite characters(ヲシテ文字)
Izumo characters(出雲文字)
Ahiru characters(阿比留文字、肥人書)
Ahiru kusa characters(阿比留草文字、薩人書)
Tsukushi characters(筑紫文字)
Katakamuna characters(カタカムナ文字、八鏡化美津文字)
Hokkaido characters(北海道異体文字、アイヌ文字)
Ryukyu characters(琉球古字)
Toyokuni characters(豊国文字、神宮文字)
Tsushima characters (対馬文字)

- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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不思議な文字 - strange characters
- source : intiwatana.blog96.fc2.com


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南朝古字(ナンチョウコジ)、とは神代文字の一つ
- source : kamiyo.nsf.jp

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- quote
阿比留草文字(あひるくさもじ)
は、いわゆる神代文字の一つである。出雲文字、節墨譜文字(ふしはせもじ)、薩人書(はやひとのて)とも呼ぶ。
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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source : facebook

stone memorial from Hikawa Jinja in Kawaguchi
川口市青木の氷川神社の石碑

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- Reference : 阿比留草文字

- Reference : English


. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja 神社) - Introduction .


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08/08/2014

Kanayago Kami

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Kanayagogami 金屋子神 / カナヤゴガミ Deity of the Blacksmith
Goddess of Tatara
tutelary of mines, metals, and the techniques associated with them.


source : たたらの話 - wakou-museum.gr.jp


Tatara-buki (buki, from fuki, means air blowing)
is an ancient Japanese method for manufacturing iron. The tatara process has a history stretching back more than one thousand years, being a method for fabricating iron unique to Japan built up through the unceasing efforts of our ancestors.
. Takadono tatara 高殿鑪 たかどのたたら .


金屋子神社 Kanayago Jinja


CLICK for more photos of the shrine  !

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- quote
The History of Tatara - Kanayago-Kami
Kanayago-kami (the deity Kanayago) is enshrined at tatara in the Chugoku mountains. While the main shrine dedicated to this deity (whose name is written with characters that literally mean “child of the metal worker") is located at Nishihida in the city of Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture. Devotion to Kanayago-kami is widespread, centered on the Chugoku region but extending from Kyushu and parts of Shikoku to the distant Kanto region and parts of Tohoku. The ritual deities celebrated at present are Kanayama-hiko-no-mikoto and Kanayama-hime-no-mikoto with origins in the Yamato line (see section 2.1.3 for background), but originally it was Kanayago-kami, more familiarly called “Kanayago-san” throughout the region. Worship of Kanayama-hiko and Kanayama-hime (male and female, respectively) dates almost certainly to early modern times. This is believed to have been aimed at increasing the authority of the shrines.

The story of Kanayago-kami is as follows:
"In the distant past, Kanayago-kami decided from the heavens to a place called Shiso-no-kori (Shiso County) in the province of Harima (in what is now southern Hyogo Prefecture, in the San'yo district). She taught the people there how to make iron, and made an iron kettle out of rock. Since then, that place has been called Iwanabe (“rock kettle”), which is in the vicinity of the town of Chikusa, Shiso County, Hyogo Prefecture. However, as there were no mountains nearby where she could live, Kanayago-kami declared,
“If I am to be the deity who rules the western reaches, I will proceed to the west and live in a suitable place there.”
So saying, she climbed on a white heron to travel to the mountains of Okuhida in Kurota in Nogi County of the province of Izumo (around Nishihida in Shimane Prefecture). The heron alit upon on a katsura tree to rest, and Kanayago-kami then taught the technique of making iron in that region to the members of the Abe clan."

Since then, Kanayago-kami has continued to be worshipped by the descendents of the Abe clan. The Abe clan involved itself not only with priestly affairs, but also with traveling around to instruct others in tatara techniques.

There are a variety of curious taboos associated with Kanayago-kami.
Among them:

Kanayago-kami hates dogs, ivy, and hemp.
She favors wisteria.

According to the legend in Hino County, Tottori Prefecture, a dog howled at Kanayago-kami when she descended from the heavens. The deity tried to escape by climbing a vine, but the vine broke. She was attacked by the dog and died as a result. The version of the story told in I'ishi County, Shimane Prefecture, is that, rather than ivy, she became entangled in hemp or flax and died. The legend in Nita County, Shimane Prefecture, holds that the ivy did indeed break, but she then grabbed onto a wisteria tree and was saved. She may be a deity, but in this humorous story she is a rather human character. Such legends are the reason why dogs are not allowed near tatara and hemp is not used for any tatara tools or equipment. Also, katsura trees are not burned in tatara because they are regarded as divine.

Kanayago-kami hates women.
Kanayago-kami is a female deity so she hates women. A murage 村下 (a chief engineer in metal forging) will not enter the tatara when his wife is menstruating. He shuts down his tatara temporarily just before and after his wife gives birth. If work is at a point that he cannot put it aside, it is said that he will not go home nor look at the face of his newly born child. It is also said that murage are especially strict about not getting into a bath if a woman has used it.

Kanayago-kami likes corpses.
The disciples of Kanayago-kami did not know what to do with their tatara when she died so suddenly. It is said that just as they were praying to and beseeching her for help, just when the iron could not be brought to birth no matter what they did, they received an oracle calling for them either to stand a dead body up against the tatara's four supporting pillars (Nita County) or bind the bones of a murage to the four pillars (the village of Yoshida, Shimane Prefecture). There similarly appears to have been no taboos about death in tatara in other locales, either. They apparently made coffins in tatara when a person died in Aki or Yamagata in Hiroshima Prefecture, while in Futami county in the old Bingo province (around Hiroshima today) people would carry a coffin around the tatara when holding a funeral.

Actually, it is unclear as to whether or not Kanayago-kami is meant to be a male or female deity, but in the tatara the deity has been said to be female. Masaya Abe, a descendent of the Abe clan and chief priest at Kanayago Shrine, writes,
“Kanayago-kami is usually held to be a female deity. However, that is because it was a woman who enshrined it. The deity was originally a youthful male.”
Details about Kanayago-kami turn up in various stories, including those related to such other deities as Yawata-kami, Ama-no-hiboko, Takuso-susano-no-mikoto, and Kanayama-hiko-no-mikoto. In all cases, Kanayago-kami was the patron deity of blacksmiths, worshipped from the start by people involved in metalwork. These artisans spread devotion to Kanayago to many locations, and the present form of that worship was probably created by the Abe clan.

Festivals are held at the shrine Kanayago-jinja in the spring around the middle of the 3rd month and in the autumn early in the 10th month, the dates being determined according to the Chinese zodiacal calendar. In the past, the Kanayago festival at Hida was an event to which tatara masters and blacksmiths would come from distant provinces, as well as from Izumo and the neighboring province of Hoki.
- source : www.hitachi-metals.co.jp

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source : facebook


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Kanayamabiko, Kanayamabime (Kanayama Hiko, Kanayama Hime)
According to Kojiki, these kami were produced from the vomit (taguri) emitted by Izanami as she lay dying following the birth of the kami of fire Kagutsuchi. An "alternate writing" relating the same event in Nihongi mentions only the kami Kanayamabiko. Both kami are considered tutelaries of mines, metals, and the techniques associated with them. They are enshrined at the Nangū Taisha (Nangu Taisha) in Fuwa District, Gifu Prefecture, as well as at numerous Kanayama and other shrines throughout the country.
- source : Nakayama Kaoru, Kokugakuin 2005


Kanayamahiko no Kami 金山彦神(かなやまひこのかみ)
は、日本神話に登場する神である。『古事記』では金山毘古神、『日本書紀』では金山彦神と表記する。金山毘売神(かなやまびめのかみ、金山姫神)とともに鉱山の神として信仰されている。

神産みにおいて、イザナミが火の神カグツチを産んで火傷をし病み苦しんでいるときに、その嘔吐物(たぐり)から化生した神である。『古事記』では金山毘古神・金山毘売神の二神、『日本書紀』の第三の一書では金山彦神のみが化生している。

神名の通り「金山」(かなやま、鉱山)を司る神で、嘔吐物から産まれたとしたのは、嘔吐物の外観からの連想によるものと考えられる。鉱山を司どり、また荒金を採る神とされ、鉱業・鍛冶など、金属に関する技工を守護する神とされている。岐阜県垂井町の南宮大社(金山彦神のみ)、南宮御旅神社(金山姫神のみ)、島根県安来市の金屋子神社、宮城県石巻市金華山の黄金山神社を始め、全国の金山神社で祀られている。
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Kanayama Jinja 金山神社 - Fuwa, Gifu 岐阜
金属や鉱山(こうざん)の守り神として、崇敬されてきました。
その神が住まうのは、岐阜県西部(せいぶ)、不破(ふわ)郡垂井町(たるいちょう)。隣には「関ヶ原の戦い」が行われた決戦地、関ヶ原町(ちょう)があります。 そして、「伊吹(いぶき)おろし」という強い風をこの地域にもたらす伊吹山がそびえています。 そんな Tarui 垂井町に鎮座する南宮大社は、金属や鉱山の守り神、金山彦命- 金(かな)山彦(やまひこの)命(みこと) Kanayamahiko no mikoto をまつる、全国3000社の総社でもあります。そのため奉納品や神事も、金属にまつわる珍しいものが たくさんあります。 しかし、なぜ金属の神をまつる総社(そうしゃ)がこの地にあるのでしょうか。 その由縁は、そびえたつ「二つの山」に隠されていました。
- source : graceofjapan

The clear water and wind down from Ibukiyama was suited for the metal forging craftsmen.


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Have you ever heard of Tatara?
Tatara was likely imported into Japan from Korea by way of Shimane Prefecture, and seeing as the San’in region is rich with titanium magnetite, a necessary ingrediant for iron production, it took hold here very early on in Japanese history. Way back in ancient Japan–specifically 713ad, two years after the compilation of the Kojiki (originally ordered by Emperor Temmu) was completed, Empress Gemmei ordered the compliation of the Fudoki. While the Kojiki is like a history book (which we would now consider a book of Shinto mythology), the Fudoki were like encyclopedia, conducted in each province to chronicle geography, plant and animal species, the lifestyles of the people, and significant historical events (many of which we would now refer to as myths). Most of the Fudoki no longer exist, but the Izumo-no-Kuni-Fudoki remains mostly in tact. Therefore, we know a lot more about life in 8th century Izumo than about any other part of Japan. It includes many details about tatara.

..... There is a patron god of Tatara, though many of the popular local myths say she is a goddess. This is Kanayago, the kami that is revered throughout Japan for teaching craftsmen how to making iron. Having particular influence over Western Japan, she wanted to settle in the mountains there, so she descended upon a particular spot in southwestern Yasugi where a heron perched upon a katsura tree, a very brief hike up the hill from Kanayago-jinja, the head shrine of all Kanayago shrines.



... As numerous as Kanayago shrines are (especially in the Chugoku region), many of them make donations to this head shrine.

A short walk across from the entrance to the shrine is the folk tradition hall dedicated to the shrine and legends about Kanayago. It’s small, but well designed and with lots of information and 3D displays.

..... if you’re a fan of Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli studio movies, then you likely are already familiar with tatara after all. Iron Town in the 1997 film Princess Mononoke was based on Okuizumo (not to be confused with Higashiizumo)!
- source : Buri-Chan


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source : www.kanayago.co.jp/yurai


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Kanagayo, Kanayako Kami 金屋子神(かなやごかみ、かなやこかみ、等)
とは、中国地方を中心に、鍛冶屋に信仰される神。一般には女神であるとされるが、男神とする説もある。金山彦・金山媛や天目一箇神と同一、もしくは何らかの関係がある神とされるが、全く別神とする説もある。
金屋子神の総本社とされる島根県安来市広瀬町西比田にある金屋子神社には、以下の伝説がある。
... 、伯耆国日野郡宮市の住人 下原重仲が著した『鉄山秘書』にも詳しく書かれている.
... 金屋子神社より西方約40kmに石見銀山があり、当地に佐毘売山神社(さひめやまじんじゃ)があるが、この『佐毘売』は、金屋子神の別名ではないかと言われている。『さ』、『さひ』は鉄を意味していると推測されている。
... 尚、饒速日尊や物部氏と関係が深いとされる三瓶山は古来、佐比売山と呼ばれていた。また、三瓶山の西約5kmに、石見国一宮で、石上神宮と表裏一体であると言われる物部神社が鎮座する。

また、岡山県英田郡西粟倉村に伝わるタタラ唄に『金屋子神の生まれを問えば、元は葛城 安部が森』との言葉が残る。
Abe-ga-Mori in Okayama 安部が森
... more
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !



CLICK for more photos !

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金屋子神は秘伝の製鉄技術
- source : furusato.sanin.jp

- Reference : 金屋子神社
- Reference : Kanayago shrine Shimane

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. 出雲風土記 Izumo Fudoki .

. sumigama 炭竈 と伝説 Legends about charcoal kilns .

. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja 神社) - Introduction .


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. Japanese Legends - 伝説 民話 昔話 – ABC-List .


............................................................................ Hiroshima 広島県 
高田郡 Takada district

Kanayago san 金屋子さん Deity of Blacksmiths
This deity dislikes anything connected to giving birth. Therefore after a birth a woman is not allowed to come near the Tatara 鑪. Even now she is not allowed to come near a charcoal kiln.

. Takadono tatara 高殿鑪 hut for working with metal .



............................................................................ Shimane 島根県 
飯石郡 Iishi district

Kanayago sama no tatari カナヤゴ様のたたり the curse of the Kanayago deity
Kanayago is 炭焼きの神・火の神・鉄山の神 the deity venerated by charcoal makers, protecting from fire and in mines.
she is venerate way back in the valley of Ibaradani 井原谷.
The deity tends to curse people who do not keep the rituals, pee in her direction or cut off branches from sacred trees.
Once she cursed the family of 山口恭一家 Yamaguchi Kyoichi.


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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -
21 to explore カナヤゴガミ Kanayagogami (02)

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