LEGENDS - soba buckwheat noodle legends

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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soba 蕎麦 Legends about buckwheat


Daruma eating buckwheat noodles

Soba is a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. It is served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup.
Soba grows in regions not suited for rice, so it is the "food of the poor" in mountain regions.

. soba 蕎麦 buckwheat - Buchweizen .
- Introduction -

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CLICK for more photos !

sobachoko, soba choko 蕎麦猪口 small pot with sauce to dip the Soba in


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akuboshi 悪星 "unauspicious star"
In the middle of May an unauspicious "bad star" appeared in the sky in the South. Everybody was afraid, because they were told whoever looked at this star will die.
But they also said that if you eat Soba right after that, you will not die.

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soy beans 大豆 daizu - red beans 小豆 azuki - 蕎麦 Soba - barley 麦 mugi

Around the 25th day of the 1st month in the year 1733 (享保18年1月25日頃) it suddenly rained grains from the sky in the Ise and Kinki region. People picked them up, made flour from them and ate them as dumplings.
On the 24th day of the 2nd month the same happened in Kyoto, from 京都四条河原 Shijo toward 松原 Matsubara.
And again it rained barley 麦 mugi and 蕎麦 Soba from the sky, but someone picked the grains up and they only looked like such.
And in the text year, there was a great famine.
Whatever it was, also known from the history of China, when it rained from the sky, next year was a famine　飢饉.

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If you peel of the husk of buckwheat seeds and place them near a swamp in winter, the next year there will be a lot of dojoo 泥鰌 Dojo loaches to eat.

In the legends below there are some with a fox.

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yotaka soba 夜鷹蕎麦 Soba for "night hawker" prostitutes


source : 77422158.at.webry.info - 蘭鋳郎の日常

. Edo Yatai 江戸屋台 Food stalls in Edo .
The most famous three ones were for Sushi, Tenpura and Soba buckwheat noodles.

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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

.......................................................................... Aichi 愛知県 ......................................

In many parts in the 北設楽郡 Kitashitara district, if people go to the mountains to work and take some soba mochi 蕎麦餅 filled buckwheat dumplings, they will turn into a wild animal (kemono 獣).




.......................................................................... Akita 秋田県 ......................................
由利郡 Yuri district, 大内村 Ouchi

. 藤原喜平 Fujiwara Kihei - 悪食喜平 Akujiki Kihei and Kappa .
and 蕎麦酒 Buckwheat liquor


蕎麦の酒 - Suehiro Sake Co. - Fukushima



.......................................................................... Aomori 青森県 ......................................
八戸市 Hachinohe

yamabato 山鳩 mountain dove
During a famine
飢饉のときに、炒粉（麦を炒って臼で引いて、藁を混ぜて粉にしたもの）を食べていた。子供が父親に炒粉の弁当を届に行ったが、魚がそれを食べるのが面白くて全部やってしまった。子供が畑の父のところに行ってみると、父は餓死していた。子供は「テテ、コケ、アッパ言（へ）った」と叫び、喉から血を吐いて死んだ。父が蒔いた蕎麦が、血が流れたところから芽を出した。だから蕎麦の根は赤い。そして山鳩は「テテコケ、アッパヘタ」と鳴く。


.......................................................................... Fukuoka 福岡県 ......................................
北九州市 Kitakyushu

. 河童 Kappa，海御前様 Amagozensama, Ama Gozen .
Shrine 天疫神社 Teneki Jinja


.......................................................................... Fukushima 福島県 ......................................
田村郡 Tamura district, 都路村 Miyakoji

kitsune 狐 fox
Once a fox had devastated the fields and grandpa got angry, He waited for the fox to kill him. When a person passed by, he saw grandpa with tucked hems, stepping on the buckwheat plants in the field. But he was in fact bewitched by the fox and thought he was stepping in the water. So just as well, he was lucky someone came by and woke him up.
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In a version from 大沼郡 Onuma district, 金山町 Kaneyama, it was a man trying to harvest buckwheat who was bewitched by a fox thinking he was wading in a deep river.

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大沼郡 Tanuma district 金山町 Kaneyama

kitsune 狐 fox
話者の祖父が夜、魚を背負って帰るときに狐につけられて、魚を取られた。蕎麦の畑で芸者が歌ったり踊ったりしているように見えたが、そんなところに芸者がいるわけがないと思えて、狐に化かされていると気づいた。


.......................................................................... Gifu 岐阜県 ......................................
飛騨地方 Hida region

mujina 狢 badger
昔々ある老人が山小屋で蕎麦落しをしていたら、どこかから毎夜小僧が現れ話しかけるので困った。老人は石を焼いて小僧に投げつけたらひどい声がして倒れたものがあった。翌朝見ると大きな狢であった。

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荘川村 Shokawa

mujina 狢 badger
This badger shapeshifted into a woman and played tricks on people, letting them get lost in the mountains or hanging themselves.



Sometimes she made them eat soba dango 蕎麦団子 buckwheat dumplings , which were in fact 馬糞 horse apples.


.......................................................................... Gunma 群馬県 ......................................
吾妻郡 Agatsuma district 嬬恋村 Tsumagoi

to ward off 鬼 Oni demons
People offer dumplings made of rice, buckwheat or millet flour on January 31. They make these offerings to the 神仏 deities of Shinto and Buddhism at the entrance of their home or near a window. These dumplings are called "oni no medama 鬼の目玉 "eyeballs of a demon" and ward off all evil.
If a demon comes and sees these huge eyeballs, he becomes afraid and runs away.


.......................................................................... Ibaraki 茨城県 ......................................
稲敷郡 Inashiki

kitsune 狐 fox
Once a man took his horse to work in the forest. When he passed by a swamp, suddenly something white blew over his head, . The horse was afraid and run away fast. The horse reached home safely but the man did not come. So his family went out looking for him.
They would him walking rounds in the buckwheat field. Nobody knew what really happened, but they agreed that he must have been bewitched by a fox.


.......................................................................... Iwate 岩手県 ......................................

with prayers for a good harvest of the "five grains "五穀

一月十六日の未明に鳥追いを済ませたあと、座敷に飾っていた御作立ての中で瑞木団子と蕎麦を残して、後は刈り取ってしまっておくと、その年の五穀が風が当たらずよく実るという。

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kitsune 狐 fox and 大入道 Dainyudo

昔、夜遅くに若い女を見て狐が化けていると正体を見破った男は、次に大入道に会い、狐と見破る。家に着くと狐がいたので叩いているとそれは雨着だった。またある時には、大水が出たと思わされて、蕎麦畑を裸であるかされたりもした。

Sometimes people get bewitched by a fox and run around naked in what they think is the sea or a river, but in fact they are trampling in their 蕎麦畑 buckwheat fields.

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source : youkaiwiki.com/entry/2013

akari nashi soba 燈無蕎麦（あかりなしそば）The Unlit Soba Shop

- quote -
Akarinashi Soba – The Unlit Soba Shop
Above the bridge that spanned the flowing canal, a soba shop stood whose paper lantern had the words "28" written on it in thick, bold characters. Even when all the fires were put out, and the street was in darkness, this lantern would continue to shine, without candle or oil.
Those who tried in vain to douse the lantern would meet with no success, and misfortune would fall upon their household.
- source : Zack Davisson -


. Honjo Nana Fushigi 本所七不思議 Seven Wonders of Honjo - Edo .

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.......................................................................... Kanagawa 神奈川県 ......................................

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足柄上郡 Ashigara district 三保村 Miho

kitsune 狐 fox
Once a man had caught three ヤマメ Yamame trout-salmons. But a fox passed by, threw a net over him at the Soba field and stole all the fish.

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川崎市 Kawasaki, 多摩区 Tama district

hitotsume no mekari baasan 一つ目のメカリバアサン
2月8日と12月8日の夜には一つ目のメカリバアサンがやって来るのだという。障子の穴から中を覗いては子供を攫って行くのだと言い、それを防ぐ為に、夕方から竿の先に目数の多い笊をかけて屋根に立てかけておく。グミの木を燃やしておくと、その煙で逃げていくとも行った。この日は遠出を避け、夜には蕎麦を食べたりもする。

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津久井郡 Tsukui district 城山町 Shiroyama

kamikakushi 神隠し "being spirited away"
tengoosama テンゴウサマ Tengu
kamikakushi here means to be taken away by a Tengu. People begin to eat earthworms thinking they are buckwheat noodles and run round and round in the mountains.
When they are found by their fellow villagers, they are usually sitting in a tree.

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横浜市 Yokohama, Minato district

mekari baasan メカリ婆さん Old Mekari Woman
12月8日にはメカリ婆さんが来るので、目籠を軒下に伏せて置いたり、団子掬いを柱にかけておいたりする。また、悪い米の粉を使った団子を2、3個串に刺して柱に縄で縛っておくと、この婆さんがそれを食べるのだとともいう。2月8日は悪い日だと言って、蕎麦やオコワなどを作り、外出を忌んだ。

. mekari shinji 和布刈神事 ritual cutting of kelp .
4 to explore

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横浜市 Yokohama

kitsune 狐 fox
Once upon a time
a man went into the mountain forest to work, but got bewitched by a fox. Then e ate an earthworm, thinking it was buckwheat noodles. And then he walked in circles in the mountain for a long time.


.......................................................................... Miyagi 宮城県 ......................................
Sendai 宮城野区

. Sobagomezaka 蕎麦米坂 and Sendai castle . *
伊達政宗 Date Masamune

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角田市 Kakuda town

kitsune 狐 fox
神次郎部落のある老婆が，親戚のお祭振舞に呼ばれたまま夜更けまで帰宅しなかった。未明，家人が心配して探しに行くと，老婆は裾をはしょって川を渡る格好をし，「深い深い」といいながら山の蕎麦畑の中を歩き回っていた。家人に大声で呼ばれて正気にかえったが，土産の重箱は狐に攫われてしまっていた。


.......................................................................... Nagano 長野県 ......................................
南安曇郡 Minami Azumino district

Izuna いづな the Izuna Deity t
いづな使いの婆様をたしなめた士が、婆様のついた悪態どおりに帰り道でいづなに憑かれて腰を抜かした。皆で蕎麦を打った時、婆様が蕎麦の上に尻をついたので皆が汚がっているところを婆様がひとりで食べた。それを怒った爺はいづなにとりつかれて死んだ。

. Izuna Gongen, Iizuna no Gongen 飯網の権現 .


.......................................................................... Nagasaki長崎県 ......................................
南高來郡 愛野村 Aino

darashi ダラシ Darashi
If hunters walk alont the mountain pass, they might get bewitched by the Darashi. They can suddenly not walk any more and crawl around on all fours.
Once this happened to a hunter, but he could make it to a tea shop nearby where he ate two bowls of buckwheat and was soon healed.

Darashi だらし is a Yokai of Nagasaki.
(9 to explore)

. Hidarugami ヒダル神 The Hunger Gods.
In Kitakyushu, it is known as the Darashi (ダラシ).
(41 to explore)


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

kitsune 狐 fox
There are three old foxes 三老狐の女狐 who bewitch people to run around the buckwheat fields three times or let them see water puddles to jump in. They also change into humans and steal the lunch boxes of farmers. But they are afraid of dogs.

Sometimes a bewitched person walks around the buckwheat field with the robes all tucked up high, thinking he is walking in a river. The foxes also eat their aburaage 油揚げ Tofu lunch.


.......................................................................... Okayama 岡山県 ......................................
英田郡 Aida district 大原町 Ohara

furudanuki 古狸 the old badger
ある雨の夜寺に老人がやってくる。老僧は青石を焼いておいて老人に在所を尋ねる。日が暮れたので宿を乞いたいということであった。老僧は夕飯も過ぎたが蕎麦焼きならあるといって焼いた青石を老人の膝に投げると、老人はあっと叫んでそのまま出て行くが、谷で死んだ。翌朝行って見ると谷底に穴があり、そこで古狸が焼け死んでいた。膝と思ったのは陰嚢であった。その土地の名を玉落谷という。



.......................................................................... Tochigi 栃木県 ......................................
芳賀郡 Haga district 茂木町 Motegi

Soba to ward off the
akki 悪鬼 bad demon
2月8日は八日様と言われている。夜に蕎麦をうち、熊笹で作った八日塔を裏に置いて、ここに上げる。ねぎと豆腐を熊笹にさして雨戸口に置き、かごを棒で屋根に上げて、悪鬼を払う。



.......................................................................... Tokyo 東京都 ......................................
八王子市 Hachioji

If you drink tea after eating とろろ飯 Tororomeshi or Soba, you will get a cerebral stroke 脳卒中.

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小石川諏訪町 Koishikawa Suwa District

reiken 霊剣 the magic sword
In the Soba Yokocho there lives 折原岩之助 Orihara Iwanosuke.
小石川諏訪町蕎麦切横町に住む折原岩之助が、文政9年3月16日に見た夢によると、神田小柳町あたりの道具屋に希代の霊剣があるとのことだった。同じ夢を数度みたので同月21日に道具屋を尋ねるととても古びた剣があった。そこで購入した晩の夢に、甲冑の上に白い装束を着た人物が出現し、様々な剣の徳を述べ、夢は覚めたという。小倉五郎源宗広の銘があり、470年ほど前の剣だったという。


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neko soba 猫そば　-
all the fun
with GOOGLE

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



Hokusai Manga - Eating Soba 葛飾北斎の北斎漫画

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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 ! .

- #sobanoodles #sobalegends #buckwheatlegends -
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Posted By Gabi Greve to Heian Period Japan on 5/06/2016 09:42:00 am

EDO - MINGEI - tako kite kites

[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
. tako　凧 Kites of Japan - Introduction .
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tako, Edodako, Edo-dako 江戸凧 Kites of Edo

. tako　凧 Kites of Japan - Introduction .

tako is the Edo word for "kite", and up until the great linguistic levelling of the Meiji period the Kansai area used
几巾 ikanobori.


Flying a kite in Edo was a pastime during the New Year holidays and in spring, when the wind was blowing strong, enjoyed by young and old, men and women!

. wadako 和凧 Japanese Kite .



source :　hikaru
Kunisada : Kites of Edo

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- quote -
EDO
'Edo' is the old name of Tokyo and this kite is one of the most decorative kite today in Japan. Its painting designed was depicted for famous historical stories or traditional stories in Japan.
Today, Edo-dako is designed so as to be assembled at the flying site because of convenience for handling. The number of bridles of Edo dako are 11 or 14 and each length of strings is about 20-25 times of its height. It is very difficult to adjust the center position of strings for good flight. It is famous for its large hummer on the top of kite. This kite is fit for the wind speed of 5 m/second - 15m/second.
A hummer is fixed on the top of kite and sounds with wind.



source : google for more

EDO KAKU　江戸角凧
Edo kaku is a smaller size of Edo such as 30-60cm in width and 60-90cm in height. This kite is very popular as well as Yakko-dako in Japan. It has three bridles and usually two tails.
. tako　凧 Kites of Japan - Introduction .



CLICK for more Daruma kites !

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Edo Yakko 江戸奴凧





source : kumon-ukiyoe.jp/index
風流十二月ノ内　青陽　　　（正月）　
国貞　（歌川国貞／三代　歌川豊国／香蝶楼　国貞） Kunisada

. yakko 奴 servants in Edo .

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source : kumon-ukiyoe.jp/index

江都勝景中洲より三つまた永代ばしを見る図　
Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川　国芳

Slightly to the right you can see a Daruma Tako in the sky!

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source : ukiyoe.yamabosi.jp

東京名勝図会 上野広小路 Ueno Hirokoji  （凧絵入り）
Hiroshige 広重画

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source : blogs.yahoo.co.jp/youitirou68

富嶽三十六景 Fujisan - Hokusai 北斎　

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source : kaminokura.co.jp/p

A hanga 新板 print of Tako paintings 凧絵



. MORE Ukiyo-E about Edo kites .


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A Tako maker in our times . . . one of the few still working in Tokyo.

志村康夫 Shimura Yasuo
He pays special attention to the beards of the faces he paints.



- source : tatsujin.kitaku.net/tatsu-jin -

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takozukuri 凧作り making kites / takoya　凧屋


source : kobo-toki.com

. naishoku 内職　home worker, side business in Edo 　 .

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凧揚げて天狗をたのむ童かな
tako agete tengu o tanomu warawa kana

flying his kite
this child has his hopes
in the Tengu . . .


. Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規 .



. Tengu 天狗 the long-nosed mountain goblin .


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- - - To join me on facebook, click the image !

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. tako　凧 Kites of Japan - Introduction .

. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .

. Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. Japanese Architecture - Interior Design - The Japanese Home .

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .


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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]- - - - - #tako #kite #takokite - - - -
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Posted By Gabi Greve to Edo - the EDOPEDIA - on 5/18/2016 09:43:00 am

EDO - fuzoku and sex and shunga

http://darumamuseum.blogspot.jp/2007/02/shunga.html
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[ . BACK to DARUMA MUSEUM TOP . ]
. fûzoku　風俗 Fuzoku and sex business .
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Shunga Daruma　春画だるま

This side looks quite harmless as a wall hanger.





Here we are in a different world


Photos from my friend Ishino


Some Daruma Netsuke come in form of Shunga, erotic scenes 春画

Netsuke : O-Kame

Netsuke : Nr. 47


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Very small netsuke




but inside


Photos from my friend Ishino



. nanshoku、danshoku 男色 homosexuality in Edo .


. fûzoku　風俗 Fuzoku and sex business .

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- quote -
Sexually explicit Japanese art challenges Western ideas
It is one of the most salacious images in the history of art: deep underwater, a gigantic pink octopus drags a naked young woman into a cleft between two rocks. As his coiling tentacles slither over her blemish-free body, caressing a nipple and encircling her nubile legs, this unlikely molluscoid lover pleasures his prostrate captive, who throws back her head in ecstasy while a second, smaller octopus plants a tender kiss upon her mouth.

To modern eyes, it may look like a piece of titillating filth. But this woodblock print, which is known in the West as The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife and was created in 1814 by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), who also famously depicted a tumultuous wave apparently about to swallow up Mount Fuji, is in fact a sophisticated work of art belonging to a genre known as 'shunga', or erotic 'spring pictures', which thrived in Japan between about 1600 and 1900.

A spellbinding, exhilarating and often eye-popping exhibition, Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art, collating more than 150 works of shunga, opens this week at the British Museum in London. A copy of Hokusai's notorious print once owned by the French connoisseur Edmond de Goncourt, who wrote a monograph about the artist, is included in the show, as well as a steamy translation of the picture's abundant text, which contains several onomatopoeic sighs and exclamations signifying the woman's fulfilment.

"Today shunga gets treated like obscene pornography," explains Timothy Clark, who has curated the British Museum's exhibition. "People who haven't seen shunga before will be surprised by how explicit it can be. But this is sexually explicit art, not pornography, produced to exactly the same technical perfection as art in other formats by the same people. Hokusai was working during the Edo period, which had a playful spirit, and the octopus story comes from an ancient tale about a diver woman who stole a jewel from the Dragon King's palace at the bottom of the sea. Hokusai was expecting a comic response. A lot of the scenarios in shunga are preposterous – there's fantasy at work."



- - -Sinful pleasures?
When considering shunga, it is important to shed censorious attitudes towards sexuality that have been a fundamental part of western Christian culture for so long. Although printed shunga was officially illegal in Japan after 1722, it was widely tolerated – indeed, during the three centuries of its popularity many thousands of images were produced in a variety of formats: multi-volume books, bound albums sometimes exchanged as wedding gifts, painted handscrolls, and sets of small-format prints possibly sold in wrappers.

Shunga could be sensuous and comic, but it was rarely violent or exploitative. Most shunga depicts vigorous heterosexual couples in mutual bliss – and these prints were likely cherished by men and women, both young and old, from different strata of society, including samurai lords as well as prosperous merchants and commoners. "The division between art and obscene pornography is a Western conception," says Clark. "There was no sense in Japan that sex or sexual pleasure was sinful."



- - - Art of intimacy
The golden age of shunga coincided with technical advances in printing around 1765 and lasted into the early 19th Century. In these decades many of the masters of the so-called 'ukiyo-e' colour woodblock print turned their attention to shunga, including Kitagawa Utamaro, whose ravishing masterpiece Poem of the Pillow (1788), a folding album containing 12 colour-printed illustrations, was one of 31 shunga works by the artist. "Utamaro is probably the most important shunga artist," explains Clark. "Shunga forms a high percentage of his overall oeuvre. But he had a naturally very sensuous line radiating passion no matter what he drew – it didn't have to be people having sex."

The exhibition at the British Museum also contains shunga by Torii Kiyonaga, whose Handscroll for the Sleeve (c. 1785) favoured a radically-cropped, horizontally elongated format to enhance the illusion of intimacy, and Suzuki Harunobu, whose 24-sheet narrative series Elegant Erotic Mane'emon (1770) is a comedy of manners in which the hero, having drunk a divine potion that shrinks his body down to the size of a bean, travels around different provinces observing various types of lovemaking. After seeing the pumpkin-sized testicles of a randy old farmer, the bean man Mane'emon informs us that things are different in the country.

In much shunga, the protagonists have meticulously rendered and enlarged genitals – but the effect is rarely grotesque. Instead, shunga artists create swirling compositions to reflect the frenzied ardour of lovemaking, and play with pleasing contrasts between bare flesh and gorgeous, beautifully patterned textiles.

Perhaps nobody has described the effect of shunga more elegantly than the 19th Century aesthete Goncourt, who wrote about "the furious, almost angry copulations; the somersaults of rutting pairs, knocking over the folding screen of a bedroom; the mingling of bodies which dissolve into one another; the sensual excitability of the arms, both inviting and resisting coitus; the epilepsy of the feet, toes twisted, waving in the air; the devouring mouth-to-mouth kisses, the swooning woman, head thrown back and touching the floor, with the petite mort on her face, eyes closed under painted lids; finally, the force, the power of the outline which makes the drawing of a phallus equal to that of the hand in the Musée du Louvre attributed to Michelangelo". If that doesn't incite passion to discover shunga, then nothing will.
- source : bbc.com/culture/story - Alastair Sooke 2014 -

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. Dreams about the Octopus 蛸と伝説 .


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electing 100 prostitutes from Edo
百人女郎品定 : 絵草紙 Hyakunin Joro Shinasadame: Ezoshi

上,下之巻 / 西川祐信 Mishawka Sukenobu (1671-1751)



- reference : wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki -

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- #shunga #edoshunga -
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Shunga exhibition
Intricate, Beautiful, Raunchy: Japan Embraces Its Ancient Erotic Print Tradition, an exhibition:
The first half of Shunga continues at Eisei Bunko Museum (1 Chome-1-1 Mejirodai, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan) through November 1.
The second half runs from November 3 through December 23.

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HEIAN - Hokigami Hahakigami

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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Hookigami, Hōkigami 箒神 (ほうきがみ) Hokigami, Hahakigami Legends about the Broom Deity
箒神 (ははきがみ) Hahakigami
箒の神 (ホウキノカミ) Hoki no Kami


百器徒然袋

- quote -
broom spirit
APPEARANCE:
A hahakigami is a tsukumogami which takes up residence in a broom. They can sometimes be seen on cold, windy late autumn mornings, sweeping wildly at the blowing leaves.

ORIGIN:
Long ago, brooms were not household cleaning tools, but actually holy instruments used in ritual purification ceremonies. They were used to on the air in a room or area in order to purify it and sweep out any evil spirits and negative energy that might be lingering there. Like any tool used for many years, a broom which reaches a very old age becomes a perfect home for a spirit — perhaps even more so in the case of a hahakigami because of the ritual nature of its origin.



Hahakigami
are used also as magical charms for safe and quick childbirth. Because brooms are used to "sweep out" evil energy, a hahakigami acts as a sort of totem to "sweep out" the baby from its mother safely.
They are also used as charms to keep guests from overstaying their visit. Anyone who has stayed beyond their welcome might also be "swept out" by the power of the hahakigami.
- source : yokai.com/hahakigami -

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- - - - - Shrines were Hahakigami is venerated 箒神を祀る神社
産神 Ubugami equals 箒神 Hokigami
A mother has to sweep the floor with a broom or stamp on the broom forcefully to have a safe birth.
Women who did not take good care of their brooms often had a difficult birth.

高忍日売神社 Takaoshihime Jinja
愛媛県伊予郡松町徳丸387番地 Ehime
- source : takaoshihime.jp -


徳井神社 Tokui Jinja
Hooki no Miya 箒の宮 "Shrine of the Broom"
兵庫県神戸市灘区大和町４丁目 -- 4 Chome-5-5 Yamatocho, Nada Ward, Kobe, Hyogo
- reference : kamnavi.jp/en/settu/tokui -


. ubugami 産神 "deity of birth" .
guardian deity of pregnant women, newborn babies and one's birthplace

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source : cromag.blog8.fc2.com
箒神（ははきがみ）

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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

Hokigami is the first to show up during a birth. If he does not show up, a woman can not give birth safely. Sp she has to take good care of her broom.

This saying is told in many parts of Japan, in Kagawa 香川県, Kanagawa 神奈川県, Nagasaki 長崎県, Oita 大分県

.......................................................................... Ehime 愛媛県 ......................................
松山市 Takamatsu

Takaboozu 高坊主 Takabozu
He comes instead of Hokigami to help with a birth.
ある商人が箒の神の堂に泊まった晩、箒の神の代わりに出産に立ち会った臼の神が、女の子が生まれたが18で近江のなまずのえじきになると伝える。その娘は商人の子だった。大きくなった娘が伊勢参りに行くので、商人は弁当と饅頭を買う金を与えた。近江の湖で高坊主が現れたが、娘は高坊主に弁当と買った饅頭をあげたため、83まで生きられることになったという。



source : youkai.tou3.com

Takabozu is a Yokai.
It has the figure of a very large monk and appears on crossroads and in the mountains, to take people by surprise.


.......................................................................... Fukuoka 福岡県 ......................................
星野村 Hoshino

Hokigami is the Deity of Birth. If a woman walks over a broom, she will have a difficult birth.

The same is told in Ehime 愛媛県.


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

There are various tales and lore on the topic of giving birth.
A woman has to go to a special hut for giving birth, there a broom has to stand up to make sure the Hokigami will come to help.
If the pregnant woman steps on the broom by accident, the Hokigami will get angry and she can not give a safe birth.


.......................................................................... Miyazaki 宮崎県 ......................................
Higashi Kunisaki district

If the bottom of a newborn baby is blue, they say the Hokigami has blown it out.

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東臼杵郡 Higashi Usuki district

If Hokigami and Benjogami (Deity of the Toilet) do not show up in time, a woman can not give birth. Therefore a woman has to keep the toilet clean too.

. Benjogami 便所神 God of the Toilet .


.......................................................................... Nagano 長野県 ......................................

To help with an easy birth, people weave a basket of material from a broom and put a knife into it.


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

If Hokigami does not show up, a woman can not give birth safely.


.......................................................................... Tokyo ......................................
神津島 Kozushima

Hokigami is the same as Izumo no Kami 箒神は出雲の神 and is the first to show up during a birth. If a woman takes good care of her broom, she will have an easy birth. But if not, five days after giving birth, a 河童 Kappa in the form of an old grandpa will snow up and take the baby away to its death.


.......................................................................... Yamaguchi 山口県 ......................................

. Yōka 八日様 Yoka Sama, the Honorable Day Eight .

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Once upon a time
a 乞食 poor beggar woman gave birth to a baby girl under a bridge.
A person passing over the bridge heard the Deity of the Broom and the Deity of the Toilet talking, saying that whoever would get married to this girl would become the richest man in the village. So this girl was lucky, got married and lived to a long and rich life.


.......................................................................... Yamaguchi ......................................
西八代郡 Nishi Yatsushiro district 上九一色村 Kami Kuishiki

Once a traveling businessman stayed over night in a temple of 荒神様 Kojin Sama. There the Hokigami came along and invited Kojin Sama to come and assist with a birth tonight, but Kojin Sama refused. The Hokigami went alone to help. When he came back he told that the child had been born safely, but its life would be short, because on this and that day a Kappa (Enko エンコ) would come and get it.
The businessman thought this was about his own child. On the day when the life of the child was supposed to come to an end the child went to the river with her old nurse. But the nurse was in fact the Kappa, took the child by the hand and wanted to jump into the river. Just in this moment the father gave a loud ring with a sacred bell. So the Kappa fled in haste and the child was saved.


. Aragamisama, Koojinsama 荒神様 Kojin Sama .

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


- source : blog.zige.jp/la-comic -

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. shuro hooki 棕櫚 ほうき broom made from Shuro palm .

. 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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source : teramoto.co.jp/history

Seller and buyer of Hoki brooms in Edo
「hooki uri ほうき売り」and「hooki kai ほうき買い」
It was truly a recycle society.


. Doing Business in Edo .

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

- #hokigami #hahakigami -
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Posted By Gabi Greve to Heian Period Japan on 5/14/2016 12:54:00 pm

KAPPA - tsukimono bewitched

- yookai, yōkai 妖怪 Yokai monsters -
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- tsukimono 憑き物 bewitched, possessed -

Being bewitched by a fox, badger, a Yokai or other ill-meaning foe was pretty common in Japan,
there are many legends and tales about it.

Another expression, often used with the fox or badger, is
kitsune ni bakasareru 狐に化かされる

Here is also a book on how to get rid of a possession or bewitchment.



憑き物の落とし方 ― 自分でできる陰陽道の作法
石田千尋

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- quote -
Tsukimono – The Possessing Thing
There are eight million gods and monsters in Japan, and more than a few of them like to ride around in human bodies from time to time. Yurei. Kappa. Tanuki. Tengu. Kitsune. Snakes. Cats. Horses. Almost anything can possess a human. But when they do, they are all known by a single name—Tsukimono, the Possessing Things.

What Does Tsukimono Mean?
Tsukimono is a straight forward term. It combines the kanji 憑 (tsuki; possession) + 物 (mono; thing). There is a different word for actual possession 憑依 (hyoi), which is the kanji 憑 (tsuki again, but this time pronounced hyo—because Japanese is hard) + 依 (I; caused by).

Although they are collectively known as tsukimono, different types of tsukimono use –tsuki as a suffix, such as kappa-tsuki (河童憑; kappa possession), tengu-tsuki (天狗憑; tengu possession), or the most common of all, kitsune-tsuki (狐憑; fox possession).

(憑 is an odd kanji by the way. It can do double duty not only as the verb tsuku (憑く; to possess) but also as a kanji for tanomu (憑む; to ask a favor). So in a strange way, possession means asking a favor of someone—really, really hard.)

Shinto God Possession
"The number of possessing spirits in Japan is something enormous. It is safe to say that no other nation of forty millions of people has ever produced its parallel" - Percival Lowell .....
..... this kind of God Possession—known alternately as kamiyadori (神宿り; kami dwelling), kamioroshi (神降ろし; kami descending), or kamigakari (神懸り; divine possession) –is different from tsukimono. .....

Tsukimono – Yokai and Animal Possession .....
..... it is always involuntary on the part of the possessed. No one invites a tsukimono into their body. .....
Types of Tsukimono – Snakes, Foxes, and Everything Else.....
- - - - - Mizuki Shigeru agrees with Percival Lowell. In his Mujyara, series he identifies the following types of possession. It is is by no means meant to be a complete list:

• Jizo-tsuki – Possession by Jizo
• Hannya-tsuki – Hannya possession
• Gaki-tsuki – Hungry Ghost possession
• Ikiryo-tsuki – Living Ghost possession
• Shibito-tsuki – Ghost possession
• Kappa-tsuki – Kappa possession
• Tengu-tsuki – Tengu possession
• Neko-tsuki – Cat possession
• Hebi-tsuki – Snake possession
• Tanuki-tsuki – Tanuki possession
• Uma-tsuki – Horse possession
• Inu-tsuki – Dog possession
• Kitsune-tsuki – Fox possession



Kitsune-tsuki is by far the most common type of tsukimono. It is also different from other tsukimono—instead of the possessed taking on fox-attributes, kitsune-tsuki feels like a bodily attack, with shortness of breath, phantom pains, speaking in strange voices, and epileptic fits. Kitsune-tsuki symptoms resembled classic demonic possession in Western culture.
- read the article here
- source : Zack Davisson -

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- quote
Witchcraft in Japan: The Roots of Magical Girls
..... Just like in the West, people in pre-modern Japan often explained phenomena like illness, floods and other misfortunes with evil spirits. In Japan's case, these evil spirits were thought to take the shape of animals: dogs, badgers, and especially foxes. These tsukimono (憑き物, "possessing beings") took possession of people in their search for food or other creature comforts. When they did so, bad luck, illness, and other misfortunes befell the possessed and those around them.



Alternatively, some people weren't possessed by tsukimono but kept them as pets or familiars. It is these people who are considered witches. Having tsukimono was usually a family affair. Families who owned tsukimono were known as tsukimono-suji (憑き物筋) or tsukimono-zukai (憑き物使い). In these cases, the tsukimono could have a beneficial impact on their handlers, bringing wealth and prosperity. And on the flip side, they were thought to bring illness and bad luck to anyone the owners dislike. This resulted in the families being feared and respected, but also ostracized.

People were hesitant to do business with such a family, and they had trouble selling property. In addition, the tsukimono were inheritable through the female line, making it nearly impossible for these women to find husbands. Tsukimono could not be disinherited or disowned, but one could attempt exorcisms with a Shinto priest, female medium or other spirit specialists. In Tohoku and Kyushu prefectures, religious practitioners and not families were thought to wield tsukimono. So these people could not only cure you of tsukimono possession but curse you with it, too.

Often these tsukimono-suji were simply wealthier than their neighbors. When jealous tongues started wagging and the rumors stuck, the family would be marked forever. As in Europe and America, being accused of this sort of witchcraft had a negative impact on the families' lives. Nevertheless, belief in these tsukimono was widespread. Cases of spirit possession as late as 1997 have been recorded.

In Japan, witchcraft wasn't exclusive to women, although it's interesting to note that the tsukimono are passed down generation to generation through the female line. This seems to affirm a widespread global belief that women are more capable of – and likely to be involved in – witchcraft.

Perhaps predictably, cats also feature in Japanese witch stories. Hundreds of years ago, it was a common belief that girls who visited a temple after the sun went down risked being targeted by a witch. The witch, disguised as a kindly old woman, would lure the girl to her house with the promise of a warm bed for the night. Once inside, the witch would resume her ordinary, frightening form and promptly devour the girl. And because cats often hung around temples, it was believed that they were witches in disguise, waiting for their next victim.



Today, a witch can be good or evil, and not always as self-serving as our ancestors believed. Japan's magical girls have come a long way from their spirit-wielding roots and are hardly seen as evildoers but rather as guardians and protectors. Looking at certain prominent anime and manga that feature magical girls, one will notice that there's always some sort of familiar either bestowing the magical gift upon the protagonists or, at least, helping out with it. .....
- source : japanistas.com/en/archives

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憑き物 - 鳥飼 否宇


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. Jizo Bosatsu - 地蔵菩薩 .

Jizoo tsuki　地蔵憑き Possession by Jizo

Tofu Jizo 豆腐地蔵
山梨県飽海郡松山町竹田　Yamanashi, 善応寺 Zeno-Ji
相馬地方では大病の人、もしくは紛失物などがある時は「地蔵憑け」という事をする。それは村の老婆や婦人などがやって来て円形に座り、村でもあまり賢くない子供一人を中に入れ、子供にお札を持たせ、周囲の人が口々に、
南無地蔵大菩薩　おつきやれ　地蔵さん　地蔵さん　地蔵さん　
とせめ立てると中の子供は一種の催眠作用か、ぶるぶると札をふるわせれば地蔵さんは憑いたのである。それを見て色々病のことなれば、薬の処方、又は医者の方角、失せ物なれば、その方角、距離、出るか、出ないかを聞くのである。それが当たる様で、時々地蔵憑きをする。
- reference : jabaranran.blogspot.jp/2014 -

- reference -

. Bakejizおo, Bake-Jizo　化け地蔵　/ 化地蔵 Jizo as a yokai monster .
obake Jizoo お化け地蔵 O-bake Jizo

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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

. possessed by a fox　狐憑き .

. possessed by a Tanuki badger 狸憑き .


- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -
226 憑き物 to explore

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. - - - Join my Kappa friends on facebook ! - - - .

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. Kappa densetsu　河童伝説, Kappa minwa 河童民話 - Legends - Introduction .

. - yookai, yōkai 妖怪 Yokai monsters - .


. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

. Mingei 民芸　Regional Folk　Art from Japan .

- #tsukimono #bewitched #possessed -
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Posted By Gabi Greve to Kappa - The Kappapedia on 5/12/2016 02:21:00 pm

MINGEI － Kogei Industrial art

[http://darumasan.blogspot.jp/]
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koogei, kôgei　工藝　/ 工芸 Kogei, industrial art



CLICK for more samples !


. Japanese Aesthetics エスセティクス - Nihon no bigaku 日本の美学 .

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The Kanazawa College of Art 金沢美術工芸大学, Kanazawa Bijutsu Kōgei Daigaku
literally Kanazawa Art and Industrial Design University
is a university in Kanazawa, Japan. It was founded in 1946 by the municipal government following the World War II. The graduate program opened in 1979.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

5-11-1 Kodatsuno, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0942
石川県金沢市小立野5-11-1

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- quote - October 8, 2013
Major Japanese Art Exhibit
"Contemporary Kôgei Styles in Japan"
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens





The special exhibit, "Contemporary Kôgei Styles in Japan," is a unique collection of 90 Kôgei style contemporary artworks including ceramics, textiles, dolls, works of metal, urushi (lacquer work), wood, bamboo, and glass.

Kôgei is the Japanese original art style that requires the practical use of nature's artistic beauty by using organic natural materials such as stone, minerals, trees, and plants. Kôgei is thought to be the backbone of Japanese industrial technology. Many people want to know about Kôgei to understand key concepts or ideas of Japanese technology.

The first Kôgei exhibit, "Crafting Beauty," which focused on traditional arts and crafts was showcased at the world famous British Museum in 2007, followed by another exhibition in 2012 at Palazzo Pitti in Italy called "Historic Art and Crafts," which focused on modern art.

This new exhibition, "Contemporary Kôgei Styles," is the first of its kind in the United States. It will be the starting point for a presentation of Kôgei art worldwide.
- source : www.thebrickellian.com


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quote - Japan Times
How Japan crafted its modernization
When Japan ended its isolation in the mid-to-late-19th-century and became part of the global economy, it had lots of disadvantages compared to the other major powers. But one distinct advantage that its isolation had preserved was its craft industries and the skills of its craftsmen.

The other major powers, by industrializing earlier, had lost many of their craft industries, so the skilled hand-made products of Japan — including metalwork, lacquerware, ivory carvings and silk embroidery — had an appeal that extended far beyond mere exoticism. Known collectively in Japan as kogei, these craft arts continue today, with the best craftspeople designated as Living National Treasures.



The latest exhibition at the Mitsui Memorial Museum, "Kogei: Superlative Craftsmanship from the Meiji Period," focuses on the initial impact these crafts had as the West got to know Japan through the skill of its artisans.

As Japan imported foreign technology and expertise in its effort to modernize, it needed to export something in return. The Japanese state turned to its craft industries, and through participation in a number of international expos it promoted the crafts while paying close attention to which items were popular with foreigners, pushing production into those areas.

At the Vienna World Exposition of 1873, for example, the highly decorative lacquerware of Zenshin Shibata was a big hit. This led the Japanese government to push the production of maki-e, lacquerware decorated with gold powder. The show includes a few examples of Shibata's work, ranging from the muted wave pattern of "Tea caddy with blue ocean waves" to the more eye-catching "Incense container with sake bottle gourd and cherry blossoms."

The fact that Meiji Era (1867-1912) kogei was mainly for export means that most of the best works ended up in foreign collections, although there is now a drive to reverse this through the efforts of Japanese collectors. This show is sourced from the Masayuki Murata collection of the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum.

Because of the need to appeal abroad, one of the interesting points of consideration is the degree to which indigenous Japanese styles were adapted to suit foreign tastes, and the degree to which this fed back into domestic tastes and styles. The lacquerware of Shibata is a good example, seeming more decorative than the true Japanese taste. Some of the other pieces — including ceramics and metalwork — also seem to push in this direction.

But while some craft artists clearly upped the level of gaudy Japanese exoticism to appeal to foreign buyers, others, perhaps unsure of foreign tastes, went for a kind of hyper-realism, creating articulated metal models of animals or lifelike painted ivory facsimiles of fruits and vegetables that would impress anyone anywhere.
source : C.B. Liddell, Japan Times, June 2014

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The Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum 清水三年坂美術館
is the first museum in Japan to take as its permanent collection metalwork, cloisonne, makie lacquerware and Kyoto Satsuma Ware artworks of the late Edo and Meiji period.

柴田是真 Shibata Zeshin, 白山松哉 Shirayama Shosai, 川之辺一朝 Kawanobe Itcho, 赤塚自得 Akatsuka Jitoku and others.


CLICK for more photos !

清水三年坂美術館は幕末、明治の金工、七宝、蒔絵、薩摩焼を常設展示する日本で初めての美術館です.
..... Even those interested in Meiji art did not value it as highly as did Westerners; therefore, expensive items made their way abroad. Only bric-a-brac remained in Japan as a result, and the value of Meiji art objects continued to decrease.
As of late Edo and Meiji, however, is the most popular form of Japanese art overseas. ..... The houses of the shogunate and daimyo employed makie artisans and metalsmiths who made furniture and weapons. Inro pillboxes and sword fittings were not only practical necessities, but also tools to show off one's style and wealth, which is why decorative techniques became highly developed. .....
337-1 kiyomizu-sanchome sanneizaka kita-iru kiyomizudera-monzen
higashiyama-ku kyoto, 605-0862
- source : sannenzaka-museum.co.jp -


. Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真 (1806 - 1891).
his art and haiku

. Uzawa Shogetsu　 鵜沢松月 .
He was a disciple of the famous Shirayama Shosai 白山松哉 1853 - 1923

川之辺一朝 Kawanobe Itcho (1831 - 1910)
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


赤塚自得 Akazuka Jitoku (1871 - 1936)
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

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- quote -
Jizai Okimono 自在置物 Articulated iron figures of animals
TOKYO NATIONAL MUSEUM Thematic Exhibition
Jizai Okimono are realistically shaped figures of animals made from iron, copper, shibuichi (copper and silver alloy) and shakudo (copper and gold alloy). Their bodies and limbs are articulated, and can be moved like real animals. Among these ornamental figures, models of birds, fishes, snakes, lobsters, crabs and insects, as well as imaginary beings such as dragons, are common.
The bodies of the dragons can be made to undulate, and their limbs can bend and even their claws can be extended. Likewise, the birds can spread their wings and turn their heads. Typical insects include stag beetles, dragonflies and butterflies, which are able to imitate all the movements of their real life counterparts.



Among works which bear dates, the earliest known is a dragon bearing a line-engraved signature of its maker Myochin Muneaki dated 1713. This is followed by a butterfly with a line-engraved signature by craftsman Myochin Muneyasu, dated 1753. From these dates, we know that jizai okimono were already in production in the first half of the 18th century, during the middle Edo period. The Myochins were armor makers who excelled in iron forging and hammer work, and are thought to have produced these okimono (ornamental figures) in the peaceful time of the mid-Edo period.
Jizai okimono began to be exported overseas in the Meiji period (1868-1912), with the studio of Takase Kozan as their major producers. Kozan used bronze and shibuichi in addition to iron, working to make their works more realistic by using metals of different colors. We hope you enjoy discovering more about the fascinating world of metal craftsmanship, and how techniques initially used to create realistic still figures were developed to create these movable works.
- source : flickr.com/photos/sushifactory -


. Myoochin hibashi 明珍火箸 Himeji Myochin Wind Chimes .
The Myochin family manufactured armor for the Himeji feudal government.

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Meiji koogei　明治工芸 Meiji Kogei
- reference -
artistic craft 美術工芸　bijutsu kogei
Meiji No Saimitsu Kogei
The Kogei Tragedy - The Journal of Modern Craft
Modern Japanese Art and the Meiji State: The Politics of Beauty by Dōshin Satō

Namikawa Yasuyuki 　並河靖之　(1845 - 1927) cloisonné artist
- - - Namikawa Cloisonne Museum in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

Makuzu Kozan 真葛香山　(1842-1916)　 - potter
- appointed artist to the Japanese Imperial household
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

Takase Torakichi (1869-1934), known as 'Takase Kozan',
- reference photos -


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Daruma becomes an item of pop art だるまがポップに変身
from Sanuki Ittobori art 讃岐一刀彫
- source : www.47news.jp

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Fudo Myo-O from tsuge wood 柘植, 26 cm high


Kai-U Kogei Kan 海宇工芸館
- source : 海宇工芸館

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. Reference - kogei Japan - .

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. Join the MINGEI group on facebook ! .  



. Regional Folk Toys from Japan .

. Japan - Shrines and Temples .


. Tohoku after the BIG earthquake March 11, 2011

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Posted By Gabi Greve to Omamori - Japanese Amulets on 6/04/2014 10:22:00 am