. Shinto Shrines (jinja 神社) - Introduction .
. kami 神 Shinto deities .
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ubagami 姥神 lit. "old woman deity" - "Grandmother Deity"
- - - - - The legends from Esashi in Hokkaido know this:
Orii baasan 折居婆さん / オリイバアサン grandmother Orii
Grandmother Orii lived in Esashi. She prayed to the deities every morning and could tell the villagers about the weather of the day. The villagers thought of her as a deity, because her weather forecast was always right.
Once there was a bad catch for herring. That night grandmother Orii saw murasaki no hi 紫の火 a divine purple light in the sky above the sea. As the deity had shown her, she went out to the sea, poured ritual water from a Tokkuri container in that spot and folded her hands in prayer. Now a huge group of herring came by and the villagers had enough to eat for a long time.
When the villagers went to the home of Grandmother Orii, she was gone and since then they prayed to her as
Ubagami 姥神 "the old woman deity".
This name is also read おりん婆（折居婆）Orin Ba.
source : nihon.syoukoukai.com...
Tokkuri iwa 江差のとっくり岩 Tokkuri rock in Esashi
They say the Tokkuri of Grandmother Orii turned upside down and became a rock.
Many herring are fished around this rock.
. nishin 鰊 / 鯡 / 青魚 / 黄魚 herring .
source : Esashi Town Homepage
- Another version of the legend:
Once there lived an old couple in 江差 Esashi which had not enough to eat.
A deity appeared in their dream and told them to explore a certain area of the sea. Next morning they went out and found a lot of herring. Now they could eat fish to their heart's content.
The Ubagami deity venerated in Esashi is seen as this old couple, they are the ancestors of the herring fishermen.
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Ubagami Daijinguu 姥神大神宮 Ubagami Daijingu
海道檜山郡江差町姥神町99 / Ubagamichō, Esashi, Hiyama district, Hokkaido
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The Ubagami Daijingu Togyo Festival – held every year from August 9 to 11 – is what the residents of Esashi most look forward to every year. Approximately 50,000 people gather in the town – which has a population of only 8,000 – to watch portable shrines and 13 floats being paraded around the streets.
- A festival that has continued since the Edo Period
Since the Edo Period, Esashi prospered as a herring fishing community, and was greatly influenced by the culture and festivals of the Kansai and Hokuriku regions due to the Kitamae-bune ships that arrived via the Sea of Japan shipping route. The origins of the Ubagami Daijingu Togyo Festival date back 375 years, when it began with the people of Esashi thanking the gods for the plentiful herring catches.
- The chair of the Esashi Sightseeing & Convention Association, Saikaiya Nozomu is also a doll maker who creates the mannequins that ride on the floats, and from an early age he grew up with the shrine festivals. Each of the town’s neighborhood associations is responsible for the management and operation of one of the floats, which cost over 10 million yen to build and between 1.8 and 1.9 million yen per year to maintain. These costs are generously borne by the residents of the neighborhoods and people who were born in or have connections with the town. “People who come from the cities are motivated by Esashi residents’ enthusiasm and passion for the festival,” says Saikaiya. “Perhaps it’s because they sense the eagerness to preserve the local culture inherited from the Edo period.”
Saikaiya’s father was the doll maker who, under the name of Hokuryu, created five of the mannequins that ride on the thirteen floats mannequins. Nozomu is the second-generation Hokuryu. “Mannequins made by myself and my father adorn the festival,” says Saikaiya. “Such emotions cannot be experienced anywhere else.”
- Young people return home for the festival
The children of Esashi are raised on drum & flute lullabies. They are pulling floats as soon as they can walk, and are playing the flute and drums when they become elementary and junior high school pupils. They then take on the role of protecting the float from overhead cables, and when they become adults they are responsible for supervising the parade of floats, with the ultimate aim of becoming one of the people charged with overall responsibility for the float.
- Natsuhara Shigeki,
who works at an elementary school and is also the vice chair of the festival organizing committee tells of an episode that expresses Esashi residents’ feelings toward the festival. “At a job interview in a certain city, a high school student from Esashi asked if he could take a holiday on the same three festival days every year. He explained about the Ubagami Daijingu Togyo Festival and that without the younger generation, the floats would not be mobile and asked the boss for the time off. The boss of the company was surprised and impressed by the high school student’s enthusiasm for his hometown, something that is not so common, and decided to employ him straight away.”
Everyone gets involved in the festival – from young children to senior citizens. All homes prepare alcohol and food to welcome visitors. According to Natsuhara, “Esashi has created a culture in which all people are involved.” Saikaiya also adds “Each household serves local cuisine made with recipes handed down from the past, making it a festival in which food culture is also conveyed.”
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- source : kai-hokkaido.com/en/feature...
- - - - - Deities in residence - - - - -
天照皇大御神 Amaterasu Omikami
天児屋根神 Amanokoyane no Mikoto
住吉大神 Sumiyoshi Daijin
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shuin 朱印 stamp
- - - - - HP of the Shrine
- source : hokkaidojinjacho.jp... -
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Yearly Festivals 年中行事
- CLICK for more photos !
姥神大神宮渡御祭（うばがみだいじんぐうとぎょさい）Ubagami Daijingu Togyosai
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Ubagami Daijingu is the oldest shrine in Hokkaido, established in 1447. It is said to have been established as a place for herring-fishers to worship the image of the god they believed in. Once a year, the people of Esashi carry out the Togyosai, in which they offer their thanks for a bountiful catch of fish.
Thirteen richly decorated floats (called “yama” in Esashi) are paraded downtown and uptown in a dignified procession. This festival is clearly dear to the hearts of everyone in Esashi—during the Togyosai, the population of the town swells to five times its normal size because of the many people returning home. The Togyosai is truly a festival fit to represent Hokkaido.
– Reception period: August 1-7, 2017. The festival itself takes place from August 9-11.
- source : hokkaido-sightseeing.com/en... -
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天児屋根神 / 天児屋根命 / 天児屋命 Amanokoyane no Mikoto / Ama-no-Koyane-no-mikoto
Amenokoyanenomikoto／Amenokoyanomikoto / Ameno Koyane
He belongs to the deities of Shrine Kasuga Jinja, Nara.
He is considered to be an ancestor of the 中臣 Nakatomi clan and its most famous branch - the Fujiwara clan.
中臣連等の祖。天の石屋・天孫降臨段に登場。天の石屋段には天照大御神を天石屋戸から招き出すために布刀詔戸言を申した神。天孫降臨では五伴緒として番能邇々芸命に随行する。
- reference source : kojiki.kokugakuin.ac.jp... -
- quote -
Ameno Koyane
is known to have been one of the Gods of the Five Guilds. He was one of the many Gods present when Ninigi made his descent to Earth. This god and many others agreed after a decree by Amaterasu to serve and follow Ninigi.
Ameno Koyane was also given the extra task, alongside Ameno Futodama to aid and protect Ninigi.
This God is claimed as the ancestor of the Nakatomi Clan.
- The Five Guilds
The Gods of the Five Guilds are a group of Gods with the names Ameno Koyane, Ameno Futodama, Ameno Uzume, Ishikoridome and Tamaya.
Each of these Gods agreed to follow the royal decree of Amaterasu to follow and serve Ninigi after his decent to the Earth. Two of these Gods (Ameno Koyane and Ameno Futodama) were given special decrees to aid and protect Ninigi.
- source : historyofjapan.co.uk... -
Kogotomusubi no Kami 興台産霊神
The father of Amanokoyane, ancestral kami of the Fujiwara clan.
According to the "divine-age" records in Sendai kuji hongi, Kogotomusubi was identified as the mikogami (divine offspring) of Ichichimusuhi no mikoto, a kami in the lineage of another kami, Tsuhayamusuhi no mikoto. Based on the theory that the name Kogoto is formed from a plural prefix attached to the word koto meaning "word," the name has been interpreted to mean kotodama, namely a kami of speech and language.
- source : eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp... -
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- Reference : 姥神大神宮
- Reference : Ubagami Hokkaido
. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja 神社) - Introduction .
. kami 神 Shinto deities - ABC-LIST - .
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. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .
....................................................................... Miyagi 宮城県 .....
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白井市 Shiroi city 斎川松沢 Saikawa Matsuzawa
chichigami 乳神 "breast deity"
At the root of an old pine tree there was a spring and in the nearby sanctuary there was a stone memorial for Ubagami.
The wife of 用明天皇 Yomei Tenno (518 - 587) gave birth here on a rock called Shitahimo no ishi 下紐の石, but she did not have enough milk to feed the baby. A diviner told her to use the water from the spring and when she drunk it, her milk begun to flow. A stone statue was erected in her honor.
Now many women come here to pray.
Sometimes they scratch a bit of the breast of the statue and drink the powder to make their own milk flow.
As a sign of greatfullness many women later bring a plush doll of a female breast.
. matsu 松と伝説 Legends about the pine tree / 松の木 .
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仙台市 Sendai city
daishimizu 大清水 "great clear water"
It is located on the Eastern side of the bridge Itsutsubachi 五ツ橋. It is one of the three "clear water" locations and sometimes called sato shimizu 里清水.
Since olden times there was a sanctuary for Ubagami.
The water could heal cough from children.
People make offerings of ema 絵馬 votive tablets of a rooster turned upside-down.
....................................................................... Niigata 新潟県 .....
東蒲原郡 Higashi-Kanbara district 阿賀町 Aga town
Along the river bank the deity Ubagami sama 姥神様 is venerated.
She is also mamorigami 守り神 the protector deity at the entrance of the village.
. mamorigami 守り神と伝説 Legends about protector deities .
....................................................................... Toyama 富山県 .....
. onbaba オンババ / 姥神 (Ubagami) "Old Grandma Mountain God" .
. Tateyama Shinkō 立山信仰 Tateyama mountain worship .
... Temple Ashikura-Ji had around 30 subtemples, of which the 姥堂 Ubadō and the Enmadō were the most important.
... It was only at this one time in the year, on the middle day of the autumn equinox, that women were allowed to enter the precincts, normally forbidden them, as far as the Ubadō, from where, having received the protection of the deity Ubagami, they worshipped the sacred mountain and prayed for rebirth in paradise.
The rite was an enactment of death and rebirth.
- quote -
Tateyama no Onbasama 立山のおんばさま On-Ba Sama
Uba-Ishi 姥石 "Grandmother Rock"
- reference source : webheibon.jp/yamanba... -
- - - Ubagami is sometimes seen as the
. Yamanba, Yamauba 山姥 "old mountain woman", Yokai monster .
....................................................................... Yamanashi 山梨県 .....
都留市 Tsuru city
. Chichigami san 乳神サン "breast deity" .
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- reference : nichibun yokai database -
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山姥神社 Yamanba Jinja / Yamanba Shrine - Yamauba
高知県 Kochi - Shirakidani, Nankoku, Kochi
- HP of the Shrine
- reference source : yamauba.jp... -
. Yamanba, Yamauba 山姥 and 山姫 Yamahime .
Yamanba, Yamamba is the "old hag from the mountain".
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. Ishikoridome no kami 石凝姥神 （いしこりどめのかみ）(Ishi-kori-dome-no-kami) .
Nakayama Jinja 中山神社 / 岡山県津山市一宮695 Okayama, Tsuyama town
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