Komuso legends

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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komusoo 虚無僧　伝説 Komuso legends about begging mendikant monks

. Komuso and the Shakuhachi Flute 尺八 .
- Introduction -


Isoda Koryūsai　磯田湖竜斎　 (1735–1790)
Komuso and Beauties

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The komusō (虚無僧 komusō, hiragana: こむそう; also romanized komusou or komuso)
"monks of nothingness"
were a group of Japanese mendicant monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism who flourished during the Edo period of 1600-1868. Komusō were characterized by a straw bascinet (a sedge or reed hood named a tengai or tengui) worn on the head, manifesting the absence of specific ego.
They were also known for playing solo pieces on the shakuhachi (a type of Japanese bamboo flute). These pieces, called honkyoku ("original pieces"), were played during a meditative practice called suizen, for alms, as a method of attaining enlightenment, and as a healing modality. The Japanese government introduced reforms after the Edo period, abolishing the Fuke sect. Records of the musical repertoire survived, and are being revived in the 21st century.



They wore a straw basket (tengai　天蓋) that covered their head as they played. Because some of these komuso were in fact spies for the government,
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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. どんころ独楽 Donkoro spinning top for gambling .
with a Komuso image on one side

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Komuso Dolls - click for more !

mamako no utae 継子の訴え complaint of a stepchild
While the father had to go on a trip, his two children were killed by the stepmother. A Komuso buried the two children, made a Shakuhachi from the bamboo near the grave and blew it. The sound reached the ears of the father and he returned as fast as he could. He recovered the bodies from the grave and put the stepmother to trial and punishment.
This is the origin of the Shakuhachi melody called
「継子と笛」「継子と鳥」.
- reference : blogs.yahoo.co.jp/therinmeis1979 -

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shakuhachihebi 尺八蛇 Shakuhachi Serpent
tsuchi no hebi 槌の蛇 "hammer snake"


source : nazo108.sblo.jp/article

. nozuchi 野槌 tsuchinoko ツチノコ / 槌の子 "hammerspawn" snake .
- Introduction -

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source and more komuso monsters : togetter.com/li

お猪口が變化した小さな虚無僧のような姿をした妖怪
little Toad monster wearing a 猪口 Sake cup as Komuso hat.

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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures - Komuso and Shakuhachi legends:

........................................................... Kagawa 香川県 .............................................................

yumemi 夢見 seeing a dream
Once a man was on the pilgrimage to Konpira san in Shikoku 金毘羅参り. On the way he saw a bamboo shoot coming out and growing big right in front of his eyes. So he cut the bamboo and made a Shakuhachi out of it. When he blew it, the melody sounded like:

笛も太鼓もいらんぞ、ととさま恋しや
I need no flute or drum, I long for my daddy!

When the man returned home - - - you know the tragic end from the story above.
Therefore in Kagawa it is a bad omen to see a large bamboo shoot in a dream.

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source : geocities.jp/shaku8tm/komusou

虚無僧人形 hand-made bamboo dolls - click for more !


........................................................... Kochi 高知県 .............................................................
安芸郡和食村 Aki district / Tosa 土佐

warai onna 笑い女 the laughing woman
In the hamlet of Wajiki there lived a man deep in the mountains and blew his Shakuhachi every night in front of his hut. One day a beautiful woman came up and asked him to play the Shakuhachi for her. She said her name was "Laughing Woman".
The man smiled and told her he would play a tune to make her laugh.
Her laugh became louder and louder as he blew his Shakuhachi and was heard all over the mountain.
Now the man became angry and trew his ax and hammer at her, but the woman just picked them up and ate them with good appetite.
When the man did not know what to do any more now, suddenly the sound of a rooster came up from the valley and the "Laughing Woman" disappeared.
But the voice of the rooster did not come from an animal, but from an amulet that was hanging at the breast of the man to protect him.
This is a dangerous Yokai, because if you begin to laugh with her, you will be eaten by her.

. warai onna 笑い女 the laughing woman .
and more about 土佐の妖怪 Yokai Monsters from Tosa


........................................................... Kumamoto 熊本県 .............................................................

kani no hi 蟹の火 the light of a crab
Once a Komuso walked in the mountains, when a green-whitish light came nearer. The Komuso questioned it and found out it was a malicious crab. So he hit the crab with his Shakuhachi and killed it.
This is why the local crabs (gazami ガザミ) in the Amakusa region 天草地方 to our day have a scar on the back of their shell.


source : amakoma.sakura.ne.jp/diary

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The sad story of the stepchildren is also told. In this version, the father was visiting Kyoto.
The stepmother killed the children by boiling them in a huge chauldron.

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Komuso Kappa 虚無僧河童


- at yahoo auctions -

. 河童 / かっぱ / カッパ - Kappa, the Water Goblin of Japan! .


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

kosha 瞽者 a blind person
A blind man named Joomatsu 城松 Jomatsu had very keen ears and was quite skillful in playing the Shakuhachi. When he played toward a waterfall, the sound of the waterfall was not heard any more. One day in the early Edo period, in the morning suddenly there was a stange sound of wind and waves when he played.
And that evening, a strong earthquake hit the region.


........................................................... Osaka 大阪 .............................................................

yookai 妖怪 monster
In the year 1774 in October every day there walked a Samurai from Osaka in the area of Mount Sanadayama 真田山. Many could hear him but not see him. Once a Komuso and a villager walked together and the villager realized that the Komuso was in fact a Yokai monster. So he decided to kill him but could not see him any more. He must have fled in fear.


........................................................... Tochigi 栃木県 .............................................................
宇都宮市 Utsunomiya

daija 大蛇 large serpent
In the beginning of the Meiji period there lived a craftsman who made Chinese lutes (gekkin 月琴). He used the skin of serpents to cover the body.
One evening he was sitting in front of his shop, playing the Shakuhachi. He saw a large serpent coming down the hill and winding itself around his flute. The man soon killed the serpent, but he became ill and died soon afterwards.


........................................................... Yamanashi　山梨県 .............................................................

somabito 杣人 forest worker
When the forest workers go to the mountain forest for work, they take along a person skilled in 尺八 Shakuhachi playing. They start after he has performed one melody.
This is because the 天狗 Tengu, who is the 山の神 "Deity of the Mountain", liked to hear Shakuhachi.


source : fuwaiin.com/kenendou/hougaku - 正和会

尺八合同競演会(天狗会)


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- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース - 虚無僧
11 尺八 (01)

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source : jxkura007.exblog.jp - 尺八　よもやま話

kooun ryuusui 行雲流水 "wandering monk", Unsui
"To drift like clouds and flow like water"

. unsui 雲水と伝説 Legends about itinerant monks .

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虚無僧の二人つれだつ雲の峰
komusoo no futaritsuredatsu kumo no mine

two Komuso
wandering along -
billowing clouds

Izumi Kyooka 泉鏡花 Izumi Kyoka

. kumo no mine 雲の峰 billowing clouds .
kigo for summer

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話　昔話 - Introduction .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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Kamakura Gongoro

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. Legends - Heian Period (794 to 1185) - Introduction .
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Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa 鎌倉権五郎景政 Legends
(born 1069)
鎌倉景正 Kamakura Kagemasa / 平景正 Taira no Kagemasa / Kagemasa 景政



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Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa 鎌倉権五郎景政 (born 1069)
a samurai descended from the Taira clan, who fought for the Minamoto clan in the Gosannen War of Japan's Heian period. He is famous for having continued to fight after losing an eye in battle during that war. This was in 1085, when Kagemasa was sixteen years of age.

The progenitor of the Nagae and Kagawa clans, Kagemasa is also claimed as an ancestor by Oba Kagechika, a famous figure of the Genpei War (1180–1185). The family name "Kamakura" comes from his family's residence in the city of Kamakura (in today's Kanagawa prefecture), where his father was a powerful official. The exact identity of his father is unclear, but most scholars cite either 平景成 Taira no Kagenari or 平景通 Taira no Kagetōri as likely names.

Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa is the hero of the kabuki play Shibaraku, one of the most widely-recognized of all kabuki roles and one most associated with the form among those with only a cursory knowledge of the form. Kagemasa is represented in the play with bold red and white face makeup, and a massive costume with huge sleeves, often bearing the crest of the actor Ichikawa Danjūrō.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Gosannen no Eki 後三年の役 （1083年 - 1087年）



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The Gosannen War (後三年合戦, gosannen kassen), also known as the Later Three-Year War, was fought in the late 1080s in Japan's Mutsu Province on the island of Honshū.
The Gosannen War was part of a long struggle for power within the warrior clans of the time.
The Gosannen kassen
arose because of a series of quarrels within the Kiyohara clan (sometimes referred to as "Kiyowara"). The long-standing disturbances were intractable. When Minamoto no Yoshiie, who became Governor of Mutsu province in 1083, tried to calm the fighting which continued between Kiyohara no Masahira, Iehira, and Narihira.
Negotiations were not successful; and so Yoshiie used his own forces to stop the fighting. He was helped by Fujiwara no Kiyohira. In the end, Iehira and Narihira were killed.
During the Siege of Kanezawa,
1086-1089, Yoshiie avoided an ambush by noticing a flock of birds take flight from a forest.
Much of the war is depicted in an e-maki narrative handscroll, the 後三年合戦　絵巻　Gosannen Kassen E-maki, which was created in 1171. The artwork is owned today by the Watanabe Museum in Tottori city, Japan.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Shibaraku (暫 / しばらく) "Stop a Moment!"
is among the most popular pieces in the Kabuki repertoire, and one of the celebrated Kabuki Jūhachiban (Eighteen Great Plays)



The plot centers around the figure of Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa, who has become the stereotypical bombastic hero of the kabuki stage, with red-and-white striped makeup and strong, energetic movement. The historical Kamakura Kagemasa is famous for his bravery for having continued to fight after losing an eye in battle in the Gosannen War (1083-1087).
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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"Shibaraku"
Kiyohara Takehira has ordered his retainers to kill people who will not obey his orders. Kamakura Gongoro appears with the shout "Shibaraku" (Wait a minute!) and rescues these people.
In Edo Kabuki, actors made annual contracts with theaters. The performance in November, celebrating the opening of the new contract year, was called Kaomise (face-showing) and was the most important annual event. It introduced the actors who were members of the company. For the Kaomise, it was customary to create a scene such as this in which all major actors were on stage together, and to include a character with a strong sense of justice who appeared on stage after shouting, "Shibaraku" and saved innocent people who were in imminent danger of being killed by evil men.

Among various works performed for Kaomise, this scene was performed many times, and was gradually refined until fixed dramatic techniques were established. In the Meiji period, this "Shibaraku" scene began to be performed as an independent act, as it is today. "Shibaraku" allows audiences to enjoy stylized dramatic techniques rather than the story of a play.
The hero of this play performs in the Aragoto style, the specialty of each Ichikawa Danjuro generation. Therefore, "Shibaraku" is included as one of the Kabuki-juhachiban (18 best plays), the collection of plays established as "Ie no gei" (specially chosen repertoire for the actor's family) of the Danjuro family.


Kamakura Gongoro wears the type of wig called Kurumabin to which Chikara-gami ornaments made of washi (Japanese paper) are attached, with the type of Kumadori makeup called "Sujiguma" and a costume called suo with enormous sleeves showing the mimasu [3 nested square rice measures], the Ichikawa Danjuro family crest. These are all designed to make Gongoro appear large and strong.
Tsurane
The long speech spoken without a break by Gongoro on the Hanamichi is called Tsurane. This allows the audience to hear the actor's elocution, one of the arts of Aragoto. Basically, the content of this speech, in which many puns are included, is changed for each production.
Keshogoe
When Gongoro has moved from the Hanamichi to the Hombutai (main stage) and is removing the top layer of his costume, voices on stage shout "A-rya, ko-rya" repeatedly, and other voices shout "Dekkee" synchronized with Gongoro's Mie (poses). These voices, called Keshogoe, are praising the Aragoto actors. Keshogoe shouts also praise Soga Goro in "Kotobuki soga no taimen."
- source : ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/kabuki -


. Kabuki and Narita San Ichikawa Danjūrō .

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Takizawa Bakin 滝沢馬琴 七不思議，妖怪

nana fushigi 七不思議 seven wonders of Edo
from the year 1789 - 寛政11年 夏江戸の七不思議。
雷獣を捕えた。女が卵を生んだ。子児が桶で水死した。和睦の後に刀傷におよんだ。三日月井戸の争論が３日に和睦した。匹の牝犬に２匹の牡犬が交尾していた。

鎌倉権五郎景政を祭った社に参詣したら目がつぶれた。
If someone visited a shrine dedicated to Kamakura Gongoro, his one eye would be lost.
(Maybe this is the Shrine in Kamakura.)

. Edo Nana Fushigi 江戸七不思議 The Seven Wonders of Edo　 .


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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

.................................................................. Akita　秋田　 ....................................................................
Yokote 横手市 金澤町

ugui 石斑魚 Japanese dace
At the shrine 金澤八幡神社 Kanezawa Hachimangu in Yawata-119 Yawata, Yokote, Akita
there were 土鈴 clay bells with a Japanese dace with only one eye and 土偶 small clay statues of Kamakura Gongoro.
Gongoro lost his right eye by a hit with an arrow during the siege and 後三年の役 "Later three year's war" of Kanezawa (around 1086 - 89). Gongoro was just 16 years at that time.
He pulled out the arrow at the river 厨川 Kuriyagawa and washed his wound there, thus polluting the river. Now the fish in the river have only one eye.
The clay figures and bells depict him and 石斑魚の土鈴 the Ugui river fish with only one eye.
(It may have been a kajika 鰍 bullhead fish, fam Psychrolutidae.)

. ugui 石斑魚 Japanese dace .

Fish in the rivers coming from 鳥海山 Mount Chokai-San all have only one eye (sugameuo 眇魚) .
Here again is the legend of Kamakura Gongoro having washed his eye after being shot.



............................................................. Fukushima 福島県　 ...............................................................
南矢野目 Minami Yanome

mekko shimizu 半盲清水 clear well with one-eyed fish
Because Gongoro washed his wounded eye here in the "clear water".
- reference and photos : MASAの道中日記 -


.................................................................. Ibaragi 茨城県　 ....................................................................
牛久町 Ushiku machi

Gongoro no Onnen 鎌倉権五郎の怨念
奥州征伐に向かった鎌倉権五郎が、非業の最期を遂げた場所だとされている。この地に果てた権五郎の怨念で、附近の土地を作ると目患をする。病人が出ると言って恐れられていた。


.................................................................. Iwate 岩手県　 ....................................................................
Morioka, 厨川 Kuriyagawa

katame no sakana 片目の魚，メッコ鰍 fish with one eye
The kajika 鰍 bullhead fish in the river Kuriyagawa have only one eye.
This is because Gongoro washed his wounded eye in the river.


.................................................................. Mie 三重県　 ....................................................................
鈴鹿市 and 津市 Suzuka and Tsu

mearai ike, me-arai ike 眼洗池 pond where he washed his eye
The turtles and fish in this pond have all only one eye.
Gongoro had a stronghold there and washed his wounded eye in the pond.


.................................................................. Miyagi 宮城県　 ....................................................................
亘理町 Watari

kataha no ashi, kataba no ashi 片葉の芦 One-sided Reed
Kamakura Kagemasa was had a wounded eye by an arrow and wanted to wash in a pond. When some reeds disturbed him, he cut them down and they turned to become one-sided reeds.
This legend is told in many other ponds of Japan:

宮城郡利府町神谷沢 鏡ヶ池 Miyagi, Rifu, Kamiyazawa
仙台市南町裏の池、仙台市片平丁西側牢屋敷隣りの池、白石市柳町角田街道沿道田の中の池、白石市越河亀井清水、多賀城市市川鴻ノ池、黒川郡富谷町志戸田行 神社御手洗池、石巻市真野萱原長谷寺の池、栗原郡金成町姉歯赤坂岩蔵寺堤、白石市葭ヶ池、柴田郡柴田町船迫清水、栗原郡高清水町勾当山。

katame no buna 片目の鮒 crucian carp with one eye
In the river Nikkawagawa 新川川 Gongoro washed his wounded eye.


. buna densetsu 鮒 伝説　crucian carp - kigo and legends .


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- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -

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. Persons of the Heian Period (794 to 1185) 平安時代 .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話　昔話 - Introduction .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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景政が片目をひろふ田螺かな
Kagemasa ga katame o hirou tanishi kana

Kagemasa
picks up a mud snail
with one eye . . .

. Kikaku Takarai Kikaku 宝井其角 .
榎本其角 Enomoto Kikaku (1661-1707)

Goryoo Jinja 御霊神社 Goryo Jinja
3-17 Sakanoshita, Kamakura, Kanagawa
Kagemasa is the deity in residence.

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The Shrine is dedicated to the soul of an extraordinarily brave samurai with great physical strength who had lived here before the Kamakura Period (1185-1333). His name is Kagemasa (Gongoro) Kamakura (1069-?), thereby local people call the Shrine " Gongoro-san". .

At the age of 16, he joined a battle at a southern part of Akita Prefecture as a retainer of Yoshiie Minamoto (1039-1106, great-grandfather of Yoritomo Minamoto, the founder of Kamakura Shogunate). During the bitter battle, his left eye was shot by an enemy's arrow. Undaunted, he bravely continued fighting. When he came back to the camp, the arrow was still in his eye. His colleague tried to help remove it putting his foot on Kagemasa's forehead. Kagemasa got furious and accused the colleague of his rude manner. Samurai were full of pride and self-respect those days, and the face being stepped on by foot meant to break the samurai code and was never bearable for Kagemasa. The colleague apologized for his rudeness and the arrow was eventually pulled out in proper manner. To commemorate this episode, a pair of fletchings were employed as the crest of the Shrine and they appear on the tiles of roof. Kagemasa's prowess and manner were highly praised as a role model of Kanto samurai. Hence the Shrine is credited by the locals with its power of healing eye diseases. Also to praise his braveness, a Jizo statue named Yagara (arrow) was made and had been enshrined at Engakuji. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by the 1923 earthquake. Today, a stone monument for this statue stands at Keisho-an of Engakuji and is listed 14th of the Kamakura Twenty-Four Jizo Pilgrimage.



In the Shrine's ground, there are a pair of round stones which are dubbed Tamoto-ishi or a "sleeve stone" and Tedama-ishi or a "stone in one's hand". Legend has it that the larger stone (left) weighing 105 kilograms was in Kagemasa's sleeve-pocket and the smaller one weighing 60 kilograms was in his palm as if they had been his toys. The stones are to show he was a man of muscle.

There are quite a few Jinja named Goryo in Japan. Go is a prefixal honorific and ryo means souls. According to Shinto dogma, those who died an unnatural death, died by violence or in a state of anger or resentment need to be buried with courtesy and reverence, and their souls should be enshrined. Otherwise, it is believed, people will incur divine wrath and punishment, or revenge will be exacted by the malevolent spirits of the dead. Goryo Jinja were thus erected throughout Japan to exorcise evil spirits, and special services are performed regularly to soothe the revengeful spirits. In the Shrine, wooden statues of Kagemasa and his wife are enthroned on the altar, but they are not visible. As usual in Shinto shrines, only a round mirror is placed in the center.
- source : kamakuratoday.com/e -


. tanishi 田螺 paddie snails, mud snails .


. 御霊神社 Goryo Jinja Shrines in Japan .

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source : kamakuratoday.com/suki/mochida


- - - - - There is a saying about Kagemasa

景政の目玉田螺も力餅
Kagemasa no medama tanishi mo chikaramochi

tanishi 田螺 / タニシ mud snails are said to be a medicine for eye disease. In their form they look almost like an eyeball.

There is alos a deity 片目の生砂神 for lost eyes.
- reference : www.geocities.jp/kasaamiryou/topix4/... pdf file -
(More to be explored.)




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You will find an old stone guidepost engraved　"Goryo Shrine Kamakura Gongoro Kagemasa" in front and "Road bound for Hasedera Temple" on the side. Actually, this place has been a very important cross roads from Enoshima and Hase since Kamakura era or maybe more ancient times.

Mochiya Kichibei, the founder of CHIKARAMOCHI YA, opened his store right behind the guidepost. It is a story of 300 years ago.

- - - - - Chikaramochi and Kamakura Samurai history
A Kamakura Samurai named Gongoro Kagemasa became famous for his brave actions and success in the battles of 1083-1087 at TOHOKU (the northern region of Japan). He was just 16 years old at that time but already very strong. When his troops returned in triumph they began the contest of strength using 60-kilo, 100-kilo stones here at Sakanoshita. They all admired Gongoro's strength.

Later who knows when, these stones were placed at Goryo shrine and the rice cakes were put on the stones for offering to Gongoro. Those cakes were also delivered to the worshipers and came to be called Gongoro's CHIKARAMOCHI.

Long later but still long time ago, our ancestor started making the house-brand cake named CHIKARAMOCHI so that people would keep in mind the brave samurai, Gongoro Kagemasa for the future. 　(Those stones are exhibited at Goryo shrine even now.)

Times had changed into the modern age and the MEIJI government regulated the license for handling the sweet products at stores. CHIKARAMOCHI YA took it in 1885. ......long time has passed...... Now we enjoy the local activities, for example, Goryo festival together with many people and shops such as Mitome store who is also a very long established store here.
18-18 Sakanoshita, Kamakura City,
- source : chikaramochi-ya-en.com -


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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

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. 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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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

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. 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.
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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。
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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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