Tengu cedar legends

- BACK to the Daruma Museum -
. Japanese legends and tales 伝説　民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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Tengu, sugi 天狗と杉と伝説 Legends about Tengu and Cedar trees

. Tengu 天狗と伝説 Tengu legends "Long-nosed Goblin" .
- Introduction -

. sugi 杉 Japanese Cedar, Cryptomeria japonica - Legends .

This tree grows in many sacred grounds and some are really huge
oosugi 大杉 Osugi, Big Cecar Tree
ipponsugi, ippon sugi 一本杉 "solitaryt cedar tree


source and more photos : tensugi.blog119.fc2.com
「越後の天杉日記」Echigo no Tensugi Nikki : 天狗の大杉　/ 天杉杉太

The Tengu like to reside in these trees and some are even called
Tengusugi, Tengu-sugi　天狗杉 Tengu Cedar Tree.

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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :


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

Once a child had a high fever, so the Tengu from Ipponsugi came down to comfort it.

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揖斐郡 Ibi district 春日村 Kasuga

To build a new bridge a 大檜 huge hinoki cypress tree and a cedar tree growing downstream of the river were cut down. THat night a Tengu appeared in the dream of the land owner and scolded him: "Now you have taken away my home, so I will destroy your village!"
And indeed, that night a fire broke out and most of the village burned down.
This was the great fire of Meiji 10, 明治10年1月18日.

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加茂郡 Kamo district

The Tengu is also called 狗賓 Guhin / Kuhin.
He lives in the deep forest and produced balls of fire at night to frighten the villagers. There are a few large cedar trees where he lives. When people have to walk here at night, they might hear a laughter if the Tengu is in a good mood.
If he is in a bad mood, he will throw pebbles and sand an the people. People who experience this will soon have more misfortune in their lives.

. guhin kuhin gubin 狗賓 / グヒン Guhin Tengu Yokai monster .

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高山市 Takayama

A man rested under 老杉 an old cedar tree on the mountain path. Suddenly he had the feeling of someone watching him. He looked up and saw a Tengu with large wooden sandals sitting high up in hte branches.
He felt great fear and lay flat on the ground, unable to move for quite a while.

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吉城郡 Yoshiki district

Once a child was abducted by the Tengu and later found dead under the solitary cedar tree.




.......................................................................... Gunma 群馬県 ............................

Below a cedar tree at the foot of a mountain, the Tengu come at night and makes a strange noise, サワサワ sawasawa.
This means the Tengu are having a drinking party.

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sugi no boo 杉の坊 monk of the cedar tree

The temple 紀州法燈寺 / 法灯寺 Hotto-Ji in Kishu had been burned down many times and now the head priest could not re-build it again. A wandering monk came by and said he could do it.
The priest said he was 赤木山の杉の坊 Akagiyama no Sugi no Bo, the Monk of the Cedar Tree from Mount Akagisan in Gunma.
He asked all the villagers to put out the fires for one night - and oh wonder, the next morning the temple with all its buildings was standing there in fill splendor.

Akagisan　赤城山　Mount Akagi, Akagiyama (1,828 m)
群馬県勢多郡富士見村赤城山


source : blog.goo.ne.jp/tokics...
山の妖怪神「群馬県赤城山の天狗」

Sugi no Bo was 大天狗 a Big Tengu. His sanctuary is the Asuka Shrine 大沼湖畔の飛鳥社 at Lake Onuma.


. 赤城山金剛院 Akagizan Kongo-In .
Gunma, 沼田 Numata


. Tengu legends from Mount Akagisan .




.......................................................................... Ishikawa 石川県 ............................
小松市 Komatsu



Come on down to Osugi between Oct 2-10 2016 to see our fun and fabulous
"Yokubari Tengu" よくばり天狗 (The Greedy Goblin).
We first did this show in 1997, and again in 2003, followed by three sequels! This is the original, telling how the tengu statue in Osugi turned to stone.



In our village of Osugi there is a statue of a Tengu, made by Kurakichi Okura in the 1970's. This statue is the inspiration for our tengu musicals and projects.
We first produced Yokubari Tengu (The Greedy Goblin) in 1997, a "new legend" about how he turned to stone. In 2004, we put on Yokubari Tengu II: I'm Back!
This year the saga continues with Yokubari Tengu III: Adventures on the Tengu Planet.


- source : osugi musicaltheatre.com -




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

役行者 En no Gyoja and 雲遍上人 Unpen Shonin

- - - - - The story is similar to the one told at Nikko (Tochigi).
Around 700 the two came to a large waterfall. A thunderstorm came with heavy rainfall and the Tengu, who lived in a huge cedar tree, appeared.
The two were undisturbed in their prayers and then in beams of light Jizo Bosatsu, the Dragon God, 富婁那 Punna the Arhat, Bishamonten and Aizen Myo-O appered and the Tengu was gone.
The two built a sanctuary in the mountains and venerated the huge cedar tree as
Kiyotaki 清滝 the Dragon Deity of the Pure Waterfall.


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鞍馬山 Mount Kuramasan

. The Tengu Sōjōbō 僧正坊 of Mount Kurama .
He often came to the Tengu Sugi to rest his wings.




.......................................................................... Miyazaki宮崎県 ............................

Near the old burrial ground and 古墳 Kofun there are many old trees. One is the 天狗杉 Tengu Sugi. This Tengu with wings and a red face likes to fly from cedar to cedar and sometimes even stays in a 松 pine tree.

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清武町 Kiyotake

Near the Kofun of 岩見田 Iwamida there are some Tengu Sugi, where the Tengu lives:
Shoode no Tengu sugi 正手の天狗杉 Tengu cedar from Shode
Ookubo no Tengu sugi 大久保の天狗杉 Tengu cedar from Okubo
The one at Shode burned down after a thunderbolt hit it.
The one at Okubo was cut down to make room for housing.




.......................................................................... Nara 奈良県 ............................

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桜井市 Sakurai

. Hasedera 長谷寺 Temple Hase-dera .

When the Head Priest Eigaku 英岳大僧正 was still a young acolyte at the temple, he did not study much. Eigaku had to light all the lanterns, but the Tengu from the Cedar Tree (in the form of a squirrel) run around and extinguished them and caused other trouble at night. So Eigaku collected all his wits and eventually threatened the Tengu:
"When I become High Priest here, I will cut down all the cedar trees and you will have no more place to live here!"
Eigaku was not really a dilligent student, but from this time on he changed his ways and eventually at the age of 60 became the High Priest 大僧正 Daisojo of the temple.


source : sacredjapan.com/Temple

He had all the huge cedar trees cut down and used the wood to repair the temple buildings.
Only one of the trees he did not cut down, the 天狗杉 Tengu Sugi, to remind him and the people in the future of the Tengu, who eventually helped him to become a dilligent student and high priest.



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山辺郡 Yamabe district

Jinyaji 神野寺 Temple Jinya-Ji
At this temple there was a huge Tengu Sugi tree of some ten meters high and 3 meters in circumference. The bark of the trunk and the branches had come off. This is because a Tengu lived there and instructed his disciples, practising the jump from branch to branch and up the trunk.

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Tengusugi 天狗杉
Once upon a time it the forest of Nara there was a very old temple and a large forest of cedar trees surrounded it. A lot of たちの悪い天狗 bad Tengu lived there.

This is basically the story of Hasedera, but the priest here is called
Fugaku 芙岳（ふがく）



- read Manga Nihon Mukashibanashi :
- reference source : nihon.syoukoukai.com/modules -




.......................................................................... Okayama 岡山県 ............................
久米郡 Kume district

From 二上山 Mount Futakami, the highest peak in this area, there is a great view to Mount Daisen. Sometimes the Tengu from Mount Daisen takes a flight and comes here to rest his huge wings.

. Ryosan-Ji 両山寺のニ上杉、大杉 "Futakami Sugi" 天狗杉 Tengu-Sugi .




.......................................................................... Tochigi 栃木県 ............................
日光市 Nikko

En no Gyoja 役小角 and 雲遍上人 Unpen Shonin once came to a 清瀧 waterfall in the 日光山 Nikko Mountains to practise austerities. Suddenly a black cloud hang over the waterfall and a terrible thunderstorm rattled and strong wind blew.
The two of them were 一心不乱 undisturbed by all this, sat down and said their esoteric mantras in deep quiet.
Suddenly the sky cleared again and now they saw a Tengu sitting in the branches of the large cedar tree. The Tengu faded from sight in no time.

. Nikkoozan Tookooboo 日光山東光坊 Tengu Tokobo. Toko-Bo from Mount Nikko .
There used to live many Tengu in the mountains of Nikko, and their boss was Tokobo.
He is seen as in incarnation of Tokugawa Ieyasu.




.......................................................................... Tokyo 東京都 ............................
板橋区 Itabashi

In the middle of the fields there was a huge cedar tree. Its branches hang down to the ground. This is because a Tengu often came here and sits on it. So it is called 天狗杉.
Now it is at the bottom the slope 松山の坂 Matsuyama no Saka, which is also called
天狗坂 Tengusaka, Tengu-Saka.

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- quote -
Up for Spiritual Waterfall Training?
..... try doing a pilgrim at Mount Mitake.



Along the way, you will see mother nature’s beauty at its best. An example of this is the 350-year-old cedar tree called Tengu-no-Koshikake.
- source : jpninfo.com/39507 -




.......................................................................... Toyama 富山県 ............................

. Tengosama テンゴサマ / Tengohan テンゴハン .
Tengu in the Toyama dialect.




.......................................................................... Wakayama 和歌山県 ............................

Tengu no koshikake sugi 天狗の腰掛杉 Cedar where the Tengu sits down
A few meters up from this cedar tree there was a huge boulder in the middle of the road. Around 1640 a stone mason tried to split this boulder and begun to make a hole in it.
Suddenly he heard a loud voice coming from the cedar tree
"Hey you there, what you think you are doing?"
He became frightened for his life and run away as fast as he could.

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- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -
天狗杉 (ok) / 大杉 (ok) 一本杉 (ok)
75 tengu and 杉 to explore (00)



天狗杉のたたり the curse of the Tengu
manga nihon mukashibanashi
- source : nihon syoukoukai com -

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. En no Gyôja 役行者 Founder of Shugendo .
En no Ozuno 役小角 "En with the small horn"

. Unpen Shoonin 雲遍上人 Saint Unpen Shonin .
Taichoo, Taichō 泰澄上人　Saint Taicho Shonin / Taicho-Daishi 泰澄大師 (682 ?683 - 767)
Etsu no 越の大徳 Etsu no Daitoku - Great Man of Virtue from Etsu
Shiramine Daisoojo 天狗 白峰大僧正 Tengu Shiramine Daisojo


. 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 ! .

- #tengucedartree #tengusugi #sugitengu -
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