(A) The Spirit of the White Dog at Otoshi Shrine

There is a village called Inukai between Furuichi Station and Sasayama Station on the Hankaku Railway*. There is an interesting legend about Otoshi Shrine, the guardian deity of this village in Taki County, Tanba Province, which is now part of Furuichi Village.

In every province, guardian deity shrines are usually built in good places, but not Otoshi Shrine. It is at the lowest point of the village and the villagers look down on the shrine. There seemed to be some reason for this, so I asked them, and the first thing was that the god of this shrine was by no means Otoshi**. The villagers know this well. When the name of the shrine had to be decided by an edict issued by the government in 1872***, it was named Otoshi Shrine without authority, but in fact, it is a shrine dedicated to the spirit of a white dog that saved the village from a great disaster long ago. The festival of this shrine is still held on the day of the Dog in the middle of November in the lunar calendar. It is a custom that when a solemn festival ceremony is held at midnight of that day, village houses prepare a sumptuous feast and invite relatives and friends from other villages to have an all-night feast, waiting for the eastern sky to turn red before finally breaking up. The old custom has been repeated every year, and it remains unchanged.

edict（名）布告

authority（名）根拠

solemn（形）厳粛な

sumptuous（形）豪華な

Of course, there can be no supporting record. According to the legend handed down in the village, until the time when this Inukai Village was cultivated, a large stream was located to the left of the village, and a tremendous river valley flowed at the foot of the village, and it was a pleasant paradise without having trouble cultivating fields or cutting down firewood. However, in any paradise, as long as humans live there will always be tragedy. This area is no exception, and every year in early November, a suspicious sheet of paper is erected on the roof of a house with a beautiful virgin. In the month when the gods of all Japan return to Izumo****, people wake up early every morning and look at the houses as if the whole village has been chained with a cloud of fear. If the suspicious paper is moving in the cold morning wind, it will take the cute girl at home. For this reason, the virgin must be given the seventeenth purification bath, and she must be sacrificed on the rock at the end of the mountain cliff across the deep river.

supporting（形）根拠となる

tremendous（形）とてつもなく大きい

erect（動）立てる、垂直にする

chain（動）鎖でつなぐ

purification（名）浄化

In this village, there was a rich man named Ueda Muranushi, who was the subject of a song called "1000 pieces of gold and 1000 pieces of tile******". In November of one year, the same white paper was erected on the roof of his house. The villagers' astonishment and his grief were as we imagined, but there was nothing they could do about it because of the will of a terrible god. He had to kill a pretty girl for the village. He had her bathe 75 times by the appointed day, put her in a plain wooden chest, tied a shimenawa rope*******, and carried her out of his house at the hour of the midnight Ox********. There was a white dog in his house that she always raised. It trailed sadly at the sight of the chest. Fearing god's punishment, the villagers tried to turn the dog away, but it didn't return. At last, the dog went ahead by another road to the head of the mountain cliff and hid behind a rock. The villagers, not noticing the arrival of the white dog, offered the chest and went back across the valley to spend the night as usual in the Imachi Forest at the foot of Ushinose Slope. At once a tremendous mountain wind blew down, and, mingled with the sound of hail and rain splattering on the bamboo grass, the sound of heavy biting came from the end of the cliff. The sound continued for a while until it faded and ceased completely when the color of the eastern sky became beautiful. The villagers became suspicious and went there to find that the white dog in the rich man's house had bitten to death a very large old mujina********* and died with it. The top of the chest was stained red with vivid blood, but the virgin who was sacrificed was unconscious and not injured.

astonishment（名）驚き

mingle（動）入り混じる

hail（名）あられ

Then they burned the mujina black and poured its ashes into the valley river, and the white dog was enshrined as the guardian deity of the village. That is the present Otoshi Shrine. Although they owed it a great debt of gratitude, they decided whether it would be a good idea to enshrine the beast on top of the village, and it was enshrined in the Imachi Forest where the villagers stayed up at night. The names of Imachi and Yamazaki (mountain cliffs) still remain. Ushinose is now Ushigase village. A descendant of Ueda Muranushi, he had been a doctor for generations, and today, Tomizo Ueda is a doctor in Furuichi Village. (Ken Fukuhara)

(B)Heibo Taro

Kozen Temple is located in Uwabu, Ako Village, Kamiina County, Shinano Province. It is about two miles from Mt. Komagatake. There is a famous mound of the justice dog inscribed with "Hayataro's monument" on the grounds.

inscribe（動）刻み込む、彫る

Once upon a time, a wild dog on Mt. Komagatake gave birth to babies under the floor of Kozen Temple. When the puppies grew up and the wild dog returned to the mountain, it took only four of the five puppies with them, and the other one was left at the temple because the temple monk wanted it. When the monk named this dog Heibo Taro and raised it, he cherished it because it was a rare and faithful dog.

cherish（動）大事にする

When a pillar of fire stood on the roof of a village headman's house in Fushimi Village, Shinano Province, and his daughter was to be sacrificed to a guardian deity shrine, a rokubu priest who passed by put her in a box instead of her. The box was offered to the shrine as usual. He was waiting in the box with bated breath when, in the middle of the night, someone danced on the box.

with bated breath......息を殺して

Don't let Heibo Taro,

who is in Kozen Temple in Shinano,

know about this.

sutten-ten-ten*

It sang and danced like this. He made a terrible noise in the box. The monster could not open the box at last, and before long the night was over. Of course, he survived.

The rokubu went around Shinano Province looking for Heibo Taro and came to a village at the foot of Mt. Komagatake to hear that Heibo Taro was not a human but a dog kept at Kozen Temple, so he thought this must be true and visited the chief priest of the temple to tell him the details and borrow a dog. The next year, on the day of a shrine festival in Fushimi Village, he appeared in the village with Heibo Taro. According to his plan, the villagers put Heibo Taro in a box and offered it. When the priest of Kozen Temple read sutras for Heibo Taro through the night, it returned shortly after dawn. He saw that it was covered with blood. When he saw Heibo Taro, it yawned once and fell dead. At the end of the night in Fushimi-mura, villagers went to the shrine to find a hihi, believed to have lived for more than 1000 years, covered in flaws and dead.

sutra（名）経

The dog's real name was Hayataro, and it seems to have become Heibo. (Jiro Hara)

A strange Hachiman Shrine called Ika Ryo Hachiman Shrine is posted on the sightseeing sign of Takase Station of Kyushu Railway. If you get off at Takase Station in Tamana County, Higo Province, and go to the south, there are two rare and magnificent Hachiman Shrines next to each other in the countryside. Both the forest and the Shinto priest of the shrine are located separately. The south side faces west, the north side faces south, and the festival is held on August and October 14 on the south side and on the 15th on the north side. On the day of the festival, young daughters of the shrine parishioner are dressed in an old-fashioned kimono and placed on the shoulders of a man, while a man holding a large fan a meter in diameter made of gold and silver paper from behind her makes a pilgrimage while fanning her buttocks. It is a rare archaic ceremony called neriyome (carrying wives).

parishioner（名）教区民

buttock（名）尻

archaic（形）古代の、古風の

In the past, for some reason, these two Hachiman shrines were extremely fastidious, and it was believed that five kinds of grain* could not be produced unless human sacrifices were made during autumn festivals, and many virgins of the village were sacrificed every year. Then, one year, on the day of the festival, a rokubu from somewhere came and saw neriyome, and thought it strange that Hachiman Bodhisattva, being a god of great mercy, should want to sacrifice, so he hid in a corner of the shrine that night and watched in secret, and in the middle of the night, a terrible beast came out, flying around singing the song 'Don't tell this to X in Hizen Province 'and eating every beautiful maiden. After waiting for dawn, he went to Hizen Province and visited many places to look for it and found that X was the name of a large dog. So, he borrowed the dog and brought it to him and hid with it in the corner of the shrine on the night of the festival the following year. Then the beast of that time came out and tried to eat the virgins, and the dog leaped out and fought till the night was over, and finally won the beast. The dog also died of bruising all over its body. The dog was enshrined in the present Inu Yakushi (dog Bhaisajyaguru）. The ceremony of neriyome is a remnant of that time, but I have not yet asked what the reason is for fueling with a big fan when autumn is cool. (Tadasuke Kudo)

fastidious（形）気難しい

bruise（動）傷つける、打撲傷を与える

remnant（名）名残

(D) Extermination of the Monkey God

Once upon a time, a hunter went deep into the mountains with his two dogs, and, not noticing the old, fearful monkey disguised as a human being, asked it to let him stay overnight in a hut. He dozed off while the owner, a monkey, was cooking millet. He had a message from the god while he was sleeping. So, as the god had told him, he secretly put the two basins over the outside of the entrance and hid the two dogs under them.

millet（名）アワ

As night fell, the monkey began to suffer for some unknown reason. When he called Ushioni's doctor to see him, he was diagnosed as having his life in danger. It tried calling the rabbit shaman to pray, but it was no good. When he called yamabushi, a squirrel, to tell his fortune, the result was

"Ching and Gan curse their parents' monkey

if they repeat the big basin,

and curse their children's monkey

if they repeat the small basin."

diagnose（動）診断する

squirrel（名）リス

Just when the monkey heard it and thought it might be possible, the god appeared and hit the pot hanging on the hearth and chinged. As soon as the hunter heard the sound, he ran out and repeated the two basins. Two dogs waiting inside jumped at the monkey. The cat master also shot a gun and finally got rid of them.

ching（動）チンと鳴らす

The reason why it is extremely taboo to hit the edge of a pan in a mountain hut comes from the above case. The following is an outline of a fairy tale legend handed down in Mt. Ando in Kumano. It is interesting to note that the gun in 'Ching to Gan' means the sound of a gun and is similar to the gun in English. (△Kumagusu Minakata)

outline（名）概要、概略

(E) Kencho-ji-sama

I have a painting in my house by the chief priest of Kencho Temple* in Kamakura. The scene of Ebisu and Daikokuten** dancing near Kadomatsu is interestingly depicted.

A long time ago, an old raccoon dog near Kencho Temple killed the chief priest and disguised himself as the chief priest. He also came to my village and stayed at my house, traveling with his attendants through the country. Strangely enough, whenever he went to any village, he first asked if there were any dogs in the village, and if there were any, he told them to tie up all of them. He stayed in the back room and said, “I don't need a server, so you can come when I call.” The server thought it strange and looked through the gap of the sliding door, and to her surprise, the chief priest threw all the rice and soup on the tray and licked it with his long tongue. It is said that he painted the picture of Ebisu and Daikokuten at that time, and of course, there are no signs. Then the chief priest went down along the Fuji River to Suruga. At that time, the bearers of the palanquin in which he was riding knew that there was a fierce dog in the village, so they purposely parked the palanquin by the road and entered the liquor store. When they brought the dog out, the dog immediately dragged the chief priest of Kencho Temple out of the palanquin and bit him to death. It is said that he became an old raccoon dog only seven days after his death. (Taka Takano in Kurosawa, Toyowa Village, Yatsushiro County, Kai Province)

attendant（名）付添人、従者

bearer（名）運搬人

palanquin（名）駕籠

fierce（形）獰猛な

purposely（副）わざと

(A)

*Hankaku Railway: A railway line connecting Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and Maizuru via Fukuchiyama, Kyoto Prefecture. It was nationalized in 1907 and became the prototype of the JR Fukuchiyama Line.

**Otoshi: a Shinto god. He was born between Susanoo and Kamuoichi-hime, and is a god who controls food.

***1872: In 1872, the government abolished Jingisho (Ministry of Divinities) and established Kyobusho (Ministry of Religion) in the central government office to control religion and govern the people.

****the month when the gods of all Japan return to Izumo: October in the old calendar corresponds to the present late October to early December. October is also called Kannazuki (month without gods), and gods from all over the country go to Izumo for a meeting.

******1000 pieces of gold and 1000 pieces of tile: It is similar to a song that shows the location of the buried gold of millionaires and bandits that has been handed down throughout the country.

*******shimenawa rope: rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion.

********midnight Ox: Around 2:00 AM

*********mujina: Japanese badger or anaguma (Meles anakuma). It is also a dialect of raccoon dogs and palm civets.

(B)

*sutten-ten-ten: the tone of the dance.

(C)

*five kinds of grain: The five major cereals. It generally refers to rice, barley, millet, beans and broom-corn millet.

(D)

(E)

*Kencho Temple: a Rinzai Zen temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, which ranks first among Kamakura's so-called Five Great Zen Temples and is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan. It was founded by Rankei Doryū, a Chinese Zen master who moved to Japan in 1246, spending some years in Kyushu and Kyoto before coming to Kamakura.

**Ebisu and Daikokute: Ebisu is the god of fishing and happiness. Ebis was originally a word meaning alien or barbarian and became a god from outside. He holds a fishing rod in his right hand and a sea bream in his left. Daikokuten is the god that Shiva of Indian mythology was introduced into Buddhism. It was later identified with Okuninushi, a Shinto god. He's on bales, carrying a bag full of happiness and a hammer called Uchide no kozuchi, which gives him everything he wants. Both Ebisu and Daikokuten are members of Seven Gods of Good Fortune.