Fudo Legends 10 Wakayama

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. Legends about Fudo お不動さま - 不動明王 .
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Fudo Legends 10 - from Wakayama to Yamanashi

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .


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- - - - - Wakayama 和歌山県

日高郡 Hidaka district 龍神村 Ryujin "Dragon Deity"

daija 大蛇 huge serpent
At the waterfall Yumiki no Taki 弓木の滝 / 弓木滝 Fudo Myo-O is venerated.



If people throw impure things into it, like feces of cattle, the mountain will move, the valley will shake and a strong rainstorm will come.
This is the doing of 滝の主 the Lord of the Waterfall, a huge serpent.




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- - - - - Yamagata 山形県

The 赤滝の不動様 Fudo from Akataki "Red Waterfall" has special powers to heal eye disease.
Sometimes he changes into 大蛇 a huge serpent and people who happen to wintess this are cursed. Therefore all are quite afraid of this place.

赤滝 Akataki - 黒滝 Kurotaki - Black Waterfall



. Waterfalls and Fudo Myo-O .

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東置賜郡 Higashi-Okitama district 川西町 Kawanishi

bakemono ばけもの monster
While a monster was grilling mochi 餅 rice cakes, a 鯖売り vendor of mackerels hid in the ceiling and picked them up from there.
The monster thought, 火の神さま the God of Fire or Fudo Myo-O, has eaten them all.
Now the monster wanted to drink some hot Sake rice wine, but the mackerel vender stole the bottle too.
Again the monster thought, 火の神さま the God of Fire or Fudo Myo-O, has drunk it all.

. saba 鯖と伝説 Legends about mackerel, Makrele .

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最上郡 Mogami district 金山町 Kaneyama

. Fudo Ryuma Dragon Horse 不動 龍馬 and the Kappa .

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shishigashira 獅子頭 Lion Head
In the hamlet of 柳原集落 Yanagihara they did not have a lion head mask for the bangaku 番楽 Kagura dance.
Around 1890 the villagers of the hamlet 稲沢集落 Inazawa tried to steal a lion head from Yanagihara, but he died, and the person he gave the lion head to died also.
They gave the lion head to 不動堂 the Fudo Hall, put people visiting the Hall died also.
The Lion Head must be cursed and all were quite afraid to come close to it.
One farmer then carved a dragon statue and they gave the lion head back to Yanagihara.



bangaku 番楽 is the local word in Akita and Yamagata for 山伏神楽 the Kagura dance of the Yamabushi mountain priests.
It has kept many old traditions.

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Fudo Sama no Sugi no Ki 不動様の杉の木
cedar tree of Fudo
Once upon a time someone cut down the sacred cedar tree of Fudo. When Fudo wanted to come down and rest on his tree, he found it gone and was very sad and angry about it.
The man who cut it down and the man who bought the wood both became ill. River Mogamigawa, where the stem was floated down to Sakata, begun to swell and flooded the town.


不動杉 Fudo Sugi Cedar at 小林温泉 Kobayashi Onsen hot spring near Sakata


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南置賜郡 Minami Okitama gun 川西町 Kawanishi

A monster was once roasting mochi rice cakes, when a vendor of mackerels 鯖売りpassed by. He sneaked to the roof and stole them all. The monster thought maybe お不動さま Fudo sama or 火の神 the Deity of Fire had eaten them.
So next he began to make hot sake. The vendor stole them too, but the monster again thought Fudo sama or the deity of fire had drunk it.

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南置賜郡 Minami-Okitama gun 中津川村 Nakatsugawa

At the hut near the charcoal kiln 炭焼き小屋 above the Fudo Hall someone killed a cat and ate it.
He then became seized by the Inari fox 狐.

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西置賜郡 Nishi-Okitama district 小国町 Oguni

不動院 Temple Fudo-In
A younger brother had to move away from the family estate and came here.
At the Fudo Hall he had a vision: "Do you want a hot spring or to you want well water?"
He decided to ask for well water and indeed, a clean well was found right beside his new home.
不動院 Fudo-In
山形県西置賜郡小国町片貝字上の平3-6

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kitsune キツネ fox
A servant went out cutting the weeds in the morning and did not come back.
When asking the oracle at the temple Fudo-In the answer was - he had been possessed by a fox.
They made offerings of ritual rice at the back of the mountain to appease the fox.
And about five days later, the man was found safe at the border of the village.

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酒田市 Sakata

A family did not take good care of 不動尊の掛軸 a hanging scroll of Fudo and suddenly all became ill.
So they gave the scroll to repair and then prayed in front of it every day.
Soon all were healed.

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. Shōnai 山形 - 庄内　- 伝説 Shonai Yamagata Legends .
- - akataki no Fudo sama 赤滝の不動様 Fudo from the Akataki waterfall
- - ryuu no hone 龍の骨 bones of a dragon at 不動堂 the Fudo Hall

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鶴岡市 Tsuruoka

. Ablutions at 月山 Mount Gassan .

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jookadoo no hi 常火堂の火 sacred fire at the Jokado Hall
When Hachiko, the founder of the Haguro temple, made a ritual fire, Fudo Myo-O appeared to him, wielding his sword and dripping his blood on gomagi 護摩木 the ritual wood. The blood became a flame, getting higher and higher.
Other versions say that the founder Hachiko obtained a sacred ball of fire and a ball of water and buried them at 荒澤 Kotaku.



Jookadoo 常火堂 Jokado Hall,
"the Hall of perpetual, sacred fire"
at the temple 荒澤寺 Kotaku-Ji at Mount Haguro, is the place where mountain priest 蜂子 Hachiko, the founder of Haguro, trained himself in mountain asceticism.
The flame has been burning since his time.





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- - - - - Yamaguchi 山口県
萩市 Hagi city 見島 Mishima

monjinsama モンジンサマ Monjin Sama
About 30 years ago, the child of one of 不動講 the Fudo Prayer Groups member became a stomach ache and its belly was swelling rapidly.
At the hospital they had no explanation and no diagnosis for this, but the child got worse and worse.
At the same time the first leader of the Fudo Prayer Group had a vision:
Monjin Sama e iku yoo ni モンジンサマへ行くように Go to Mister Monjin !
When he went to Mister Monjin, there was the same vision, saying
Y．M. の家を訪ねろ Go to the home of Mr. Y.M.
The child of this home was seriously ill, but even exorcistic rited did not help.
They tried to put some water into the mouth of the child, using 紙縒 a string made from twisted paper. Now siddenly the pulse became visible on the arm again.
Mister Y. M. was greatful the gods had helped his child.
He followed the advise of the group leader and made water ablutions for one week. By the end of this time, the child was almost cured.





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- - - - - Yamanashi 山梨県

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富士吉田市 Fuji Yoshida

日本武尊 Yamato Takeru
When 渡辺四郎 Watanabe Shiro was about 19 years old he said on a fine day "We have to cut the mulberries, because it will rain tomorrow."
Nobody believed him, but it happened this way. And a few more times he could see the future.
People soon came to see him and ask o-ukagai オウカガイ his oracle advise from his estate deity, Fudo Myo-O.
The Shinto priest 羽田吉章 Haneda Yoshiaki made an offering of a stone sanctuary for Yamato Takeru and they could have a 石占 stone oracle there.
While Shiro san was away in the war, his wife took over with the stone oracles.

. Prince Yamatotakeru 日本武尊 .

. toigiki 問い聞き / 問聞 / トイギキ oracles .
hotokeoroshi, hotoke oroshi ホトケオロシ / 仏オロシ "calling a Buddha to earth"
kamioroshi, kami oroshi カミオロシ / 神おろし / 神降ろし "calling a Kami to earth"
Rituals for seeking spiritual, religious help through a medium.

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東山梨郡 Higashi-Yamanashi district 三富村 Mitomi

. Gonzaburo Fudo 権三郎不動 .
笛吹川 River Fuefukigawa "River where the flute was played"

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南巨摩郡 Minami-Koma district 身延町 Minobu town

kieta onna 消えた女 a woman disappeared
On the way from 梅ヶ島 Umegashima toward Koyashiro 古谷城 Odani castle there once walked a woman, suddenly shouting in pain and then disappeared.
At this place there is now a small sanctuary for Fudo Myo-O.

. Legends from Mount Minobusan 身延山 .


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都留市 Tsuru

Once there was a huge flooding and and the waterfall changed its course. In the water of the flooded fields something was shining. When the farmers pulled it out, it was a statue of Fudo Myo-O. They built a small sanctuary to pray for it. The sanctuary later burned down but the statue was rescued in time.


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

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. - Join Fudo Myo-O on facebook - Fudō Myō-ō .

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. Pilgrimages to Fudo Temples 不動明王巡礼
Fudo Myo-O Junrei - Fudo Pilgrims .


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