Heike Ochudo Legends

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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Heike Ochudo densetsu　平家落人伝説 legends about Heike Ochudo

. Heike densetsu　平家伝説 legends about the Heike clan .
- Introduction -

Heike no ochuudo 平家の落人 Ochudo, the defeated soldiers of the Heike
They are said to live in many parts of Japan, often in remote rural mountain regions.
They founded small communities, 平家の里 Heike no Sato.


source :　shurakumachinami.natsu.gs

A map of the spread of the Heike families. 平家落人行動図. Most of them have their own 落人伝説.



Even in my valley in the center of Okayama prefecture, this is a Ochudo community with many family names like
Akihira, Hiraoka, Hiranuma, Shigehira, Ujihira and so on.

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Heike Ochudo Matsuri - Yunishigawa - Samurai Festival

- reference : heike ochudo festival -

- reference : 平家落人　祭り -

日光市 - 平家大祭

平家落人伝説由来の地「椎葉村」 Shiiba village, Miyazaki, Kyushu


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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

.................................................................. Ehime 愛媛県 ....................................................................
城辺町 Johen

A villager had hidden some Ochudo families, but was betrayed and officials came to check. In the following fight, the Ochudo were killed. Before they all died, one of them uttered
この家は庭に植物を絶やさねば食うに困らなくなる.
"If you plant fruit and vegetables in your garden, you will always have enough to eat!"
And so it happened.

At temple 海禅寺 Kaizen-Ji in Uwajima someone begun to dig at the roots of a tree sacred to the Heike,
a Shii oak tree 椎の木. His face became swollen and his extremities limp. This was a curse of the Ochudo.
愛媛県宇和島市蒋淵1679, Temple Kaizen-Ji


source :　yugami189/diary

. shii 椎 the Shii-oak, Pasania .
Often planted as a sacred 神木 shinboku in a shrine or temple.


平家屋敷跡　－ 方城町 Hojomachi Fukuoka, with a Shii tree.
- source : senri.warbirds.jp -




.................................................................. Gifu 岐阜県 .................................................................

. Heike Jizo at 上宝村 Kamitakaramura 双六 Sugoroku village .




.................................................................. Kagawa 香川県 ....................................................................
Takamatsu, 東植田町 Higashiueta

Along the upper region of the river 春日川 Kasukagawa in the hamlet 神村 Kamimura there is a small sanctuary of かまとこ地蔵 Kamatoko Jizo.


- source : sanukimesatobuttestyle -

The defeated soldiers of the Heike had fled to here and hidden in a kiln for charcoal that had not been fired yet. The Genji in hot pursuit found out about it and closed the kiln firmly with a lid of earth to kill them all.
Since then strange and mysterious demonic things happened in the village and to appease the souls of the Heike, the small sanctuary for Jizo was built.




.................................................................. Kochi .................................................................

. 小松玉姫 Princess Komatsu Tama .




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




. Kappa Legends from Kyushu .

It tells about the defeated soldiers of the Heike, coming here and becoming Kappa.
平家の落人の霊魂は河童となり.

Yatsushiro 八代市 - Goka no Sho, Gokanosho 五家荘 "Five Villages
southern Kumamoto Prefecture
八代市泉町
椎原 Shiibaru、仁田尾 Nitao、樅木 Momiki、葉木 Hagi、久連子 Kureko　

source :　shurakumachinami.natsu.gs


- quote -
Gokanosho - Secret Hiding Ground of the Heike
Johannes Schonherr
The roads leading up here are indeed very narrow, very steep and very curvy. The mountains reach up to 1700 meters and the roads lead over passes as high as 1100 meters. In the winter, the whole area is accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles and older locals will tell you about that one winter when Gokanosho depended for a whole month on helicopter supplies because the snow was too deep for any ground transport to reach the area.
The villages
are tiny and scattered over a wide area but most of them will have a minshuku (inn) where visitors can stay. In fact, in many cases, the inn will be the only large building in the village, usually also housing a small store and having a post box in front. Often the inn and the tool sheds attached to it are the village.
In the ancient times
before there were things like paved roads these steep mountains were impossible to conquer by any sizable army. This has made them an ideal hiding place - and in this case the final hiding place for a once very powerful clan closely associated to the royal court in Kyoto.
- snip -
Heike Legacy
In Japanese legends, Noh plays, songs, ghost stories and novels, however, the tragic fate of the Heike has left an enduring legacy. The best experience perhaps of this legacy in Gokanosho is the kagura at Heike no Sato (Heike Village), a performance space built in the design of a shrine.
Kagura
are traditionally raunchy farmers' dances re-enacting ancient tales of the Shinto gods. Takachiho in Miyazaki Prefecture, not far from Gokanosho, is most famous for this type of kagura.
At Heike no Sato,
however, the performances are of a rather somber type. The kagura is usually held in early to mid-November, the time when Gokanosho is in the midst of its intensely colorful autumn foliage. Burning torches light the nightly colors on the way to the open-air stage.
After the customary kagura dance designed to "clear the space for the gods," all further action is celebrating the sad fate of the Heike. Dances to songs bemoaning the Heike are performed by people from the village who may or may not be able to trace their ancestors right back to the old warriors of 800 years ago.
- - - - - Check out the photos and more links :
- source : japanvisitor.com -


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- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -
02 平家落人 (02)
25 平家の落人 (01)

- reference : Heike Ochudo -

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

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -

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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .

- #heikeochudo #heikeclan #ochudoheike -
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