Yama no Kami Legends

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. kami　神　Shinto deities .
. Ta no Kami 田の神 Tanokami, Kami of the Fields - Introduction .
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Yama no Kami, Yama-no-Kami 山の神 God of the Mountain
Introduction and Legends

Yama no Kami is an important deity of the rice farming communities and comes in many colors in rural Japan.
Yama here refers to the
. Satoyama 里山 "Village Mountain Forest" .
In Spring he comes down to the rice fields to protect the harvest, then called
Ta no Kami 田の神 God of the Fields
paddy field kami, god of the rice paddies, spirit of the rice field
Ta no Kami is the busier part of this two-fold deity.

In Autumn after the harvest, Ta no Kami goes back to the Satoyama mountain or forest behind the village to take a rest and collect strength for the next season.
There are many stone monuments in his honour near the fields and at roadsides.
During festivals in his honor, people hang paintings in their home or the local Shinto shrine to venerate this deity.
Some Yama no Kami have even taken on rather individual features of a local hero.




(2) yama no kami - A god of the mountains who is worshiped by hunters, charcoal-burners, and woodcutters.
The deity enshrined is Ôyamatsumi no mikoto or Konohanasakuyahime. There are various traditions connected with the worship of this yama no kami, but the practice of offering an ocean fish called okoze is particularly widespread.
This deity is thought to differ from the yama no kami of farming communities described above.
source : kokugakuin

山神　やまがみ　Yamagami
山祇 やまつみ Yamatsumi

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- - - - - Table of Contents - - - - -

. Ta no Kami, Ta-no-Kami 田の神 Tanokami, God of the Fields - Introduction .

. - Yama no Kami 山の神 - Introduction - . (this page)
. - Yamanokami kofun 山の神古墳 Yamanokami tumulus mound .
. - Yama no Kami and Fudo Myo-O . (this page)
. - Yama no Kami and Kappa .
. - Yama no Kami and Oni . (this page)
. - Yama no Kami and Okoze stone fish .
. - Yama no Kami and Tengu .
. - Yama no Kami and the sacred Sakaki tree .
. - Yamanokami no yadorigi 山の神さんの宿り木 sacred tree for Yamanokami .
. - Yama no Kami riding a white horse 白馬 Hakuba .
. - Individual Mountain Peak Deities .
. - Yamanokami Onsen 山の神温泉 hot springs .
. - Regional Legends - From Aichi to Yamanashi .
. - Yama no Kami matsuri festivals .
. - Haiku and Kigo 俳句と季語 for Yama no Kami .
. - Yamanokami ヤマノカミ / 山ノ神 Trachidermus fasciatus fish .
. Yamanokami and hatsuka 二十日 day 20 of each month .
. Yama no Kami - various news items .
. shingun 神軍 / jingun ジングン the Kami are fighting .

- - - - - Yamanokami has some animal messengers :
. Sarugami 猿神 The Monkey Deity .
. Inugami 犬神　The Wolf Deity .
. habu 波布 pit viper .
. inoshishi 猪 wild boar .
. kitsune 狐 fox .
. risu リス / 栗鼠 squirrel .
. shika 鹿 deer .
. usagi 兎 rabbit, hare .

- . Ta no Kami, Yama no Kami - Reference, Books and Links .

. sanki, yama-oni, yamaoni 山鬼の鬼伝説 / ヤマオニ .
- yama no oni 山の鬼 Mountain Oni Demon Legends -

Yamataroo 山太郎 Yamataro is Yamanokami in Kumamoto and Miyazaki.

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- - - - - Yama no Kami - Introduction - - - - -

- quote -
Yamanokami - "Kami of the mountain."
While the term yama no kami is a general expression referring to any kami dwelling in a mountain, a number of differences exist between low-land agriculturalists and mountain folk (people who make their living from various forestry or mountain-related occupations) in the character of their yama no kami and respective ways of worshiping such kami. While the expression yama no kami is found throughout Japan, other locale-specific terms also exist, including sanjin, jūniyamakami, osatosama, and sagamisama.

Agriculturalists in many parts of Japan share the belief that the yama no kami and ta no kami (rice field kami) share a dual identity, traveling between mountain and village in spring and fall. In the spring, the yama no kami descends from the mountain and enters the rice field, where it becomes the ta no kami which looks over the growth of grain. Following the fall harvest, the ta no kami leaves the rice paddy and returns to the mountain, where it becomes the yama no kami until the next spring. This phenomenon indicates that the kami involved is conceived of as a single entity sharing both characterstics of yama no kami and ta no kami, and leading to a widely accepted theory that the kami's original identity was that of an ancestral spirit.

For Japanese farmers, the yama no kami represents a tutelary of agriculture responsible for bringing the water that is most crucial to rice farming. In contrast, the mountain peoples who make their livings by hunting, charcoal burning and forestry generally consider the yama no kami a tutelary of the mountain, but they do not share agriculturalists' belief that the yama no kami and ta no kami alternate between mountain and rice paddy. While some agriculturalists believe that the yama no kami is female, mountain peoples extend the concept by saying that the yama no kami bears twelve children each year, thus representing a kami with strong reproductive capabilities, and in some areas leading to an identification with the ubugami, a tutelary of infants and childbirth (see also ubusunagami). Further, woodturners (latheusing woodworkers called kijishi or rokuroshi), consider the yama no kami to be a married pair, and thus enshrine paired male and female images of the kami.

Mountain people's practices regarding the yama no kami tend to involve strict taboos or imi, for example, prohibitions against entering the mountain on the day of the kami's festival: since the kami counts the mountain's trees on that day; it is said that anyone cutting down a tree that day will be pinned under it and die. The yama no kami is also sometimes said to dislike women, or to be adverse to the pollutions of childbirth and menstruation. Some say that the yama no kami is an ugly hag, with the result that rituals are performed to flatter the kami by offering her items thought to be even uglier, in hopes she will respond by granting worshipers blessings from the mountains. This belief was thus linked to the practice of offering stonefish to the kami of the mountain.
- source : Kokugakuin, Iwai Hiroshi -


. ubusunagami, chinjugami, ubugami 産神 "deity of birth" .
and deities of personal worship

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Yama no Kami　山の神 has only one eye
Amanomahitotsu no kami　天目一箇神 / Amatsumara 天津麻羅
- "the one-eyed kami of heaven"


source :　google.co.jp

- quote -
Amatsumara 天津麻羅
Other names: Amenomahitotsu no kami (Kogo shūi)
A kami of ironworking (kajishin).
Kojiki states that as the blacksmith of the Plain of High Heaven, Amatsumara was called upon to refine the iron used for making mirrors, using the "hard rocks of heaven" and the "metal mountain of heaven" located above the "Tranquil River of Heaven" (Amenoyasukawa). Together with Ishikoridome, he was said to have assisted in the making of the mirror used to lure Amaterasu from her hiding place in the rock cave of heaven. The name Amatsumara means ma-ura ("eye divination"), which some believe means "one-eyed," a reference to an occupational hazard of blacksmiths.
..... Mori Mizue, 2005, Kokugakuin

This deity is also called
noogami 農神 / ノウガミ様 No-gami - obosuna sama オボスナ様 / おぼすな様 Obosuna, Ubusuna deity
deity for agriculture, especially the rice fields and sake rituals.

. juunisama 十二様 Juni Sama "Honorable 12" Deities .

. katame no Kami 片目の神 Kami with one eye .



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Some sources quote another deity as Yamanokami

. Ooyamatsuminomikoto 大山祇神, 大山積神, 大山津見神 Oyama Tsumi no Mikoto .
Oyamatsumi no Mikoto, Ōyamatsumi - protector of trees and the forest

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楠元の山の神 Kusumoto no Yama no Kami



This stone statue was made in 1712.
- with more photos of Ta no Kami from Aira, Kagoshima
触田(ふれた)の田の神 / 福岡家の田の神 / 西田の田の神 / 日木山里の田の神
木津志の田の神 / 木津志堂崎の田の神
- reference source : city.aira.lg.jp/bunkazai/kanko... -

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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

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- - - - - Yama no Kami and Fudo Myo-O - - - - -

. 不動明王 Fudo Myo-O - Introduction .

.......................................................................　Miyagi 宮城県 .....
刈田郡 Katta district 七ヶ宿町 Shichikashuku

Once upon a time
a master carpenter from Hida wanted to build 不動堂 a hall for Fudo Myo-O in one night. It was summer and the nights were quite short, so he could not finish his work. Therefore he threw away all the wood he had prepared and left the village. They all became different rocks along the left side of the river 白石川 Shiroishigawa, now called
柱岩、桁岩、染岩、ヌキ岩、角柱岩、敷板岩、萱岩.
To our day, the Yama no Kami takes pity on things here and if there is a flooding of the river, he stops it at the border of the village.

. Hida no Takumi 飛騨の匠 expert carpenter from Hida .


.......................................................................　Tokyo 東京都 .....
西多摩郡 Nishitama district 桧原村 Hinohara village

When one becomes a true servant of the Kami, one is able to see its various features:
The Kami of 和田の山 Mount Wada is seen as 蛇 a serpent.
The Kami of 大沢の山 Mount Ozawa is seen as 小さい蛇 a small serpent.
The Kami of another mountain was seen as a pregnant woman.
The roadside Kami at the village border is seen as 火の神 a God of Fire.
Obusu-sama オズスナ様(産土神), the deity of birth is seen as Fudo Myo-O.

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- - - - - Yama no Kami and 鬼 Oni Demons - - - - -

. Onipedia - 鬼ペディア　- Oni Demons - ABC-List - Index - .


岩木山の神と鬼 Gods and Demons from Mount Iwakisan (Aomori)
畠山篤 Hatakeyama Atsushi

第１章　
岩木山の神の由来譚の生成― 百沢寺・イタコ・村人の語り（百沢寺が語る岩木山権現由来譚；二つ目の丹後日和の由来；三つ目の丹後日和の由来；丹後日和の背景と変容；イタコが語る“お岩木様一代記”　ほか）
第２章　
岩木山の鬼と水利伝承― 津軽の鬼・山人・大人（鬼・山人・大人伝承の分布と分類；単純型；山幸型；農耕型；鉄器型　ほか）


.......................................................................　Akita 秋田県 .....

Once upon a time
the 男鹿の本山の神 Yama no Kami from the main mountain Honzan of the Oga Peninsula had demons as his followers.
They were allowed to go down to the villages on the 15th day of the New Year and scare the people.

. Namahage なまはげ　/ 生剥げ from Oga Hanto .


.......................................................................　Nagano 長野県 .....

. 南佐久郡 Minamisaku - Last day of the Year .


.......................................................................　Nara 奈良県 .....
吉野郡 Yoshino district 上北山村 Kami-Kitayama village

. the cave 大蛇嵓 Daijagura at Odaigahara 大台ケ原 .


.......................................................................　Niigata 新潟県 .....
佐渡郡 Sado district

Kinpokusan 金北山の神 Mount Kinpokusan (1,172 m)
昔、佐渡を治めていた金北山の神さまが、もし節分に撒いた豆から芽が出たら佐渡の国を譲ろうと鬼に約束する。このときの約束状が金北山のお堂の下に埋めてあるともいい、いくら鬼がとりに来ても、神さまは決してわたさないという。
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昔、佐渡を治めていた金北山の神さまが、もし節分に撒いた豆から芽が出たら佐渡の国を譲ろうと鬼に約束する。ところがある年、その豆から芽が出たので、神さまはあわててモグラを呼んで根を食いちぎらせ枯らしてしまった。鬼は怒って猫に命じてモグラを捕まえさせようとした。それ以降節分の豆はよく炒るようになったという。

. Tonchibo トンチボ, Tonchiboo トンチボウ Tanuki from Sado .
Tonchibo is also a local name for the Deity of the Mountain Forest, Yama no Kami 山の神, and thus a taboo word for the local fisherman.

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白根市 Shirone town

. gaki 餓鬼 hungry ghosts .


.......................................................................　Yamaguchi 山口県 .....
下関市 Shimonoseki 蓋井島 Futaoijima Island

On this island there are four forests sacred to the Yama no Kami, 山の神の森 Yama no Kami no Mori.
They have their special legend.
A very long time ago
Four Oni demons from Shinra (Silla, Korea) came over the sea to invade Japan. 神功皇后 Regent-Empress Jingu Koogo invited them to a banquet and served them Sake with poison to get rid of them. Three of them fell down in the forest of Futaoi. One Demon fell down in 高野の森 the forest of Takano. Their enboku 魂魄 Demon Souls cursed the place and the islanders, so the islanders finally built a shrine to appease their souls.

蓋井島の八幡宮　Hachimangu on Futaoi Island



山の神の祭 Festival for Yama no Kami
- reference source : ameblo.jp/shimonose9m/entry... -

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. Yama no Kami - Legends - From Aichi to Yamanashi .

. Ta no Kami, Ta-no-Kami 田の神 Tanokami, God of the Fields .


. sanki, yama-oni, yamaoni 山鬼の鬼伝説 / ヤマオニ .
- yama no oni 山の鬼 Mountain Oni Demon Legends -

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sangaku shinkoo　山岳信仰 religion of the High Mountains is a different matter.

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

. kami　神　Shinto deities - ABC-LIST - .

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