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. 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 山梨県 Yamanashi
. Legends about Yamanokami 山の神と伝説 .
. Yamanokami Senbonzakura 山の神千本桜 "Senbonzakura Park” .
Otorii, Chuo, Yamanashi // 中央市大鳥居1619-1
Yamanokami Shrine 山之神社 near たいら山 Mount Tairayama (934 m)
- reference and more photos : city.chuo.yamanashi.jp/soshiki... -
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. Yamanokami and Tengu 天狗 the Mountain Goblin .
The 17th day of the third lunar month is the Spring Festival for the local Tengu.
On this day Yamanokami comes down to cut
setchigi セチギ（節木）a tree for the festival and people are not allowed to go to the mountain forest to work.
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. somabito 杣人 forest workers and shakuhachi 尺八 bamboo flute .
the 天狗 Tengu, who is the 山の神 "Deity of the Mountain", liked to hear Shakuhachi.
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. toriigi トリイギ（鳥居木）sacred Torii tree .
In Yamanashi this tree is used by the Deity of the Mountain or a Tengu.
People are not allowed to cut it, if they do not want to be cursed by Yamanokami and the local Tengu.
To pray people cut small branches and stick them in the ground to show respect.
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北巨摩郡
Kita-Koma district 須玉町
Sutama cho town
Women are not allowed to climb 金峰山
Mount Kinpusan (2599 m)
If a boy has long hair and comes to climb, Yamanokami will blow him back.
There are frightening sounds, as if a Tengu was falling from a rock and rain is falling.
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甲府市
Kofu city 中道町
Nakamichi machi town
. Tengu to matsu 天狗と松 Legends about the Tengu pine .
The pine tree of Yamanokami is also called
o-tengo matsu オテンゴマツ pine of the Tengu.
The Tengu who lives there is also abducting humans.
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Yatsushiro district 八代郡 / 芦川村
Ashigawa village
. tengudaoshi 天狗倒し "Tengu knocking down trees" .
In the hamlet of 中芦川部落 Naka-Ashigawa
a man once stayed over night in the mountain hut. He heard the loud noise of trees being cut down.
They say this is the work of Yamanokami.
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Yatsushiro district 八代郡 / 上九一色村
Kamikuishiki village 豊富村
Toyotomi village
Yamanokami has the features of a Tengu with very sharp eyes.
The real identity of this Tengu is a powerful deity named 山野の神 Sanno no Kami.
It is also called アマツキツネ
Amatsukitsune. At night it might jump in the sky and fly around.
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Yamanokamisha 山神社 / 山之神社 Yamanokami Shrine
山梨県中央市大鳥居 Chuo city, Otorii
The people living here call it
「お山の神さん」 O-Yama no Kami San.
Along the access road are 1000 cherry trees, see above 山の神千本桜 "Senbonzakura Park".
The shrine was founded in 1715, according to a stone memorial in the compound.
The deity is venerated to protect farmers and craftsmen and good business.
People come from far away, not only Yamanashi, to pray here.
The main festivals are on the 17th day of April and October.
例祭は4月と10月の17日
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Yamanokamibashi 山の神橋 Yamanokami bridge
山梨県甲府市 右左口町 Kofu, Ubaguchichō
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. Mikaribaba, Mikari Basan 蓑借り婆さん / ミカリバアサン "old hag Mikari" .
And her companion,
me hitotsu kozo 目一つ小僧 (Hitotsume Kozo) the boy with one eye.
....................................................................... Fujiyoshida city 富士吉田市 .....
The 17th day of the first lunar month is sacred to Yamanokami and people are now allowed to go to the mountain forest.
Yamanokami is shooting arrows and people might get hurt.
Once the ancestor of 舟久保富雄 Funakubo Tomio went to the mountain on this day and tried to swing up his 斧 ax, but he could not move it down after that.
He became a follower of Yamanokami and prayed to it.
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. Yamanokami no tenbatsu 山の神の天罰 heavenly punishment of Yamanokami .
and his messenger, the inoshishi 猪
wild boar .
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hime 姫 a princess
Once a upon a time,
a farmer went to draw water from a pond, but however early he went, there had already been someone else before him.
He thought that strange and followed the water drops on the ground. He lost sight of deep down in the mountain. He waited all night and saw a beautiful princess drawing water and then disappearing deep into the mountain forest.
After that the water dried up and only the slope down to the pond remains, now called
O-Hime Saka 御姫坂 Slope of the Princess.
Now the road おひめ坂通り
O-Himezaka-dori
蛇の化身と「乙女池」- お姫坂
富士吉田市の市道新町通り線（通称・おひめ坂通り）
The princess had been a serpent !
- reference source : y-shinpou.co.jp/timei-minwa... -
- map of Ohimezaka-dori.
....................................................................... Hokuto city 北杜市 .....
白州町 （はくしゅうまち）
Hakushu machi town
On the 17th day of the first and 8th lunar month, Yamanokami is shooting arrows and nobody is allowed to go into the mountain.
People might get hit and hurt.
Once a man forgot that and went hunting for
yamadori 山鳥 pheasants.
That night his home shook heavily for three times.
. kiji, yamadori 雉と伝説 Legends about pheasants - Fasan .
....................................................................... Kitatsuru district 北都留郡 .....
yamadori no tatari 山鳥の祟り the curse of the pheasant
Once upon a time
a farmer saw a pheasant in his field and took a gun to shoot it. When he looked closer, two animals were dead, they must have been Yamanokami as husband and wife.
When the farmer came home, he soon became very ill. This happened on the 21st day of the first lunar month, and since then people are not allowed to go to the mountain on this day.
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Yamanokami no tatari 山の神のたたり the curse of Yamanokami
The 17th day of the 10th lunar month is sacred to Yamanokami.
The 21st day of the first lunar month is also sacred to Yamanokami.
The hunters and charcoal makers from Nagasaku bring offerings of ritual Sake to 鶴峠 the pass Tsurutoge
If something very unpleasant happens to man they say it is the curse of Yamanokami.
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Yamanokami no ikari 山の神の怒り the anger of Yamanokami
The 21st day of the first lunar month is sacred to Yamanokami.
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In the hamlet 橋立 Hashitate
they have Ebesu ko エベス講 a yearly ritual for the
Ebisu followers, where they knock down poles.
This is done because on the 21st day of the first lunar month Yamanokami is shooting arrows and the poles might be hit.
In Kanazawa they celebrate from the 17th to the 21stt day of the first lunar month. On these days nobody goes to the forest. If someone goes to the forest, he will be hit by an arrow or wounded by an ax. So forest workers sty in a home and eat and drink.
. Ebisu えびす / 恵比寿 / エベス .
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Kitatsuru 小菅村
Kosuge village
On the second day of the first lunar month, workers take a rest and go to the mountain.
They bring offerings of sake 酒 rice wine in bamboo tubes and place sasa ササの葉 bamboo grass leaves in it. They pour these offerings over the leaves of a tree.
This tree will then become a sacred tree for Yamanokami.
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The 17th day of each month is sacred to Yamanokami.
In the first lunar month it is the Spring day for Yamanokami, in the tenth lunar month it is the Autumn day for Yamanokami.
Forest workers take a rest and celebrate. They bring special dumplings as offerings to a tree and Yamanokami might think this is his special tree.
On festival days people are not allowed to cut trees in the forest. Yamanokami is out there shooting arrows and might hit them.
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オオヤマツミノミコト Oyamatsumi no Mikoto
Ōyama-tsumi - This is another name for Yamanokami.
He is an old man with a white beard and a long robe, carrying a walking stick. He is full of poser and when he gets angry, his face becomes red.
He protects the forest workers.
. Ooyamatsuminomikoto 大山祇神, 大山積神, 大山津見神 Oyama Tsumi no Mikoto .
- Ōyama-tsumi, Oyama-Tsumi / オオヤマツミノミコト
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Kitatsuru 上野原町
Uenohara town
Yamanokami no tatari 山の神のたたり the curse of Yamanokami
People think that Yamanokami lives right there in the mountain.
If they work in the mountain forest and have an accident and get hurt, they feel it is the curse of Yamanokami.
Before cutting a tree they perform special purification rituals to appease the deity.
....................................................................... Minamikoma district 南巨摩郡 .....
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早川町
Hayakawa town
On the 17th day of each month Yamanokami shoots arrows and people are not allowed to go to the mountain.
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Yamanokami no shirase 山の神様の知らせ advise from Yamanokami
On the other side of the hamlet Murohata オウマ谷は室草里 there is a place where the wood cutters take a rest and have lunch.
One day there seemed to be a typhoon and a man in white robed came and told them:
"This is going to be dangerous, better run fast and take shelter!"
Those who followed his advise were safe, but the others who had stayed up there were caught in a landslide and fell deep down into the valley.
....................................................................... Minamitsuru district 南都留郡 .....
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Minamitsuru 道志村
Doshi mura village
kitsune no koe 狐の声 the voice of a fox
Yamanokami makes the sound of
ofui-ofui オフイオフイ, but this is really the voice of a fox.
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Minamitsuru 忍野村
Oshino mura village
o koto no kami オコトの神 honorable Deity
On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, O-Koto no Kami walks around from home to home.
He brings illness and harm to families, then called 疫神
Yakujin (Yakubyogami, see below Uenohara.
People also say Hitotsume Kozo is coming.
He is also called oyookasama お八日様 O-Yoka sama, who comes to count eyes.
People put up a
mekago basket with many eyes to catch him.
. mekago 目籠 basket to ward off evil .
. Yooka sama Yōka 八日様 Yoka Sama, the Honorable Day Eight .
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Minamitsuru, 山中湖村
Yamanakako village
. 六部 A Rokubu pilgrim and 白馬 a white horse .
....................................................................... Tsuru city 都留市 .....
saru さる/ サル monkey
Once upon a time
a man went into the mountain forest and said a lot of bad things about
saru 「さる」the monkeys.
A lot of stones came falling down on his head and he died.
Since then people do not use the word SARU in the mountain.
This is a curse of Yamanokami.
. さるはちぼんのう Saruhachi Bonno Monkey deity .
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Chichigami san 乳神サン "breast deity"
This deity is venerated in 堀ノ内川久保 Kawakubo, Horinouchi.
A priest of the temple used to pray for mothers who did not have enough milk and when her milk was flowing, they erected a stone memorial to thank the deity.
. chichigami 乳神 "breast deity" .
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On the 17th day of the first lunar month, (some say the 16th day or the 17th day of the fourth lunar month)
) Yamanokami goes to the mountain ユミイリ to shoot arrows.
Sometimes he looses his kanmuri 冠 crown and comes to pick it up later.
オカンムリヒロイ picking up the crown may also be on the 21st day.
If people go to the mountain on these days they will get hurt.
....................................................................... Uenohara city 上野原市 .....
yakubyoogami 厄病神 deity of diseases
In the hamlet of 用竹 Yotake the deity of diseases comes on the 16th day of the first lunar month to see if there are any ill people.
Sometimes this job is handed over to Yamanokami, who then comes and makes noise and burns straw at the door, so that Yakubyogami can not go into the house.
. Yakubyoogami 疫病神 / 厄病神 Yakubyogami, Deity of Diseases .
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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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