. Shinto Shrines (jinja 神社) - Introduction .
. kami 神 Shinto deities .
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Mizunokami to unagi 水の神とうなぎ / 鰻 Deity of Water and Eel Legends
. Mizu no Kami, Mizunokami 水の神 Deity of Water - Legends
.
. unagi うなぎ / 鰻 と伝説 Legends about the eel .
Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳
. Chinju Sama, Chinjusama 鎮守様 Guardian Deity Legends .
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鰻と水の神 Unagi to Mizu no Kami
早川孝太郎 Hayakawa Kotaro (1889 - 1956) / 民俗学者、画家
Most of the legends below are from the essay by Hayakawa san.
Some are about hebi 蛇 a serpent, imori 井守 a newt or Kappa san.
. hebi 蛇と伝説 Legends about snakes and serpents .
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As I am writing about Unagi, there is this news at NHK:
Loch Ness monster 'may be a giant eel'
An international team of scientists says the fabled Loch Ness monster in Scotland, also known as "Nessie," could be a giant eel.
"Nessie" is said to be a dinosaur-like creature with a long neck.
The research team was led by Professor Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from the University of Otago in New Zealand. Gemmell said on Thursday that they did not find any DNA for dinosaur-like creatures in samples taken from some 250 locations in Loch Ness.
But Gemmell said there is a lot of eel DNA in the water and the scientists cannot exclude the possibility the Loch Ness monster may be a giant eel.
The team took samples of so-called environmental DNA from the water and compared this data with known genetic sequences.
- source : NHK September 06, 2019 -
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. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .
....................................................................... Aichi 愛知県 .....
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新城市 Shinshiro city 長篠村 Nagashina village
. ryuuguu 竜宮と伝説 Ryugu Legends about the Dragon Palace .
At the river 寒渓川 Kankeigawa is an access to the Dragon Palace.
The master of this 川淵 riverside is an eel.
Once or twice a year it hunts for ayu 鮎 sweetfish (trout) and shows his features on the water surface. Its tail is said to be in the form of a hand fan.
....................................................................... Aomori 青森県 .....
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The lord of 十和田湖 lake Towadako is an eel which is very very large, maybe more than 1400 meters.
. Hachirootaroo 八郎太郎 Hachirotaro, Hachiro-Taro. .
....................................................................... Gifu 岐阜県 .....
. unagi to oni 鰻 the Eel and yooki 妖鬼 the Monster Demon .
and 白鰻 one white eel, kami no tsukai 神の使いの鰻 messenger of the deity
....................................................................... Ibaraki 茨城県 .....
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龍ヶ崎市 Ryugasaki city
. Kokuzo Bosatsu 虚空蔵菩薩 Kokūzō, Akashagarbha .
kami no o-tsukai 神のお使い messenger of the deity
messenger of 鎮守様 the Chinju Sama guardian deity
There are various stories about the relationship of the deity 虚空蔵 Kokuzo and the eel.
Kokuzo is the patron deity of people born in ushi 丑 the year of the bull. These people are not allowed to eat eel their whole life.
In the temple ponds are often quite a lot of eels, seen as the local messengers of the deity.
Of course they are not caught by others and never eaten.
うなぎのお寺 彦倉虚空蔵尊 A Temple for Eels - Hikokura in Saitama
- reference source : unagino-otera.jp... -
This statue was erected in 2005.
The spere of about 50 cm represents the space.
Inside are the carvings of two eels and two baby eels.
Every fourth sunday in October there is うなぎ供養会 a special memorial service for the eel.
People come here to express their gratitude for this animal.
- There is reason why this Kokuzo is related to the eel.
Well, many many years ago, a young farmer couple had a baby. The couple went to the fields to work and took the baby, laid it near the edge of the large field, where it fell asleep soon.
The parents worked all day and did not hear the baby.
BUT - when the baby woke up, there came an eel and the baby followed it to the river, where it fell and was taken away by the waves.
When the parents came back in the evening, they could not find the child. They searched everywhere, even the neighbours came searching, but they could not find it.
It must have been kidnapped by the gods . . .
So finally they went home, passing a nearby temple, when they heard the voice of their baby crying. They went inside and found a statue of Kokuzo, all dripping wet, with many eels around its legs. And the baby was there too, with no harm done to it.
Kokuzo had saved and protected the baby with the help of the eels . . .
and thus is became うなぎのお寺 the "Eel Temple".
1-83-1 Hikokura, Misato, Saitama / 埼玉県三郷市彦倉
....................................................................... Iwate 岩手県 .....
imori 井守 (いもり) newt, eft, kind of salamander
In the area of 九戸郡 Kunohe there are legneds about 八郎太郎 Hachirotaro, Hachiro-Taro. He once attacked the guardian dragon of Lake Towada.
A young man from 大川目村荒津平 Okawame village drank water from a spring and swallowed a newt by accident.
When the boy became older, be grew up to be quite a giant and never lost a fight.
Later he became the Lord of
. Hachiroogata 八郎潟 Hachirō-gata .
in Akita.
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花巻市 Hanamaki city
In the district of 稗貫郡 Hienuki in a temple forest lives a 蛇 serpent venerated as 雲南権現 Unnan Gongen.
There is a small shrine in its honor.
source and more photos : rubese.net/gurucomi...
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宮古市 Miyako city 茂市 Moichi
. Kappa 河童 legends from Iwate .
At the confluence of river 閉伊川 Heigawa and 宮古川 Miyakogawa there is a river pool and a small shrine by its side.
They say a Kappa lives here and sometimes there are water accidents.
....................................................................... Kagawa 香川県 .....
讃岐三豊の水神 Sanuki Mitoyo no Suijin
細川敏太郎 Hosokawa Bintaro
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羽方(現高瀬町) Takase Hagata
unagibuchi ryuuoo 鰻淵龍王 the Dragon King of the Eel Pool
is venerated on a rock with a shimenawa 注連縄 sacred rope around it.
There live kuro-unagi 黒鰻 black eels and shiro-unagi 白鰻 white eels.
If people saw a black eel, it would rain. If they saw a white eel, it would shine..
Many people came to find out about the rain in their region.
....................................................................... Kagoshima 鹿児島県 .....
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大島郡 Oshima district 瀬戸内町 Setouchi town
kami no o-tsukai 神のお使い messenger of the deity
At 古仁屋町勝浦 Koniya town, Katsuura, there is one 泉 spring where many eels live.
The people who live nearby venerate them as the messengers of God. and to not hunt them. They have a special black spot on the head, a sign from Mizunokami.
....................................................................... Kyushu 九州 .....
- - - - - 奄美大島の水神 Amami Oshima no Suijin
- - - - - 山下文武 Yamashita Fumitake
This Suijin does not like "long things", like the eel.
If people who belief in Siujin eat an eel, they will fall ill and will be cursed.
So nobody even tried to eat eel.
....................................................................... Miyagi 宮城県 .....
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栗原市 Kurihara city 金成町 Kannari town
Where the river is very deep and few people come, there is the living ground of the honorable Eel.
Sometimes children come here and have accidents. One day two blind people came from the North and killed the eel.
....................................................................... Shizuoka 静岡県 .....
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浜松市 Hamamatsu city
kami no tsukai 神の使い messenger of the deity
One of the
Tōtōmi no Nanafushigi 遠江七不思議 The Seven Wonders of Totomi
At 引佐郡奥山村 Inasa district, in Okuyama village, there is 鰻井戸 / うなぎ井戸 a well where eels live.
In Summer and Winter, people can see eels swim in the water and think it is the messenger of Mizunokami.
....................................................................... Tochigi 栃木県 .....
Mizu no Kami 水の神
Iwadakemaru 岩嶽丸
The villain Iwadakemaru was beheaded, and his head flew away and got stuck on a large tree, he then fell into a nearby pond and died.
The vengeful spirit of Iwadake Maru became a daija 大蛇 large serpent and caused much trouble.
The villagers built a Shrine to apease his soul and venerated him as 八竜神 one of the eight Dragon Deities.
He is now the protector of the waterways and the fields.
. Hachiryuu 八龍神社 Eight Dragon Shrines .
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- reference : nichibun yokai database -
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日本うなぎ検定
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. Shrine, Shinto Shrine (jinja 神社) - Introduction .
. kami 神 Shinto deities - ABC-LIST - .
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