bikuni Buddhist nun legends

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
- ningyo 人魚 human fish - see below
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bikuni densetsu 比丘尼　伝説　Legends about Buddhist nuns
ama 尼 nun



tako bikuni 蛸比丘尼 the Octopus nun

. bikuni 比丘尼 Buddhist Nuns .
- Introduction -
- - - - - including
heoi bikuni, he-oi bikuni 屁負比丘尼 / 屁負比丘 fart-pretending nuns
uta bikuni 歌比丘尼 singing nun
bikuni 比丘尼　prostitutes clad as nuns in Edo
Kumano bikuni 熊野比丘尼 nun from Kumano

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sennen bikuni 千年比丘尼 a young nun for 1000 years
never growing old, because once she ate the meat of a "human-fish"

The "human fish" 人魚 (ningyo) is most probably a Dugong.
Whoever eats its meat will live for 1000 years without changing his/her features.
- source : Dugong dugon -

A young woman eats a piece of fish found in the left-overs of her father, a fisherman.
When she learns about the fact that it was a "human fish" she decides to become a nun to atone for her deed. And then . . .

There are many legends about her in many parts of Japan, after all she lived for 1000 years with the features of a beautiful woman. When she stayed at a temple for a while, people became suspicious of her never-changing beautiful features and eventually she had to leave for another place. Often she planted a walking stick in the temple compound before leaving, which sprouted to live on . . .



Yashima Kameyama 八島亀山 in Okayama 岡山
After the young woman had left her birthplace . . there was a young man from Kameyama, who visited the temple 善光寺 Zenko-Ji in Nagano, where he saw a beautiful nun in the temple and told her about Kameyama、so she became quite homesick. When he went back and told the story to the fishermen in Kameyama they went to the back of Mount Boyama 坊山 and found the remains of her old small temple. There was also an old tree, byakushin ビャクシン / 柏槙 (a kind of mountain juniper) to our day, which had sprouted from her walking stick.
This tree was then found to have a disease infecting the Japanese pear trees nearby and was cut down eventually.

In Asakuchi　浅口, Okayama in the hamlet of 貞見 Sadami
there is another tree that has sprouted from her walking stick. It has sprouted, as she had foretold, "tsue wa ikitsuku made"　杖は活き着くまで. . . and now there is another hamlet with a pun on that nearby :
Tsukuma 津熊 .
The tree that sprouted from her stick was a huge yanagi 大柳 willow tree.
It was so strong and perfect that the tree was cut down and its trunck became a beam for the famous 三十三間堂,　京都 Hall of 1000 Buddha Statues in Kyoto, Sanjusan Gendo.

. Legends about the roof beams for 三十三間堂 Sanjusan Gendo .

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hyakunen bikuni　百年比丘尼 nun for 100 years

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yao bikuni 八百比丘尼（やおびくに）nun for 800 years

- quote -
One of the most famous folk stories concerning ningyo is called
Yao Bikuni (八百比丘尼, "eight-hundred (years) Buddhist priestess") or
ハッピャクビクニ Happyaku Bikuni.

The story tells how a fisherman who lived in Wakasa Province once caught an unusual fish. In all his years fishing, he had never seen anything like it, so he invited his friends over to sample its meat.

One of the guests, however, peeked into the kitchen, noticed that the head of this fish had a human face, and warned the others not to eat it. So when the fisherman finished cooking and offered his guests the ningyo's grilled flesh, they secretly wrapped it in paper and hid it on their persons so that it could be discarded on the way home.

But one man, drunk on sake, forgot to throw the strange fish away. This man had a little daughter, who demanded a present when her father arrived home, and he carelessly gave her the fish. Coming to his senses, the father tried to stop her from eating it, fearing she would be poisoned, but he was too late and she finished it all. But as nothing particularly bad seemed to happen to the girl afterwards, the man did not worry about it for long.

Years passed, and the girl grew up and was married. But after that she did not age any more; she kept the same youthful appearance while her husband grew old and died. After many years of perpetual youth and being widowed again and again, the woman became a nun and wandered through various countries. Finally she returned to her hometown in Wakasa, where she ended her life at an age of 800 years.



ningyo (人魚, "human fish", often translated as "mermaid")
is a fish-like creature from Japanese folklore.
Anciently, it was described with a monkey’s mouth with small teeth like a fish’s, shining golden scales, and a quiet voice like a skylark or a flute. Its flesh is pleasant-tasting, and anyone who eats it will attain remarkable longevity. However, catching a ningyo was believed to bring storms and misfortune, so fishermen who caught these creatures were said to throw them back into the sea. A ningyo washed onto the beach was an omen of war or calamity.
..... gyojin 魚人 fish-man, human fish
- More about ningyo Ningyo (人魚) "human fish" :
- source : wikipedia -

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Yao Bikuni 八百比丘尼（やおびくに）
金川寺 Kinsen-Ji in Fukushima -
喜多方市塩川町金橋字金川
- source : bqspot.com/tohoku/fukushima -

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yao bikuni 八百比丘尼 a nun for 800 years
sometimes called Shiira bikuni シイラ比丘尼 The Nun Shiira from Iwate



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Iwate, 釜石　Kamaishi - and Miyagi 南三陸町 Minami Sanriku

One day a fisherman went fishing near Hiraizumi, when a strange old man living in a cave gave him a strange red fish to eat.
His companion 五郎三郎 Gorosaburo did not eat the fish meat but took it home with him and told everyone not to eat it. His young daughter of 6 years named シイラ Shiira was so tempted to eat this meat, she did not listen to her father's warning and ate it.
After this Shiira never died and lived as a nun for at least 200 years. Now nobody knows where she is.
The old man is said to have been 海尊仙人 Kaison Sennin.

After the death of 平泉の秀衡 Lord Hidehira in Hiraizumi, his retainer Gorosaburo took his life to follow his master, as was the custom of the times.
The wife of Gorosaburo took their young daughter Shiira and hid at 本吉郡の竹島 Takeshima Island in the Motoyoshi district.
The Heavenly Nymph at the Cave of the same name at Takeshima island 竹島の天女洞 refers to the girl Shiira, who lived more than 250 years, always looking like a woman in her forties.


Togura 戸倉 - Takeshima 竹島
Different from the other islands in the inlay, this island is of a soft white rock.

shiira 鱰／鱪 / シイラ is the name of the common dolphin, Coryphaena hippurus.


. Hitachibo Kaison Sennin 常陸坊海尊仙人 .


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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

.................................................................. Aichi 愛知県 ....................................................................
知多郡 Chita gun 南知多町 Minami Chita

yao bikuni 八百比丘尼 a nun for 800 years

Once upon a time in the Heian period
a young woman ate a piece of meat from a "human fish" . . . and had to live for 800 years as a young beauty.
She walked around in many parts of Japan . . .




.................................................................. Niigata 新潟県 ....................................................................
Sado, 相川町 Aikawa

. happyaku bikuni ハッピャクビクニ and 猿田彦大神 Sarutahiko .




.................................................................. Okinawa 沖縄県 ....................................................................
石垣市 Ishigaki city

. shinshi 神使 messenger of god, divine messenger .
Once three outcasts of the village caught a human fish and wanted to eat it. They did not know it was 神の使い the messenger of the Deity. From the meat came a whisper that there would soon be a Tsunami 津波.
The three apologized and put the human fish back into the sea.
On the 10th day of March, 1771, there was a strong quake and Tsunami and all the houses, except the ones of these three men, were swept away.




.................................................................. Saitama 埼玉県 ....................................................................

. happyaku bikuni 八百比丘尼 / ハッピャクビクニ .
This Bikuni must have lived for more than 1000 years.


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- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -
yokai database - bikuni (54 entries)
血まみれの比丘尼
八百比丘尼
断食の比丘尼 and many more
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -

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manga nihon mukashibanashi database
鏡騒動
耳柿
ドジョウ取り爺さん
八百比丘尼
- source : nihon.syoukoukai.com -

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. Legends about Kobo Daishi Kukai - 弘法大師　空海 - 伝説 .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話　昔話 - Introduction .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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Manyoshu Poetry Collection

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. ABC List of Heian Contents .
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Man'yōshū 万葉集 / 萬葉集 Manyoshu Poetry Collection
Collection of Myriad Leaves
Manyoo-Shuu, Manyo-Shu, Manyoo'shuu, Manyōshyū
Gedichtsammlung Manyoshu



- quote -
The Man'yōshū  万葉集, literally "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves",
(see Name below) is the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, compiled sometime after 759 AD during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in a series of compilers, is today widely believed to be Ōtomo no Yakamochi, although numerous other theories have been proposed. The collection contains poems ranging from AD 347 (poems #85–89) through 759 (#4516), the bulk of them representing the period after 600. The precise significance of the title is not known with certainty.

The collection is divided into twenty parts or books; this number was followed in most later collections. The collection contains 265 chōka (long poems), 4,207 tanka (short poems), one tan-renga (short connecting poem), one bussokusekika (poems on the Buddha's footprints at Yakushi-ji in Nara), four kanshi (Chinese poems), and 22 Chinese prose passages. Unlike later collections, such as the Kokin Wakashū, there is no preface.
The Man'yōshū is widely regarded as being a particularly unique Japanese work.
- Translating the Name -
Although the name Man'yōshū literally means "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves" or "Collection of Myriad Leaves", it has been interpreted variously by scholars. Sengaku, Kamo no Mabuchi and Kada no Azumamaro considered the character 葉 yō to represent koto no ha (words), and so give the meaning of the title as "collection of countless words". Keichū and Kamochi Masazumi (鹿持雅澄) took the middle character to refer to an "era", thus giving "a collection to last ten thousand ages".
The kanbun scholar Okada Masayuki (岡田正之) considered 葉 yō to be a metaphor comparing the massive collection of poems to the leaves on a tree. Another theory is that the name refers to the large number of pages used in the collection.
Of these, "collection to last ten thousand ages" is considered to be the interpretation with the most weight.
- snip snip -
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !




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- quote - Michael Hoffman
‘It is I who rule’ — Japan’s ‘Manyoshu’ morning

What fun civilization is in its infancy! How bright and fresh the world looks at the dawn of consciousness! Listen:

Your basket, with your pretty basket,
Your trowel, with your little trowel,
Maiden, picking herbs on this hillside,
I would ask you: Where is your home?
Will you not tell me your name?

It was morning in Japan. Night — if night is a fitting metaphor for Neolithic prehistory — had been long, tens of thousands of years long. China, Egypt and Mesopotamia had thousands of years of civilization behind them; classical Greece had come and gone; classical Rome, long past its prime, was dying. Still, Japan slept on.

The pre-agricultural, preliterate, seemingly endless Jomon Period (circa 12,000 B.C. to circa 200 B.C.) evolved at last into the agricultural, still preliterate Yayoi Period (circa 200 B.C. to A.D. 250), without sparking a transformation dramatic enough to be called civilizing. Then, with startling abruptness, nudged by China via Korea, Japan awoke from its primeval slumbers.

The watershed event is the arrival, circa A.D. 405, of a Korean scholar named Wani. He brought to the imperial court the gift of letters — reading and writing. Chinese became the official language. Soon courtiers and nobles were steeped in Confucian and Buddhist learning. In 645, a palace revolution fused a multitude of independent clans into a quasi-Chinese-style state under the Emperor’s divine but tender sovereignty. Its tenderness we gather from the poem just quoted, for its author is the fifth-century Emperor Yuryaku — who proceeds, very tenderly indeed, to introduce himself to the maiden:

It is I who rule
Over this wide land of Yamato (an ancient name for Japan);
It is I who reign over all.

Thus opens the glorious “Manyoshu,” Japan’s first, many say its best, poetry anthology. “Best” — meaning what? Beauty, shimmering beauty; and innocence, a rare innocence — rare because generally a culture that has risen to this level of linguistic mastery has already lost its innocence. Japan, having risen so very fast, hadn’t.

“Manyoshu” (“Collection of Myriad Leaves”) consists of 4,000-odd poems composed over three centuries, Yuryaku’s being among the earliest, the latest dating to roughly 750, the height of Japan’s first great era, the brilliant Nara Period (710-794).

Unlike later Japanese anthologies, the “Manyoshu” was not produced under imperial auspices. The editing process remains something of a mystery. Scholars speak of earlier poem collections that have not survived, so the “Manyoshu” may not have struck its contemporaries, as it does us, as genius bursting naked from a vacuum.

The poems are astonishing in their variety. There are short poems and long poems — a remarkable fact in itself, for the Japanese long poem, the choka, was soon afterwards to die out, leaving the short tanka to reign supreme. There are poems by emperors and courtiers, naturally, but also by ordinary people, the poor, the lowly

Cold and bitter is the night!
As for those poorer than myself . . .
how do you struggle through life?

— people whom later ages would scorn and ignore.

There are poems of joy and poems of grief, of travel and of domesticity, of love in all its myriad aspects and of nature — nature portrayed as only a newly awakened sensibility can portray her

You boatmen that come rowing ...
Ply not too hard your oars...
lest you startle into flight
the birds beloved of my dear husband!

— and we see here an impulse that over time came to seem inseparable from the Japanese consciousness, a reaching out to nature as the ultimate symbol of everything that makes life wonderful; or as the ultimate consolation when life turns sad past bearing

The cloud drifting over the brows
Of the hills of secluded Hatsuse —
Can it, alas, be she?

The poems span the emotional spectrum — or rather, not quite: Where, one wonders, is anger? Was “Manyo man” never angry? That seems unlikely. A better hypothesis is that he (and she, for many of the poets are women) thought anger unworthy of poetry — as was war, for though conscripted frontier guards march gamely to their distant postings

At the bidding of my great Sovereign
I set out as defender of the isle . . .

they sing no paeans to martial glory, lamenting instead the wrenching pain of leaving home

My mother picking up the hem of her skirt,
Stroked me with it and caressed me . .. 

A pity we have space only for snippets. Where to begin?

Today, taking my last sight of the mallards
Crying on the pond of Iware,
Must I vanish into the clouds!
- - - “Composed in tears,”
a marginal note laconically informs us, “when (a certain Prince Otsu) died by Imperial order on the bank of Iware Pond.”


I gather shells and pebbles
For my darling at home,

sings Fujiwara Kamatari, the guiding hand behind the revolution of 645 and founder of the prepotent Fujiwara clan, power behind the throne for centuries to come. And who was his “darling at home?” A palace attendant named Yasumiko. Hear Kamatari’s whoop of exultation when she consented to be his:

O, Yasumiko I have won!
Mine is she whom all men,
they say, have sought in vain.
Yasumiko I have won!”

Ranked among the greatest of the Manyoshu poets is Kakinomoto Hitomaro (late seventh, early eighth centuries):

Like the sea-tangle, swaying in the wave
hither and thither, my wife would cling to me . . .

His wife died:

I journeyed to Karu and searched the market place
where she was wont to go!
… But no voice of her I heard …
Alas, she is no more, whose soul
was bent to mine like the bending seaweed!

Grief makes happiness seem vain — or is it happiness that makes grief seem vain?

Instead of wasting thoughts on unavailing things,
it would seem wiser
to drink a cup of raw sake.

That’s the spirit! It’s one of the famous “Twelve poems in praise of sake” by Otomo Tabito (665-731). Have we room for one more?

Grotesque! When I look upon a man
who drinks no sake, looking wise —
how like an ape he is!”

- source : Japan Times, 2016 -


. Kakinomoto Hitomaro 柿本人麻呂 Hitomaru 人丸) .

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Manyo Daisho-Ki 万葉集代匠記 / 萬葉代匠記 Man'yō Daishōki

. Keichuu, Keichū 契沖 阿闍梨 Keichu Ajari .
(1640 - 1701)


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- Reference in Japanese 万葉集 -
- Reference in English -

. Legends - Heian Period (794 to 1185) - Introduction .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話　昔話 - Introduction .

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

- #manyoshu　#manyooshuu -
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Tenjin Sugawara Michizane Legends

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. Legends - Heian Period (794 to 1185) - Introduction .
. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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Tenjin Sama - Sugawara Michizane Legends 天神菅原道真伝説
Legends about Tenjin

a Shinto god of learning, TenmanTenjin 天満天神, shortened to Tenjin.
A scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian Period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in Chinese poetry,
Dazaifu Tenmangu 大宰府天満宮
Kitano Tenmangu in Kyoto 北野天満宮
Statue of the ox　(ushi) at Yushima Tenmangu
Tenjin Matsuri Festivals
He was a vengeful spirit, goryoo, onryoo 御霊、怨霊 and had to be appeased as a deity.
. Sugawara Michizane　菅原道真 (854 - 903).
- Introduction -



. Tenjin Sama 天神さま, a popular toy .
Totoo Tenjin 渡唐天神 Tenjin crossing over to China
ushinori Tenjin 牛乗り天神 Tenjin on a cow/bull

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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

.................................................................. Niigata 新潟県 ....................................................................

Sado, 相川町 Aikawa

Chinju Kitano Jinja no Saijin Tenjin 鎮守北野神社の祭神天神
The festival for the Protector Deity at the Kitano Jinja is on September 25. Tenjin Sama leaves early for Izumo to meet with the Deities of Japan and to help making Sake. So people offer Amazake and 赤飯 Red Ritual Rice on this day.
. 甘酒と伝説　legends about Amazake "sweet rice wine" .




.................................................................. Oita 大分県 ....................................................................

国東郡 Kunisaki district 姫島村 Himeshima island

. umeboshi 梅干と伝説 Legends about dried pickled plums .
Do not throw plums or Umeboshi into the sea.




.................................................................. Tokyo 東京 ....................................................................

. Anazawa Tenjin no Yashiro 穴澤天神社 Shrine .
菅原道真 Sugawara no Michizane was enshired here.

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Kasuga district, Bunkyo ward

. ushiishi, ushi-ishi 牛石 "bull stone" .
dream of 源実朝 Minamoto no Sanetomo (1192 - 1219) about the deity 菅神 Kanjin Sugawara no Michizane.


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- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -
天神様 17
天神 95
菅原道真 22
菅原 111

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. Legends about Kobo Daishi Kukai - 弘法大師　空海 - 伝説 .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話　昔話 - Introduction .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

- #tenjin #sugawaramichizane #michizane #tenjinsama -
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Tarobo Tengu Legends

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. 天狗と伝説 Tengu legends "Long-nosed Goblin" - Introduction .
. Tengupedia - 天狗ペディア　- Tengu ABC-List .
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Tarooboo 太郎坊 天狗伝説　Tarobo Tengu Legends
愛宕山 太郎坊 Taro-Bo Tengu from Atagoyama

He is also called
Nichiraboo 愛宕山 日羅坊 Nichira-Bo, Nichirabo from Mount Atago.
He is famous for his visitor, a Tengu from China:
. Zegai-bô 是害坊 Zegai-Bo, Zegaibo Tengu .


Taroobooguu 太郎坊宮 Shrine for the Tengu Tarobo / Taro-Bo

The Tengu 太郎坊 Taro-Bo venerated here is a symbol of victory.
He is the elder brother of
. Jirooboo, Jirōbō 次郎坊 / 二郎坊 Jirobo Tengu .
- 比良の次郎坊 Hira no Jirobo / 比良治郎坊

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Tengu masks 天狗面 and bells 天狗鈴 are great amulets at the Shrine..





- quote -
. . . Tarobo-gu (aka Taroubou-gu) goes practically unknown.
A striking setting; captivating legends; and over 1200 years of spiritual endeavour.
... The mountain, named Akagami, has a distinctive shape, rising out of the valley floor like a miniature Mt Fuji.
... From the outset Tendai has revered local kami, and for centuries the mountain hosted a Shinto-Buddhist complex. It also served as a centre for shugendo (mountain asceticism). The name of the shrine, Tarobo, refers to a tengu king. A mythical creature with shamanistic overtones, the tengu dwell in the mountains and are linked to mountain asceticism and martial arts.
The Tarobo tengu is supposedly the elder brother of the Kurama tengu, under which the twelfth-century hero Yoshitsune trained. The young boy was an apprentice at the Tendai temple near Kyoto, and when he escaped to join his brother Yoritomo he made for the Akagami complex. The rock where he rested is now a shrine to his memory.
... The main kami is a son of Amaterasu. His name is not widely known,unsurprisingly since it’s Masaka-Akatsukachi-Hayahiameno-Oshi-Homimi-no-Mikoto. In Japanese mythology he was a heavenly warrior offered the chance by his mother to ‘descend to earth’ but he demurred in favour of his son Ninigi. According to the shrine, he has the attributes of the sun, rising every morning without fail to conquer darkness. As such he’s a kami of victory, whether it be in business, exams, martial arts or any other field of life. Prayers should be directed to that end.
The shrine’s main feature is a massive ‘husband and wife’ rock that according to legend was cleaved in half by the sword of a mighty kami. ...
- source : John Dougill, Green Shinto -

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- source, more photos : biwako365.blog.fc2.com/ -




Amulets to win and many more on the HP of the temple :
- source : tarobo.sakura.ne.jp -


. Tengu 天狗 Mountain Goblins - Introduction .


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Click for more photos of Atagoyama Tarobo !

太郎坊 Taro-Bo, "Elder Brother" Tarobo from 愛宕山 Atagoyama
二郎坊 Jiro-Bo, Jirobo "Younger Brother" from Hieizan 比叡山 (sore sources place Jiro-Bo on Kuramayama)
僧正坊 Sojo-Bo, Sojobo from Kuramayama 鞍馬山 - Kurama Tengu


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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

.................................................................. Kyoto 京都府 ....................................................................
右京区 Ukyo ward

priest 真済 Shinzei
This priest studied Mikkyo Buddhism with Kobo Daishi. He often practised austerities at Takao 高雄の峯. Once he saw the honorable Lady 藤原明子 Fujiwara no Meishi (染殿后 Somedono no Kisaki) and felt love trouble in his heart. He died soon afterwards and became a blue demon. First he tormented Somedono and later he turned into an Ootengu 大天狗 Great Tengu.


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愛宕山奥の院 Atagoyama Oku no In

Tarobo from Atago was in fact a person called Shishido 宍戸三郎右衛門, who was a strong believer in the Atago deity. He is also responsible for the making the 猪 wild boar a messenger of the deity.
.
役小角の末裔といわれる天狗の本拠地、愛宕山奥の院で、藤原頼長の命を受けた修験者たちが太郎坊天狗の左右の目に釘を打ち込んで呪詛を行った。このため近衛天皇は眼病を患って崩御したとも伝えられている。
.
Kani Saizo was a strong believer in the Atago Deity. He even thought he was an incarnation of Tarobo the Tengu. But others thought he was just out of his mind.
In former times it was known that people who believe strongly in the Atago Deity will die on the special day dedicated to Atago 縁日の日, the 24th of each month. Legend says Saizo felt his death coming, made his preparations on the day before and then died in the evening of the Atago Day.
He died in the sixth lunar month on the 24th day 慶長18年6月24日 (1613).

. Mount Atago Yama 愛宕山 / 阿多古 Atagoyama .

. Kani Saizō 可児才蔵 Kani Saizo .
Kani Yoshinaga 可児吉長 - - (1554 - 1613)


.................................................................. Miyagi 宮城県 ....................................................................
気仙沼市 Kesennuma

羽田神社 Hada Jinja
In front of the shrine there are two huge cedar trees facing each other.
Their names are not related to the Tengu.
Taro is the name of the elder son and Jiro the younger son.



They are 太郎坊の杉 Tarobo-no-sugi and Jirobo-no-sugi 次郎坊の杉.
Tarobo-sugi has a diameter of almost 7 meters.

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志津川町 Shizugawa

Saint Mongaku 文覚上人 and Taro-Bo / Jiro-Bo cedar
At the 滝不動 Fudo Waterfall at 滝沢神社 Takizawa Jinja priest Mongaku had placed a Statue of Fudo, which he had made himself. There were also tow old cedar trees, Tarobo-sugi and Jirobo-sugi. In the year 1609 when large pillars were needed for the rebuilding of Sendai castle these two trees were felled and should be transported to Sendai. But the boat sank to the ground near Natorigawa and the two huge tree trunks were lost.
So now they are called "the sunken Taro and Jiro, 太郎礁 Tarone and 次郎礁 Jirone.


. sugi 杉 cedar, cryptomeria .

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yokai database 妖怪データベース
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -

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. Tengupedia - 天狗ペディア　- Tengu ABC-List .

. 天狗と伝説 Tengu legends "Long-nosed Goblin" - Introduction .

. Kōbō Daishi Kūkai 弘法大師　空海 - 伝説　 Kobo Daishi Kukai Legends .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

- #tarobotenbu #tengutarobo -
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nakodo matchmaker

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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nakoodo, nakōdo 仲人 Nakodo, legends about matchmakers for marriage



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A nakōdo (仲人 matchmaker) serves the role of a go-between for families in the miai process. A nakōdo is not necessary for all miai. The nakōdo can be a family member, friend, or matchmaking company.
Professional organizations have begun to provide go-between services for inquiring candidates. These professional nakōdo are known as puro (pro) nakōdo.
The nakōdo is expected to play a variety of roles throughout the miai process. The first is the bridging role, hashikake (橋架け), in which the nakōdo introduces potential candidates and families to each other. The second role is as a liaison for the families to avoid direct confrontation and differences in opinions between them by serving as an intermediary for working out the details of the marriage.

miai (見合い, "matchmaking", lit. "looking at one another")
or omiai (お見合い) is a Japanese traditional custom
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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nakoodo isha　仲人医者　doctors as matchmakers for marriage
keian　慶庵 / 桂庵 Keian matchmaker
Named after the famous matchmacer-doctor Yamato Keian 大和慶庵 (around 1653).

A Nakodo go-between was necessary for a regular marriage in Edo.
Some doctors with a bad medical reputation could fall back on this kind of "business". Once the marriage was fixed, he would get quite a bit of "thank-you money".

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Yokai - Monsters having a miai meeting -



Look at the full scroll of the Monsters having a Miai and Wedding
Bakemono Konrei 化物婚礼
- source : Toyo Daigaku -


In the Yokai world, animals like fox, tanuki, serpent or Kappa are also Nakodo.


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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

.................................................................. Fukushima 福島県 ....................................................................
会津若松市 Aizu Wakamatsu

tori no tobu yoo na oto 鳥の飛ぶような音 sound of a bird flying off

In the family of a matchmaker the wife had died and for about one month every day from the Tokonoma alcove the sound of a large bird flying off was to be heared.
When the husband looked, there was nobody.


.................................................................. Gifu 岐阜県 ....................................................................
和良村 Waramura

kitsune 狐 Fox
The bride of the house had already been on her way when the Nakodo came to pick her up. In fact it was a fox who had shapeshifted as the bride and walked at the top of the group.



.................................................................. Ishikawa 石川県 ....................................................................
河内村 Kawachimura

mujina むじな Tanuki badger
Once a Nakodo went to pick up the bride at her home. But out of the bushes there came a badger, with leaves on his head like the headgear of a bride. The Nakodo pretended not to suspect fraud, went close to the "bride" and hit the "Tanuki bride" with his long umbrella, until the Tanuki was dead.
Then the Nakodo carried the Tanuki to his home and postponed the wedding.



.................................................................. Miyagi 宮城県 ....................................................................
栗駒 Kurikoma - 馬橋坂 Umahashisaka

Umahashisaka no Mansukegitsune 馬橋坂の万助狐 Mansuke Kitsune the Fox
Mansuke is the most well-known fox in this region.
At the time of the cultivation of the 桧沢岳 Hisawadake region there was a man named Sato who had lost his wife and was working all alone.
One evening a Nakodo came and offered to find a new wife for him. The deal was fixed in a few days, the relatives invited for the wedding celebration. When all were drunk the bride, the Nakodo and the visitors suddenly showed her real form and all disappeared, including the feast in front of his eyes.

The bride of Mansuke was お花 O-Hana from Mount 花館山. People walking the path between the two mountains often got tricked by the fox couple.


A fox on a tea pot


Umahashisaka no Manjuuroo 馬橋坂の万寿郎狐 Manjuro the Fox

A legend of another fox called Manjuro tells of 宗作爺 Grandfather Sosaku. Once he went to some relatives to help putting new reeds on the roof. He got some rice cakes 月形餅や撒餅 for his help and was on his way home. When he passed the school the children came to him and asked to see the contents of his packet and wanted some to eat. He felt quite elated and wanted to share them with the children. When he tried to open the packes it suddenly disappeared and all the children were gone . . . Manjuro had played a trick on him!



.................................................................. Nagano 長野県 ....................................................................
山ノ内町 Yamanouchi

kitsune 狐 Fox
A samurai was asked to expell a fox from the village.
But the fox asked him instead:
"I was asked to be the Nakodo and bring the bride to the home of the groom. On the way she suddenly asked to take a bath and I don't know what to do. Can you do it in my place?"
When he tried to help the fox and went to the bath he suddenly found himself sitting in a puddle of mud instead . . .






.................................................................. Niigata 新潟県 ....................................................................
松之山町 Matsunoyama

hebi 蛇 serpent
The serpent wanted the princess of the pond 蒲生池 / 蒲生の池 Kamo-no-ike as his bride. But the Nakodo was refused. In his anger he killed all the members of the family.
He borrowed the famous serpent-cutting sword 蛇切丸 and fought with the enemy.

This is a famous sword jagirimaru 蛇切丸 with more legends in other regions of Japan.
- reference -

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.................................................................. Kappa legends 河童 ...............................................................

. Welcome to the Kappapedia ! .


Once a Kappa from the bridge 宮川橋 Miyagawakyo became a bride. The Nakodo was from 二の橋 Ninohashi.
The "Kappa" in this tale is in fact a prostitute from a tea stall. Ninohashi was famous for the Aimaiya, Aimai-Ya 曖昧屋 , a kind of tea stall, eatery or lodging, keeping aimai women 曖昧女(おんな) prostitutes.

Aimai chaya 曖昧茶屋, Aimai yado 曖昧宿.

aimai 曖昧 is a normal word of the Japanese language, it means ambiguous, not clearly defined, obscure, vague . . . (you can google for more).


. chaya　茶屋　tea shop, tea stall business in Edo .
fuuzoku, fûzoku　風俗 Fuzoku, entertainment and sex business




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今さら意味を聞けない日本語1000
explaining a lot of "aimai" words with ambiguous meanings.
一言居士、かなぼうひき、ゆめゆめ、烏の行水、あまつさえ、まめまめしい、度し難い、益体も無い……大人なら使ってみたい曖昧で間違いやすい言葉の数々。
(available at amazon com.)

yokai database 妖怪データベース　 - source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -

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. kitsune densetsu 狐と伝説 fox legends .

. minwa 民話　folktales / densetsu 伝説　Japanese Legends .
- Introduction -

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

- #nakodo #nakodolegends -
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Taira no Masakado

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. Legends - Heian Period (794 to 1185) - Introduction .
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Taira no Masakado 平将門 / 平將門
(? – 940) - 延喜3年（903年）? - 天慶3年2月14日（940年3月25日）

A lot has been written about this hero of old !

Shoomonki, Shōmonki 将門記 Shomonki - The Records of Masakado, Masakado Chronicle


CLICK for more photos !

He was a kokushi 国司 governor of Shimosa.
(for kokushi, see below)

He revolted against the government in Kyoto because of the ruthless attitude of the Kokushi in the Kanto region, squeezing the poor farmers to ever more taxes.
After a great earthquake and the eruption of Mount Fuji the farmers of Kanto were in even more distress and many left the region.
So Masakado stepped in to help them.

He also invented the curved Japanese sword, more suited to kill the enemy while riding a horse.
He had enough metal mines in his region.
In a dream he saw a messenger from Michizane, asking him to stand up and fight.

. Sugawara Michizane　菅原道真 (845 - 903) .

Masakado was (most probably) the only one in Japanese history who proclaimed himself as
New Emperor, Shinoo, Shin-Oo　新皇 in the Eastern Region in 939.

939年(天慶2)11月21日に常陸国府を制圧した将門は，12月19日に上野の国司を追放して国庁に入り，弟や従者を伊豆と関東諸国の受領（ずりよう）に任じたが，このとき - a messenger of Hachiman Daibosatsu 八幡大菩薩の使と口ばしる昌伎 (kamunagi) から位記を授けられ〈新皇〉と称するようになる。同書はこれ以後の将門を新皇と記すが，一方で京都の朱雀天皇を〈本皇〉〈本天皇〉としているので，新皇とはもともとの天皇に対する新しい天皇の意味であろう。

新皇将門 / 平新皇
- source : wikipedia -

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He also had a lot of kagemusha 影武者 doubles (probably 7) to protect his own whereabouts.

During the final battle, the wind was on his side in the beginning, the first Southern Wind of the Season, Haru Ichiban　春一番. He almost won the battle, but then the wind turned and one arrow of his enemy hit him in the head (the eye) . . . that was the End!.


Tawara Tōda 俵藤太 "Rice-bag Tōda" - Tawara Toda cut off the head of Masakado
Fujiwara no Hidesato alias Tawara Tota (Toda)
. Fujiwara no Hidesato 藤原秀郷 .
Hidesato became friendly with 桔梗の前 Kikyo, the mistress of Masakado and asked her to tell him to distinguish between the many kagemusha doubles. She told him and then and became a huge serpent at 菅沼 Sugenuma.
To kill the "real" Masakado, Hidesato had to aim his arrow at the one that cast a shadow.
.
On his way to Kyoto to deliver the head with the helmet, he encountered many strange things and eventually burried the box with the helmet. This place is now called Koosan 甲山 Kosan, "Mount Helmet".



. Masakado's Rebellion 平将門の乱 - Heian History .
A detailed account !

. Kanda Myojin Shrine 神田明神 . - Tokyo
The three deities enshrined are Daikokuten, Ebisu, and Taira no Masakado.


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- quote -
平将門 Taira no Masakado

APPEARANCE:
Taira no Masakado was a samurai of the Heian period, a powerful warrior, and a great leader. He was born either in the late 800s or early 900s CE and was killed in 940. After his death, his spirit is said to have returned as a vengeful ghost and brought destruction across the country. Along with Emperor Sutoku and Sugawara no Michizane, he is one of the Nihon San Dai Onryō — Three Great Onryō of Japan.
Though Taira no Masakado’s birth date is unknown,
he is believed to have been born sometime around when Sugawara no Michizane died. A Meiji period biography of Taira no Masakado suggests that he may have been Sugawara no Michizane’s reincarnation; his revolt against the emperor may actually have been a continuation of Michizane’s curse.

ORIGIN:
Taira no Masakado was born into the Kanmu Heishi, the clan of Taira descended from Emperor Kanmu. It was an elite family. Masakado had a privileged childhood in the capital, after which he settled down in Shimosa Province in Eastern Japan, northeast of modern day Tokyo. His troubles only began after his father died. Inheritance laws at this time were not firmly established, and his uncles tried to steal most of his father’s land. They claimed their royal lineage gave them the right to do so.
In 935 CE,
the dispute with his family members broke into outright battle. Masakado was ambushed by one of his uncles and a number of Minamoto warriors. But Masakado was a powerful warrior. He quickly defeated them, and then took his revenge by burning their lands, ravaging the countryside, and slaughtering thousands. This brought him into conflict with other relatives by blood and by marriage, who brought their dispute to the emperor.
Taira no Masakado
was summoned to court to answer charges of the relatives of the dead Minamoto warriors. Masakado was not only brave, he was also smart. He had taken great pains to remain within the law and proved that he had good reason for his killings. After only a few months, he was fully pardoned when the court offered a general amnesty in commemoration of Emperor Suzaku’s coming of age.
Taira no Masakado
returned to his home, but soon found himself under attack. This time, it was his father-in-law and his relatives. Again, Masakado quickly defeated them. To avoid stirring up more political trouble, Masakado received a warrant to apprehend his attackers. Now, with legal sanction for his military action, he stormed into their lands on a quest for revenge.
In 938 CE, Taira no Masakado received another court summons for questioning about a quarrel with one of the cousins who had attacked him. This time, Masakado ignored the summons. He raised a large force and invaded Hitachi Province. He conquered eight provinces: Shimotsuke, Kozuke, Musashi, Kazusa, Awa, Sagami, Izu, and Shimosa. The whole time, he maintained his innocence, insisting that his campaign was legal under the terms of his warrant.
The government was seen as ineffectual and the nobles as abusive by the peasants of the time. Taira no Masakado, on the other hand, treated the peasants of his conquered domains much better than their former masters did. His insurrection was seen as a salvation by many peasants. They welcomed him gladly. The court feared that Taira no Masakado was preparing to overthrow the government and declare himself the new Emperor of Japan. He was condemned as a rebel and a traitor.
A number of warriors — including Masakado’s ally Fujiwara no Hidesato and some his own relatives— were commissioned by the government to take his head. They caught up with Masakado’s army in Shimosa province on the fourteenth day of the second month of 940 CE. They attacked during a night ambush and quickly defeated the rebels. Masakado’s men were outnumbered ten to one. Masakado was beheaded, betrayed by his friends and family. The head was brought back to Kyoto to be displayed in the east market as a message to would-be rebels.



LEGENDS:
Strangely, Taira no Masakado’s head did not decompose. Many months after it was first displayed in the east market, it still looked as fresh as the day it was severed. The eyes had grown fiercer, and the mouth twisted up into a hideous grimace. Night after night the head would call out,
“Where is my murdered body!? Come here! Reattach my head and let me fight once again!”
「斬られた体を呼び戻し、再び一緒になって進軍するぞ」
And then things got really strange.
One night the head began to glow.
It flew off into the sky, across the country, towards Shimosa. The head eventually grew tired and landed to rest in a fishing village called Shibazaki (which would one day grow into the city of Edo). The villagers who found the head cleaned it and buried it. A shrine was erected over the grave and named Kubizuka—the mound of the head. Masakado was honored and worshipped by the peasants as a true warrior, a symbol of justice who stood in heroic defiance of a corrupt and lazy nobility. He was seen as an underdog who was repeatedly betrayed and eventually murdered by those he should have been able to trust. Despite his deification and popularity among the lower classes, his ghost was not appeased. A few years after his head was buried, the ghost of a samurai began to be seen in the neighborhood of his shrine.
In the early 1300s,
a great plague struck Edo. Many people died. The plague was attributed to Taira no Masakado’s anger. In order to appease him, his spirit was moved from his small shrine to the larger and more prestigious Kanda Shrine. He was designated one of the main gods, and his spirit was placated—for a while. In 1874, Emperor Meiji visited the Kanda Shrine. It was viewed as inappropriate for an enemy of the imperial family like Masakado to be honored when the emperor was visiting, and so his deity status was revoked. His shrine was moved to a smaller building outside of the main shrine.
Taira no Masakado’s anger returned in 1928.
After the Great Kanto Earthquake 関東大震災 destroyed much of the city, the site of his Kubizuka was chosen as the temporary location for the Ministry of Finance 大蔵省本庁. Shortly afterwards, the Minister of Finance became sick and died. Over a dozen other employees died, and even more became sick or were injured in falls and accidents in the building. Rumors about the curse ran began to spread. The Ministry of Finance building was demolished and a memorial service for Masakado was held at the Kanda Shrine.
Throughout the 20th century,
a number of other accidents, fires, sicknesses, and mysterious sightings were attributed to the curse of Taira no Masakado. Each time, purification rituals were performed. Finally, in 1984, in response to public pressure, his deity status was reinstated. Today, great pains are taken not to anger his ghost. For example, it is common practice for television stations to visit the grave of his head, still located in what is now Otemachi, Tokyo 東京都千代田区大手町. They pay their respects to him before his character appears on any show. The Kubizuka is maintained by an organization of local businesses and volunteers who have taken on the responsibility of upkeeping of his grave.
- source : yokai.com -


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. goryoo, onryoo 御霊、怨霊 vengeful spirits .
- Introduction -

Sudo, Sudoo Tenno 崇道天皇 (? - 785) and his son,
Iyo Shinno 伊予親王.
his mother, Fujiwara Fujin, 藤原婦人
Fujiwara Hirotsugu, 藤原広嗣
Tachibana Hayanari, 橘逸勢
Bunya no Miyata Maro　文室宮田麻呂
Kibi no Makibi 吉備真備
Sugawara Michizane　菅原道真

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. Nine Stars Crest 九曜紋 ... Kuyoo Mon / kushitsu 九執 .

Masakaso was a grest believer in the star constellations and brought the belief of Myoken and the nine constellations to many parts of Japan.


Taira no Masakado (平将門)
(?–March 25, 940)
was a member of the Kammu Taira clan of Japan. He was the son of Taira no Yoshimochi, Chinjufu Shogun. His childhood name was Sōma Kojirō. Taira no Masakado was a powerful landowner in the Kantō region.
He is regarded as the first bushi because he was the first to lead a self-governing party.

The Taira Masakado Insurrection of 939-940 - known in Japanese as Jōhei - Tengyō no ran,

In 939, during the Heian period of Japanese history, he rebelled by attacking the outpost of the central government in Hitachi Province, capturing the governor. In December of that year he conquered Shimotsuke and Kōzuke Provinces, and claimed the title of Shinnō (New Emperor). Masakado killed his uncle Kunika who was part Taira. The central government in Kyoto responded by putting a bounty on his head, and fifty-nine days later his cousin Sadamori, whose father Masakado had attacked and killed, and Fujiwara no Hidesato, killed him at the Battle of Kojima (Shimōsa Province) in 940 and took his head to the capital.

His tomb (which contains only a monument to his head) is near exit C5 of Tokyo's Ōtemachi subway station.

When Masakado was preparing for his revolt, a vast swarm of butterflies appeared in Kyoto, considered a portent of the upcoming battle.

Over the centuries, Masakado became a hero and even a demigod to the locals who were impressed by his stand against the central government, while at the same time feeling the need to appease his malevolent spirit. The fortunes of Edo and Tokyo seemed to wax and wane correspondingly with the respect paid to the shrine built to him at the kubizuka — neglect would be followed by natural disasters and other misfortunes. Hence, to this day, the shrine is well maintained, occupying some of the most expensive land in the world in Tokyo’s financial district near the Imperial Palace.

Other shrines which he is deity of include Kanda Shrine (神田明神 Kanda-myōjin) (located in Kanda), and Tsukudo Jinja (which has multiple locations.)

Taira no Masakado's legacy in folklore does not stop with Masakado himself; his daughter, Takiyasha-hime (Princess Takiyasha), also features in Japanese myths.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !




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Masakado no kabuto 将門の兜 the helmet of Masakado

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Taira no Masakado, Yin Yang and Tokyo
When Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first Shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty (1603-1868), seized power in 1600 he started building the city of Edo, now known as Tokyo, copying the ancient city of Kyoto and based on the Chinese philosophy of Yin Yang.

Ieyasu first moved the front gate of his palace (now known as the imperial palace) close to Taira no Masakado's "Kubizuka" (resting place of his cut-off head) located in today's financial district of Otemachi. Taira no Masakado, a warlord from the middle Heian period and the grandson of Taira no Takamochi who founded the Heike family, was killed by Fujiwara no Hidesato in 940 and became one of the most feared "Onryo" (ghost) in history. Because it was believed that ghosts turn into guardian gods if enshrined with deep respect, Ieyasu decided to use Masakado's ghost to protect his city.

Ieyasu also used other sites related to Masakado. He moved the Kanda Myojin Shrine which worships Masakado to its current location which lies towards the northeast direction of the imperial palace. According Yin Yang philosophy, northeast is an ominous direction know as "Kimon" (Demon's gate) from which plague flows in. Ieyasu tried to block this direction by using Masakado's power.



Other sites such as the Kabuto Shrine (enshrines Masakado's "kabuto" or warrior helmet), the Yoroi Shrine (enshrines Masakado's "Yoroi" or armor) and the Tsukudo Shrine (enshrines the bucket in which Masakado's cut-off head was once placed) were all placed in the important locations of the city of Edo.

In addition, the Zojo-ji Temple was moved to its current location, again, based on Yin Yang philosophy. The current location of the Zojo-ji Temple was close to the Tokaido route (one of the five main routes of the Edo period) which lead to Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji is the most sacred place of Yin Yang philosophy and the location of the Zojo-ji Temple was considered to be where energy from Mt. Fuji was flowing into the city of Edo.
- source : discover-tokyo.blogspot.jp-

In fact, the shrines in Edo relating to Masakado are arranged in the form of Hokuto 北斗 the Big Dipper, the Pole Star. Tokugawa Ieyasu thus made sure the Heavens would help protect his town.



1. Torigoe shrine　鳥越神社
2. Kabuto shrine　兜神社
3. Masakado no Kubi-zuka　将門の首塚
4. Kanda shrine　神田明神
5. Tsukudo shrine　筑土八幡神社 - 津久戸明神 Tsukudo Myojin
6. Mizuinari shrine　水稲荷神社
7. Yoroi shrine 鎧神社　

- source : quest-for-japan.com -


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The famous head mound of Masakado in Tokyo
Shoomonzuka 将門塚（しょうもんづか) Shomonzuka (Shomon is another reading of Masakado)

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The body of Taira Masakado, first buried in what is now Marunouchi, was stolen by his friend and buried somewhere near the shrine Kanda Myojin. His head was severed by Fujiwara no Hidesato and had been buried in variousl places in Edo, carrying its curse with it ... Masakado has a shrouded Force, best left alone...

For one thing, you don't want to mess with Taira no Masakado.
A warrior whose exploits are recorded in the historical work "Taiheiki," Masakado led a rebellion against the throne. After being killed in battle in 940, his severed head was sent to Kyoto as a war trophy and hung from a tree for all to see. But what they saw, so the story goes, was the face continuing to grimace and roll its eyes . . . before the head flew back to eastern Japan under its own power.

Masakado's kubizuka (the mound beneath which tradition says his head still rests) is located in the grounds of a powerful samurai's residence in Edo (present-day Tokyo). When the new Meiji government's finance ministry took over the property in 1869, a small stone monument bearing the legend "Taira Masakado" and the prayer "Namu Amida Butsu (Save us, merciful Buddha)" was erected there.

- - - - - Read the full story - HERE ! - - - - -




WIKIPEDIA : Taira no Masakado



. kubizuka 首塚 head mounds .
- Introduction -

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男ぶり将門公の更衣
otokoburi Masakado koo no koromogae

what a man !
Masakado changes
his robes

. 川崎展宏 Kawasaki Tenko .
Born 1927 in Hiroshima


. koromogae 更衣 changing of the robes .
- - kigo for summer - -

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将門の首を洗ふや新松子
角川春樹


ありやなしや将門の首男郎花
逸見真三


将門の走り抜けたる雁渡し
太田土男


将門が顔して神田祭衆
愛澤豊嗣

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CLICK for more books about Masakado !

平将門 - 竜崎攻

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- - - - - More Legends - - - - -

The souls of the defeated warrior Taira no Masayori 平将頼 (? - 940)
was left on the battlefield and cursed the place for more than 480 years.
Then a pupil of Saint Ippen named 真数坊 Shinsubo build a hermitage and prayed for his soul.
He also made the brother of Masayori, Masakado, into a deity to appease him.
So the bad one who cursed the Kanto region for so long was in fact not Masakado, but his brother Masayori.

Masayori became 下野守 Shimotsuke no Kami regent of the Shimotsuke region after Masakado declared himself as the "New Emperor". He was also called "Ason" 朝臣, another title bestowed by the New Emperor.
After the death of Masakado he was also killed in Sagami (Kanto region). - source : wikipedia -

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. 八幡大菩薩 Hachiman Daibosatsu and Masakado .

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.................................................................. Tokyo 東京都　 ....................................................................

In 1928 the newspaper 報知新聞 Hochi Shinbun published an article about
the "Curse of Masakado" 将門のたゝり, which led to a lavish ritual to appease his soul.

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When Mitsui Bussan tried to build an office 三井物産ビル, they wanted to buy the land with the Kubizuka of Masakado. But they were afraid of the curse of Masakado 将門の祟り and bought a different plot.

They also offered a gamagaeru ガマガエル toad to Kanda Myojin shrine.

In aonther office building, many workers became ill with high fever all of a sudden after moving to their new seats near the windows. Checking for the reason they found the seats had turned their backside toward the Kubizuka.
So all the desks and seats at the window side were changed to face the Kubizuka . . . and the workers were well again.

Mitsui Bussan and the 若王子信行 Wakaoji Nobuyuki (1933 - 1989) kidnapping in the Philippines:
. Edo - Kanda 神田 Kanda district　 .

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When the American army アメリカ軍 after the war tried to clear some land for a camp in Chiyoda, the driver of the bulldozer and a few other workers died in mysterious circumstances. Investigating they found it was too close to the land of the Kubizuka.

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One 旗本家 Hatamoto samurai family from Yotsuya once got the kabuto 兜 helmet of Masakado by some of his descendants in exchange for money. On the first night in the new home, the house begun to scream and squeek and shake, so next morning they gave it back to its owner.


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渋谷区 Shibuya

At the temple 荘厳寺 Shogon-Ji there is a statue of 不動明王 Fudo Myo-O. 藤原秀郷 Fujiwara Hidesato came here to pray for victory and to partake of the power of this statue.

. Hatagaya Fudo 　幡ヶ谷不動 Shogon-Ji .


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奥多摩 Okutama

Masakado Jinja 将門神社 Shrine for Masakado
Masakado no Miya 将門宮



The shrine was built by his son, Taira no Yoshikado 平良門, to pray for his soul.
Further up the mountain there is

Masakadoyama Fudo-Son 将門山不動尊



将軍太郎良門 Shôguntarô Taira Yoshikado
- reference - Taira Yoshikado -


.................................................................. Chichibu 秩父 Saitama 埼玉県 ...................

Joomine Jinja 城峯神社 shrine Jomine Jinja



Masakado is venerated here as the Deity in Residence.
Masakado fled to this region in the Chichibu mountains when he was fighting with Fujiwara no Hidesato.
Legend knows he built a castle at 城峯山 Jominesan and hid there. But Hidesato found him and his retainers and they had to flee again.
To appease his soul, the villagers built this shrine.

At 皆野町 Minano in the temple compound of 日野明徳寺 Myotoku-Ji, there is a stone marker on a natural boulder. This is said to be the grave of the favorite horse of Masakado.


.................................................................. Chiba 千葉県　 ....................................................................
成田市 Narita

. Narita Fudo 成田不動尊 Chiba .

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Narita San 成田山　Shinshō-ji 新勝寺 "New victory temple"　
The temple was established in 940 to commemorate the victory of the forces dispatched from the Heian capital to suppress a revolt by the powerful Kantō region samurai, Taira no Masakado.

The Shingon priest 寛朝大僧　Kanchō accompanied the force, bringing with him an image of Fudō myōō from the Gomadō (Fire Offering Hall) of Takao-san Jingo-ji in Kyōtō. Shingon founder 弘法大師 Kōbō Daishi himself was said to have carved the image and used it in Goma sacred fire rituals that helped stop a rebellion during his era. The rebellion in 940 also came to an end just as Kanchō completed a three-week Goma ritual with the same image.


source :　naritasan.or.jp

According to legend, the image of the Unmovable Wisdom King became too heavy after the victory to move back to its home base, so a new temple on Narita-san, named Shinshō-ji (New Victory Temple), was built to enshrine it on the spot.
The temple maintains that the original image is enshrined in the Main Hall, where it is displayed on special occasions, but art historians date the current image to no earlier than the 13th century.
- source : wikipedia -



.................................................................. Gifu 岐阜県 　 ....................................................................
不破郡 Fuwa district - 矢通村 Yadori "Shot by an Arrow"

Mikubi Jinja 御頭神社 "Honorable Head Shrine"
On his way from Kyoto back to Kanto, Masakado's head flew over Gifu and someone shot an arrow at it.
To appease Masakado, this shrine was erected.



Now people come here to be healed from diseases of the head, like headache and stroke.
People buy amulets for prevention or offer a hat when they got healed.

- More photos are here:
- source : gifu-net.com/kutikomi-t -


.................................................................. Kyoto 京都府　 ....................................................................

There is a 銀杏 Gingko tree in the town where the head of Masakado got hooked up on his flight to Kanto.
This kind of legend is also known in other regions on his way.



.................................................................. Nara 奈良県　 ....................................................................

During the Rebellion of Masakado, the statue of the Nio at the gate (Shitsu Kongoo Shin 執金剛神) of the Hokke-Do hall at Todai-Ji 東大寺法華堂 suddenly disappeared.
After the rebellion it returned to its cabinet, but one of the feathers behind its head was missing. Now people knew that this deity had become a bee 蜂 and helped the army 征討軍.
The statue is therefore also called 蜂神 "Bee Deity".
But it a "Hidden Statue" and not shown to the public.


source :　wikipedia


. Masakado's Rebellion 平将門の乱 - Heian History .



.................................................................. Shiga 滋賀県 　 ....................................................................
愛知郡 Aichi district

There is a mound called "Shogunzuka" 将軍塚 which is said to be for Masakado.
(Other souces say it is an old Kofun.

Another famous Shogunzuka is in Kyoto.



.................................................................. Yamanashi 山梨県 ................................................................
大月市 Otsuki

Gorinzuka 五輪塚 "Mound of five rings"


source :　kyukaidou-tougemichi

Near the pass 松姫峠 Matsuhimetoge.
Legend knows that special mementos of Masakado are burried here. In former times people prepared new straw sandals every year at the O-Bon festival for the ancestors to come here and clean the place. But then a white serpent appeared and claimed it as a sacred spot. People did not enter after that.

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北都留郡 Kitatsuru district

nakane no kin なかねの金 nakane gold
The ancestors of the 川久保 Kawakubo family once found some nakane no kin near the old hunting ground (kariba カリバ). Legend knows it was lost there by Masakado and cursed, so they should bring it back to its place. Since that time, people come here to bring ritual offerings on the 17th day of the 11th lunar month, the day of kariba カリバの日.

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- - - 平将門はなぜ殺されたのか？

- Reference in Japanese 歴史鑑定 BS TBS -

Shoomonki 将門記 Shomonki - The Records of Masakado
- reference -

- Reference in English -

yokai database 妖怪データベース
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -

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. Japanese Legends - 伝説　民話　昔話 – ABC-List .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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Masakado in our times - food and restaurants


CLICK for more photos !

Masakaso Senbei 将門煎餅

Masakaso Soba, Masakado Ramen . . .

. Senbei 煎餅 rice crackers .

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Kokushi 国司, also read Kuni no tsukasa
were officials in Classical Japan sent from the central government to oversee a province from around the 8th century, after the enactment of the Ritsuryō system. Kokushi held considerable power and responsibility according to the Ritsuryō, including tax collection, etc. The highest level for a Kokushi was Kami (守). So, for instance, the chief kokushi (governor) of Kai would have the title of Kai no Kami (甲斐守). In some cases, the Kami himself was living directly in the province he was charged with, delegating his powers to lower ranking officials. The highest official effectively in charge of the province was called Zuryō (受領).

Kokushi lost their power during the Kamakura Shogunate and furthermore during the Muromachi Shogunate to the Shugo. In subsequent generations, especially in the Edo period, a kokushi title remained as an honorific title.

Ritsuryō (律令) Ritsuryo
is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (律令制). Kyaku (格) are amendments of Ritsuryō, Shiki (式) are enactments.

Ritsuryō defines both a criminal code (律 Ritsu) and an administrative code (令 Ryō).
During the late Asuka period (late 6th century – 710) and Nara period (710 – 794), the imperial court, trying to replicate China's rigorous political system from the Tang Dynasty, created and enforced some collections of Ritsuryō. Over the course of centuries, the ritsuryō state produced more and more information which was carefully archived; however, with the passage of time in the Heian period, ritsuryō institutions evolved into a political and cultural system without feedback.

The ritsuryō system also established a central administrative government, with the Emperor at its head.

In 645, the Taika reforms were the first signs of implementation of the system.

Registration of the citizens (戸籍 koseki), updated every 6 years, and a yearly tax book (計帳 keichō) were established. Based on the keichō, a tax system was established called (租庸調 So-yō-chō). Tax was levied on rice crops but also on several local products (e.g. cotton, salt, tissue) sent to the capital.

The system also established local corvée at a provincial level by orders of the kokushi (国司), a corvée at the Capital (although the corvée at the capital could be replaced by goods sent) and military service.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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... the total numbers of court ranks appearing in Shoku Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan, Continued)
112 ranks appearing in Shoku Nihongi in each of the forty maki.
- The Shoku Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan, Continued) is the official court history of eighth-century Japan. Presented to the court of Emperor Kanmu in two recensions, 794 and 797, it comprises the annals of the Japanese imperial court from 697 to 791. This voluminous chronicle, five volumes in the standard edition, contains an enormous amount of information on the imperial institution, economic and demographic history, and also a great amount of detail on the system of court ranks instituted in the Taihō Ritsuryō, promulgated in 701 and 702. ...
- source : Ross Bender - 2017 -


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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 (1763 - 1828) - Introduction .

梅さくや平親王の御月夜
ume saku ya heishinoo no on tsukiyo

plums are blossoming -
this moonlit night
of Prince Taira

Hei Shinoo 平親王 is another tame for Taira no Masakado.
In 1810, Issa has been to the temple 西林寺 Sairin-Ji in memory of Masakado at least 9 times.



この句は文化７年（１８１０）１２月２３日一茶が西林寺を尋ねた時に詠んだもの ...
- reference source : t-aterui.jp/hitachi -


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