. Yama no Kami 山の神 Yamanokami - Introduction .
. Ta no Kami 田の神 Tanokami - Introduction .
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Yama no Kami 山の神 God of the Mountain
and Legends from Nagano 長野県
. Legends about Yamanokami 山の神と伝説 .
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山の海神(ワタツミ) Yama no Wadatsumi
長野県上高地【明神池】Nagano, Kamikochi - Myojin-Ike pond
. Azumi no Isora 阿曇磯良 .
The deity from Hakata / Fukuoka is also venerated in the mountains of Nagano !
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Yamanokami Onsen 山の神温泉 Hot Spring Yamanokami
3 Chome-23-50 Hakoshimizu, Nagano / 長野県長野市箱清水3-23-50
- Homepage of Yamanokami Onsen Nagano -
. Yamanokami Onsen in Japan 山の神温泉 .
岩手県花巻市 Iwate, Hanamaki town
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. shinboku 神木, shinju 神樹 sacred tree, divine tree .
kami no ki, kaminoki 神の木、神ノ木 tree of the deity, tree of God
moriki 杜樹 tree of a shrine
On the pass of 吉田山 Mount Yoshidayama is a shrine for Yamanokami. Once they cut down the trees to build a 公会堂 public hall for the village.
Very soon after there was a typhus epidemy and many villagers died.
This was the curse of Yamanokami, so they held special rituals to appease the deity.
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In the forest is an 稲荷 Inari shrine. The owner of the land had sold it all and the trees were cut. The wood was used to 蚕室 make a room to raise silk worms. But this did not go well and the man went bancrupt. The man who bought it after that had his home burned down by wildfire.
This was all the curse of Yamanokami.
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In 1906 Jisha Goshirei 神社合祀令 many Shrines were relocated or unified by government orders.
Many large trees in a Shrine compound were cut down, but then the only son of a man involved in this order died.
Many people begun to protest against these orders.
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Yamanokami gets offerings of just one 藁草履 straw sandal. They say he is lame.
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. okoze 虎魚 / 鰧魚 / オコゼ / ヲコゼ stonefish .
okojo オコジョ dried Okoze, in some local dialects
Not to mix with
okojo オコジョ stoat, Mustela erminea, short-tailed weasel
Okojo is 山の神の使い the messenger of Yamanokami. It lives near water and does not mind the presence of humans, but disliked dogs.
As a Messenger of the deity it is not hunted.
okojosama オコジョサマ Okojo sama
In 諏訪地方 the area of Suwa, if people see a weasel while on their way to the forest, this will bring bad luck and they go back home for this day.
Once a hunter went up to 釜無山 Kamanashiyama, saw a weasel on the way but ignored it. Further on he was assaulted by a huge bear.
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茅野市 Chino city
shinbatsu 神罰 divine punishment
On the 15th day of the sixth lunar month in 1628 about 7 pilgrims went from 諏訪高島 Suwa Takashima to climb 立科 / 蓼科 Mount Tateshina.
Amont them was an arrogant type who wanted to take 神鳥 a sacred bird with him. When they were on the way back he suddenly lost his senses. He said he was a messenger of Yamanokami, pulled out a large sword and begun to cut the air. After that the man spit blood and died. Others said the bird in his breast pocket took of to the mountain and he came back to life.
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東筑摩郡 Higashi-Chikuma district 四賀村 Shiga mura village
北安曇野郡 Kita-Azumino district 小谷村 / おたり Otari
. Yama no Kami 山の神 and Tengu 天狗 the Mountain Goblin .
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飯田市 Iida city
Itodayama no kami no tatari 糸田山の神の祟り curse from the Kami of Mount Itodayama
Once upon a time, a baby sitter and a baby from 此田 Konota got lost. After that, even to our day, sometimes the crying of a baby can be heard. This is the voice of the Kami from Itodayama.
The owner of the mountain forest built a small shrine to appease this Yamanokami, but the forest became bachi-yama バチ山, a "cursed forest".
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hizettai Yamanokami 非絶対山の神
In 南和田 Minami-Wada there are two Yamanokami.
One was called zettai Yamanokami 絶対山の神 "the real, absolute Yamanokami", the deity 大山祇命 Oyamazumi no Mikoto.
The other was called
hizettai Yamanokami 非絶対山の神 "the non-ablsolute Yamanokami". Some say this was the disciple of Oyamazumi no Mikoto, a man who had hanged himself in the forest.
In the local dialect he was also called shiryoobe 死霊ベェ Shiryobe, a Ghost.
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nusubito kamisama 盗人神様 Yamanokami hiding a thief
Once a thief broke into a home. When they got after him, he fled to the forest and they lost sight of him near the shrine for Yamanokami.
So the villagers wondered if Yamanokami had hid the thief . . . and called him Yamanokami hiding a thief.
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Itokutakusan no kami イトク沢山の神 / イトクタクサンノカミ
There is a small stone monument for this Yamanokami. If people behave badly around here, they will become ill or face other disasters.
Once
a child came with a baby on its back to いとく沢山の神 Itokuzawa Yamanokami and wanted to fetch water. But it got lost and never came back.
It mus have been the curse of Yamanokami.
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inu 犬 dog / daija 大蛇 huge serpent
A hunter went deep into the forest with his dog. When he rested under a rock he became tired, but his dog was howling noisily so he cut off its head with a hatchet. The head of this dog took off in flight to the top of the rock. When he stopped there, a huge serpent came and ate it.
Now the hunter knew that his dog was indeed Yamanokami, who had saved his life.
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Some say they have seen Yamanokami with a haori 羽織 coat walking around the mountains.
Others say they saw him at Akaishi, but it was a woman.
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松本市 Matsumoto city
. Daidarabotchi (ダイダラボッチ, literally "Giant") .
Tiirabotcha デーラボッチャ in local dialect.
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. kitsune キツネ / 狐と伝説 fox legends .
A fox can bewitch persons. The person becomes delirious and begins to eat all kind of strange things. To cure him, a scroll with the figure of Yamanokami must be ut around his body.
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zen o kashite kureru jinja 膳を貸してくれる神社 a Shrine to borrow trays
Kashiwagi Jinja 柏木神社 Shrine is just below the Yamanokami memorial stone.
If people come here who do not have enough food trays for a wedding invitation, they make a special wish and the trays will be delivered on the memorial stone.
"We need xx food trays. Please lend them to us!"
. Zenwanbuchi 膳椀淵 "river pool for trays and bowls". .
where poeple come to ask for trays and bowls at a wedding.
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南佐久郡 Minamisaku, Minami-Saku district
In this village it is taboo to go into the mountain on the last day of the year.
If someone goes anyway, he hears a voice calling
「ミソカヨー」...「ミソカヨーイ」 "It's the last day, the last day of the year...".
If the villager turns his head to see who is calling, he will not be able to bend it back.
They say this is the doing of Yamanokami or 鬼 an Oni demon.
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Minamisaku, Minami-Saku district 川上村 Kawakami
mujina 狢 badger
Once the villagers smoked out a badger, but 山の神様の木 the sacred tree of Yamanokami caught fire and fell down.
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Minamisaku, Minami-Saku district 小海町 Koume
Yauemon Yashiki 弥右衛門屋敷 estate of Yauemon
The estate of Yauemon was in the west of the village, now it is just fields.
Once upon a time, Yauemon was late in planting the fields and one night Yamanokami from the mountain behind his house came down and planted all.
Next morning Yauemon followed the muddy trail of horse hooves and found they went up to the mounain, stopping at the small sanctuary for Yamanokami.
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長野市 Nagano city
. yamori ヤモリ / 守宮 / 野守 (nomori) Japanese gecko .
and 大蛇
In a hamlet of the village 松代 Matsudai there was a man proud of his physical strength. In 水無月 June he went into the mountains with his friends. There a huge serpent came out. He put his fingers in its mouth and wanted to stretch it wide open, but cuold not. So he used a sickle to cut through its mouth and throat. He cut up the biggest piece and took it home.
His parents said this serpent must have been Yamanokami and he could be cursed, so they threw him out of the home.
The smell of the serpent stuck to his body, but when the doctor gave him some medicine, it vanished.
The doctor told him that this was not a serpent, but a Japanese gecko.
The man was later caught stealing wood from a shrine and sentenced to death. People say this was the curse of the Yamori.
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下伊那郡 Shimo-Ina district 阿智村 Achi
. daija, orochi 大蛇 the huge serpent, great snake legends .
A farmer went to 丸山の森 the forest of Maruyama to cut underbrush. Suddenly he became very tired and fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw a huge serpent trying to fold around him. He took the sickle by his side and tried to cut the serpent, but it disappeared very quickly.
The sickle is now venerated in a sanctuary for Yamanokami.
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下伊那郡 Shimo-Ina district 辰野町 Tatsuno
. kitooshi, kitōshi 祈祷師と伝説 Kitoshi, Legends about Shamans .
Yamanokami is also called 祈とう師 "Kitoshi" . People pray to him to get rid of a curse or mysterious problem.
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下伊那郡 Shimo-Ina district 天龍村 Tenryu village
ganto sama, gantosama 願戸様 Ganto Deity
At the crossing of the roads to 飯島道 Iijima and 牧金道 Makigane there is a Yamanokami called Ganto Sama.
This dates back to the Edo period when a traveller had died here and this is in his memory.
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. yama-inu, yamainu 山犬、豺 "mountain dog" legends .
ookami 狼 Okami, wolf legends
mutsu Jizoo 六ツ地蔵 six Jizo (roku Jizo)
At the border between Nagano and Aichi there is a ritual mound named "Mutsu Jizo".
It is not very old. Once during a great rain, there were the bones of xis people coming flooding down the mountain and the memorial is in their honor.
There were actually seven zato 座頭 blind people walking that day and one had grabbed the tail of a yama-inu 山犬 wolf who brought him to 三河の富山村漆島 Mikawa, Tomiyama village.
The wolf is venerated as the messenger of Yamanokami in this region.
Roku Jizō, Roku Jizoo 六地蔵 Roku Jizo, Six Jizo Statues
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The tales relate to 村松家 the Muramatsu family, which developed the land.
They venerate the skull bones of a wolf in 太子堂 a Daishi-Do Hall in their estate.
Once a family member had shot down a wolf, which was in fact Yamanokami who had come to lead him back home.
So now the wolf is the protector deity of Muramatsu family.
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Once a hunter begged for a baby of a wolf, the messenger of Yamanokami.
He got four animals. When he went hunting once, he did not shoot anything. So he made a fire to spend the night there and told the animals:
"We will stay here for tonight. I had a little food, but since I did not have any pray today, you will go hungry, please be patient . . .".
The wolf used his tail to spread water on the fire to extinguish it many times. That is strange, thought the hunter and climbed a tree. There his old mino 蓑 straw coat was bitten by the wolf and the hunter realized the animal wanted to kill him. So he shot it.
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下伊那郡 Shimo-Ina district 豊丘村 Toyooka village
Yamanokami allows a wolf to eat a human who has fallen down in the mountains, but no other humans.
The grown-ups tell their children to chant, when they stumble and fall down on the mountain road;
「どっこい一休み」- Oh well, I will take a rest now!.
This will prevent a wolf from eating them.
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諏訪郡 Suwa district 原村 Hara village
At the Shrine for Yamanokami there are many offerings of long nawa 縄 ropes along the lattice doors and nearby trees.
The trees are hung up with the wish for a long life.
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上田市 Ueda city
Azumaya san no kami 四阿山の神 Kami of Mount Azumaya (2,354 m)
Once Yamanokami walked around Mount Azumaya in the direction of river 神川 Kangawa. Suddenly goma no mi ごまの実 the seed of sesame hit his eye and hurt it badly.
Since then downriver of Kangawa they do not grow sesame.
- a version from 佐久市 Saku city
Once upon a time
In the pond of temple 真楽寺 Shinraku-Ji there lived a ryuujin 竜神 Dragon Deity. He was on his way to 諏訪湖 Lake Suwako, near 小田井 Otai in 横根 Yokone, he fell down and hurt his eye with a seed of sesame.
Therefore the farmers of Yokone do not grow sesame. If they do, they will be cursed.
. ryuujin 竜神 Ryujin, Dragon Deity .
Ryuu-oo 竜王 Ryu-O - The Dragon King
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jiishi, baishi 爺石 Ji-Ishi Grandpa rock，婆石 Ba-Ishi Grandma rock
Once upon a time
an old rich couple from 松代 Matsudai went to see her daughter, who lived in Ueda, because she had given birth to a baby. They crossed the pass 地蔵峠 Jizo Toge in a kago 籠 sedan chair. But the palanquin bearers were a bad lot and after passing the pass 金剛寺峠 Kongoji Toge they robbed the couple of their money and threw them down into the gourge with the palanquin.
While he was rolling down the mountain side, Grandpa got stuck in the middle of the way down and turned into a rock. Grandma fell down to the forest and became a rock.
The palanquin fell down near the sanctuary of Yamanokami and became the rock 籠岩 / 篭岩 Kagoiwa.
. kago 篭 / 駕籠 / かご palanquin, sedan chair .
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- reference source : nichibun yokai database -
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. Legends about Yamanokami 山の神と伝説 .
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. Yama no Kami 山の神 - Table of Contents - .
. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .
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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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