Heian Period Japan: geri sekiri dysentery legends

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説民話昔話 - Introduction .
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geri 下痢と伝説 Legends about dysentery, diarrhea - Durchfall
sekiri 赤痢 red diarrhea, bloody dysentery // ribyoo 痢病

. sekiri 赤痢 (せきり) red dysentery .
..... hayate 颶風病（はやて）
kaze no yamai 風病 respiratory illness / neurological condition
- kigo for late summer -

少彦名神社（神農さん）Sukunahikona Jinja
大阪市中央区道修町2-1-8 / Doshomachi Chuo ward Osaka
source : powerspot-jinja.net...

. hashika, mashin 麻疹と伝説 Legends about measles, rubeola .

躁鬱病 manic depression

. hayariyamai はやり病 / 流行病と伝説 Legends about epidemics .
densenbyoo 伝染病 Densenbyo contagious diseases / pandemic
ekiri 疫痢 plague

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byooshin 病神 Byoshin, deity of diseases
When a child became ill and saw something black attacking it in a dream. it must be the Byoshin 病神 Deity of disease.
In former times, when someone got diarrhea during an epidemic, they said it must have been the attack of the Byoshin.

. 疫病神 / 厄病神 Yakubyogami, Deity of Diseases .
eyami no kami えやみのかみ gyooyakujin 行疫神 gyoyakujin
ekijin, yakujin 疫神 / byoshin 病神

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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

......................................................................................... Aichi 愛知県
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犬山市 Inuyama city

. Yamanba, Yamauba 山姥 "old mountain hag" .
A man named 福富信蔵 Fukutomi Shinzo from 楽田 Gakuda came here to hunt, when he saw something shining strangely.
The eyes of a mountain hag had been shining! He shot at it and there was some blood, but she run away fast. He followed the blood traces and found she had entered a large home. He asked if something strange had happened and they told him the wife did not feel well these days. This wife had been the Yamanba.
Since she was found out, the Yamanba fled to Gifu and jumped into the pond おがせの池 / 苧ヶ瀬池 Ogaze no Ike.
Now people are not allowed to fish in this pond.
Once someone tried to catch fish there and ate them, but he became bloody dysentery and suffered a lot.

......................................................................................... Akita 秋田県
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北秋田郡 Kita-Akita district

If someone eats too much sukanko すかんこ, he will get diarrhea.
sukanko is the local dialect for sukanpo すかんぽ or itadori　イタドリ common sorrel or garden sorrel, eaten as a herb or in salad.

......................................................................................... Ehime 愛媛県
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越智郡 Ochi district 上島町 Kamijima town

hijirigami 聖神 Hijiri as a deity
In front of 大日堂 the hall of Dainichi Nyorai the Hijirigami is venerated.
Once upon a time
a hijiri 聖 holy traveler from Mount Koyasan was passing the Hall of Dainichi, when he felt a bout of dysentery and had to shit in front of the Hall.
The villagers got angry and scolded him and as they were fighting with words, eventually they killed him.
Since then there was a lot of misfortune in the village, so they built a sanctuary for him and called him Hijirigami.

. hijiri　ひじり / 聖 ”holy man"　.

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Ehime 重信町 Shigenobu town

kubinashi uma 首なし馬 horse without a head
The lord of 吉川城 Yoshikawa castle once went to visit the great Lord 河野通宣 Kono Michinobu (1522 - 1581) with his army. but was attacked.
Since many became dysentery he was defeated.
Shortly after that, near Yoshikawa castle, a man saw a the lord on a horse without a head, and all bleeding.
He became ill for three days and nights and to end the nightmare, they built a grave and prayed for the Lord.

- quote -
Kono Michinobu
Michinobu was a younger son of Kôno Ômi no kami Michiyoshi (d.1579) and succeeded Michinao.
He suffered the abortive rebellion of his vassal Wada Michioki in 1554 and an Ôtomo campaign against him in 1565 which was evidently inspired by his alliance with Môri Motonari.
In 1568 the Konô were attacked by Utsunomiya Toyotsuna, who had the supported of the Chosokabe clan of Tosa province. The Môri came to assist the Konô and at length Utsunomiya was defeated and forced to sue for peace. The victory was afterwards reported to the shôgunate, and a note of congratulations was sent from Ashikaga Yoshiaki.
That same year Michinobu had taken ill and was forced to give up his duties as lord, handing them to his son Michinao.
- reference source : samurai wiki -

......................................................................................... Fukushima 福島県
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いわき市 Iwaki city

hi matsuri 火祭り fire festival
During the O-Bon festival for the ancestors, according to the lunar calendar from day 13 to day 17 of the 7th month, there was a large fire festival.
Large torches were made from wheat straw. The children put fire to the torches and carried them up to 横手山 Mount Yokoteyama. From there they threw tham into the valley. But there was never a large fire in the mountain forest.
In a village were they stopped this custom, they had fires and often a diarrea epidemic. So they continued the fire festival the next year again.

. hi matsuri　火祭り fire festival .

......................................................................................... Iwate 岩手県
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和賀郡 Waga district 和賀小山田地方 Waga Oyamada area

If someone got dysenteria or bloody dysenteria, they grind white rice in a mortar and prepare kayu 粥 rice gruel from it.
If the person was healed, he was not allowed to eat anything raw for a while. He would get pickled vegetables which had been pickled three or four years ago.
にんにく Garlic had to be cut very fine and eaten with 味噌 miso paste.
Before going to sleep he had to drink hot water with miso paste and onions.
The next morning kaze 風邪 a cold should be cured.

......................................................................................... Kochi 高知県
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. Inugami 犬神 "Dog Deity" .
In Kochi they had cut the head of a dog and buried in in the ground, this was the beginning of
inugami mochi イヌガミモチ getting possessed by the Dog Deity.
The Inugami can also bewitch certain family members or young women. If such a person has been expelled from a family, nobody should go there any more to drink tea.
If they do, whey will get geri 下痢 dysentery.

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Kochi 高岡郡 Takaoka district

tsuki no hikari 月の光 moonlight
If the cloths of a child are out to dry and not taken inside, they might get exposed to moonlight.
In that case the child will get geri 下痢 dysentery if it wears them.

......................................................................................... Kumamoto 熊本県
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植木町 Ueki town

. Legends - Kappa densetsu　河童伝説 .
Someone had caught a Kappa and cut of his arm. The Kappa pleaded with the hunter to have his arm back and would teach him how to make a medicine to cure sekiri 赤痢 bloody diarrhea.

......................................................................................... Kyoto 京都府
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伏見区 Fushimi ward // 痢病

The head priest of the temple 清養院 Seiyo-In suffered from ribyo 痢病 dysentery in one summer.
One evening when he went to the toilet, he knocked at the door, he heard a voice saying "Wait a moment, just wait!"
Then the cat of the temple came running out, the door opened fully and a huge cat came it. This huge cat walked around the district 納屋町 Nayamachi every night and asked the temple cat to join it. But since the temple cat had to keep company to the priest, it could not go out. The huge cat promised to give her a tenugui 手ぬぐい hand towel, but the temple cat still did not want to leave her master and asked the huge cat to go away. Now the priest gave a hand towel to his cat and told it to go where she wanted. So the cat run off and never returned.

......................................................................................... Nagasaki 長崎県
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西海市 Saikai city

akappara 赤っぱら "red stomach" - local dialect for sekiri
If people eat カボチャぞうすい pumpkin rice gruel on the geshi 夏至 summer solstice, they will not get any epidemic or sekiri 赤痢 bloody diarrhea.

......................................................................................... Nara 奈良県
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葛城市 Katsuragi city // 痢病

kooshin 孝心 filial piety
On the road from the Southern part toward Osaka, there is a pass called 竹の打越. Nearby is the home of a poor family.
The head of the family once suffered of 痢病 the plague. He told his daughter that he would like
to eat some katsuo 鰹 / 鱣 bonito. But since the family was so poor, they could not afford to buy the fish. When the daughter went to draw some water from the river, all of a sudden a bonito was in her bucket. She thought this was a present from heaven and hurried home to prepare the fish for her father. After he had eaten it, his illness became better. Each time the daughter went drawing water, a bonito was in her bucket, until the father was completely healed.
This is a tale to show the merit of filial piety.

......................................................................................... Okayama 岡山県
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北木島町 Kitagishima town

. fuka 鱶 / same 鮫 shark .
The messenger of 諏訪大明神 Suwa Daimyojin, the Ujigami氏神 clan deity of the village, is called a Fuka.
Once upon a time three hamlets of the area have been carrying a mikoshi 神輿 portable shrine together, but they started a fight and their own Mikoshi. There appeared a shark offshore, the weather begun to become wild and sekiri 赤痢 an epidemic broke out.
If a huge shark appears offshore, this is a bad omen.

. ujigami　氏神 clan KAMI deities .

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Okayama 真庭市 Maniwa city 落合町 Ochiai town

After sekiri 赤痢 an epidemic broke out in the town, they started to have a festival at the Shrine for Zenkaku Inari 善覚稲荷

善覚稲荷神社 Zenkaku Inari Jinja
岡山県真庭市木山字金谷平1265-1

......................................................................................... Osaka 大阪府

tososan 屠蘇散 / トソサン Tososan
Once there lived a doctor in the outskirts of Osaka, who was very poor at his art of healing.
One day in summer a man came with heavy symptoms of kakuran 霍乱 heat stroke, geri 下痢 diarrhea and ooto 嘔吐 vomiting, but he could heal him.
When asked how he did it, he replied that kakuran could also be written 鶴舞 (dance of a crane) and was thus an auspicious illness.
As medicine he had used tonsan, toso 屠蘇 ritual spiced rice wine for the new year.

......................................................................................... Shiga 滋賀県
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マキノ町 Makino town

atozan アトザン afterbirth
The afterbirth is burried shallow under a holly tree. Thus the sun will shine on it plenty and the child will not get bloody dysentery.

. hiiragi 柊 holly tree .

......................................................................................... Shizuoka 静岡県
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伊豆市 Ito city

During the war there was a sekiri 赤痢 bloody diarrhea in Rahaul and many bot sick.
One soldier got so sick he was about to die. In a dream he saw his local Shrine deity. After that he was healed.

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Shizuoka 水窪町 Misakubo town

. Tengu 天狗と伝説 Tengu legends "Long-nosed Goblin" .
At 大茂沢 Ogizawa people often saw a Tengu with a lantern walking around. If someone saw the light of thi lantern, he would get sekiri 赤痢 bloody diarrhea or some other kind of epidemic.

......................................................................................... Tottori 鳥取県
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西伯町 Saihaku town

. ujigami　氏神 clan KAMI deities .
At the 稲荷 Inari Shrine of the 氏神様 Ujigami they never keep a dog. In former times when a sekiri 赤痢 bloody diarrhea epidemic raged, a farmer at the edge of the village had kept a dog who was very noisy.
In the village 八頭郡船岡村 Funaoka in Yazu district they also keep no dogs, but the reason why is not clear.

......................................................................................... Toyama 富山県
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富山市 Toyama city 柳町 Yanagi town

. ekibyoo yoke 疫病除け avoiding an epidemic .
To prevent getting kaze 風邪 a cold, sekiri 赤痢 dysentery or mashin 麻疹 measles ...

......................................................................................... Yamagata 山形県
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小国町 Oguni town

. shimimochi シミモチ / 凍餅 / 凍み餅 frozen Mochi rice cakes .
Frozen Mochi are softened in water, then wrapped in fuki no ha フキの葉 the leaves of butterbur and placed near the stove.
The soft Mochi can be used as geridome 下痢止 to heal diarrhea.

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2019-11-16

geri sekiri dysentery legends

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