pottery legends

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説 民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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yakimono 焼物と伝説 Legends about pottery

. yakimono 焼物　/ setomono 瀬戸物 pottery, crockery .
- Introduction -
tooki 陶器 ceramics

Modern Japanese Ceramics:
Pathways of Innovation & Tradition
by Anneliese Crueger (Author), Wulf Crueger (Author), Saeko Ito (Author)




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. Nakayama Dainagon Naruchika 中山大納言栄親卿 and Hina Dolls .


- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

......................................................................................... Aichi 愛知県
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豊田市 Toyota city

nezumi ねずみ mouse, rat
A man could not sleep because something like a mouse seemed to come out from under his pillow every night. He got yamainu 山犬 a wolf statue from the local Gongen Shrine. He put the statue on a shelf, read 心経 the Heart Sutra and soon heard the sound of something leaving through the door. From the next day on, he could sleep undisturbed.

. Legends about the mice and rats ねずみ / ネズミ .




......................................................................................... Akita 秋田県
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山本郡 Yamamoto district 二ツ井町 Futatsui

. 荒神様 Kojin Sama at 房住山 Mount Boju .




......................................................................................... Aomori 青森県
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三戸郡 Sannohe 新郷村 Shingo village

soozen sama ソウゼン様 / お蒼前様 protector deity of horses

The 高村家 Takamura family had always kept horses for work and erected hokora 祠 a small Shrine in their compound to venerate Sozen Sama.
Until around 1955 many people came here to venerate the deity on the 16th day of January. Sozen Sama was not venerated inside a house.
Once during a rainstorm, it fell into a pond together with the hokora for 瀬戸物の神体 the Deity of Pottery and was never found again.

myoojin sama 明神様 the Myojin Deity
The 横田家 Yokota family had a large katsura no ki カツラの大木 Japanese Judas tree in their garden, where they venerated Myojin Sama. Near its roots was a Hokora for 明神様 Myojin Sama. Inside was 瀬戸物 a piece of pottery with shirohebi 白蛇 a white serpent coiled around it.
In former times a relative had built ths with the wish to become a learned man, and others came to pray here too.
. katsura 桂 Japanese Judas tree, Cercidiphyllum japonicum - legends .




......................................................................................... Ehime 愛媛県
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松山市 Matsuyama city // 焼き物

. katame no buna 片目の鮒 crucian carp with one eye .
One of the seven wonders of Matsuyama castle are the crucian carps with one eye in the moat.
When 弘法大師 Kobo Daishi Kukai was on his pilgrimage in Shikoku, a villager had grilled crucian carp for dinner gave half of it to Kukai. Kukai threw the carp into the moat and it came back to life. But it had only one eye.




......................................................................................... Gifu 岐阜県
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明智町 Akechi town 串原 Kushihara village / 中山神社 Nakayama Jinja // 焼き物

. Oinusama 御犬様 O-Inusama, "Honorable Wolf Deity" .
A man went to 中山神社 the Shrine Nakayama Jinja and got 焼き物のお犬様 a small pottery figure of O-Inu Sama. He erected a small Shrine and venerated it..

In former times, there was a fox in the compound of a rich man in Kushihara. Once the bride of the family went home to her own family with her father, but suddenly disappeared and when father came home, she was already there. Other villagers said they got cured just be seeing this bride. Someone suggested the bride was bewitched by a fox and to get rid of the curse, she had to go to 中山神社 Nakayama Shrine and get a pottery figure of O-Inu Sama.




......................................................................................... Iwate 岩手県
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奥州市 Oshu town // 瀬戸物屋

. kitsune densetsu 狐と伝説 fox legends .
A setomonoya 瀬戸物屋 pottery dealer found a fox in his garden and killed it with a stick. Or so he thought !
But the fox had bewitched him and he had smashed all his pottery.




......................................................................................... Kagoshima 鹿児島県
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川内市 Satsuma Sendai city // 焼き物

. Garappa ガラッパ the Kappa of Kyushu .
Pottery pieces of garappa ガラッパ the local Kappa have only three fingers.




......................................................................................... Kanagawa 神奈川県
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茅ヶ崎市西久保 Chigasaki Nishi-Kubo // 陶器

. Kappa legends from Kanagawa .
In Nishi-Kubo there is a small river where the local Kappa pulled horses into the river. The other Kappa became angry and wanted to kill it. But a villager passing by saved the Kappa. In the evening two Kappa came by to express his thanks. The male had a pottery bottle with Sake 酒 rice wine and two suzuki 鱸 sea brass. This was during the Kamakura period (1185 – 1333).
When people poured Sake from the bottle, they always left a little bit and next morning the bottle was full again. This would go on for ages, promised the Kappa. But then one evening the humans drunk all the bottle to the last drup, and from that time it stayed empty.




......................................................................................... Kyoto 京都府
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瀬戸物

. ryuu, ryū 龍　竜　伝説　Ryu - dragon legends .

At Okoshi no Taki 尾越の瀧 the waterfall of Okoshi there lived a dragon. In the direction where he stayed, the water would get dirty and the bottom could not be seen. If people throw dirt or 瀬戸物の破片 shards of pottery into the water, rain will not stop for a long time.
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Kyoto 東山区 Higashiyama ward // 焼き物

. kitsune densetsu 狐と伝説 fox legends .
In January of the year 1731 near 建仁寺 the temple Kennin-Ji there was a shop selling bowls. The son of the owner got an order from a man from Sakai/Osaka, to make pottery bowls for the Korean ambassadors. To collect the payment his father went to Sakai, but he was told that they never placed such an order. When the father questioned his son, he was confused, could not understand a word and was obviously bewitched by a fox.




......................................................................................... Mie 三重県
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鈴鹿市 Suzuka city

. kitsune densetsu 狐と伝説 fox legends .
A merchant from Yokkaichi went out for business, loading his car with rice bowls, chopsticks and more. In the evening he came to a bridge where he found a baby carriage with a crying baby. This must be an abandoned child, he thought, took it in his arms and cradled it. When he came back to his senses, he realized he had been shaking his own car and all the pottery pieces inside were broken. He did not remember where he was and stayed there confused until the next morning. He had been bewitched by a fox, no doubt.




......................................................................................... Nagasaki 長崎県
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西海市 Saikai city 西彼町Saihi town // 焼き物

suijin sawari 水神さわり touched by the God of Water
There is a river providing drinking water to the city. If people throw in pottery or metal items or try to wash their own body, the body begins to ache, as they have been touched by the God of the Water. To get healed they must make offerings of o-miki お神酒 ritual rice wine, salt and rice.
. Mizu no Kami, Mizunokami 水の神 Deity of Water - 水神 Suijin .

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Nagasaki 平戸市 Hirado city // 陶器

. funadama 船玉 / 船霊 / 船魂 guardian deity of a boat .
In March 1934 in 平戸島志々伎湾 Shijiki Bay of Hirado Island, there was the sound of broken pottery pieces crashing against each other. First villagers thought it was the sound of someone hitting a gong.
People on some boats heard the sound too.




......................................................................................... Osaka 大阪府
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. Tooki 陶器神社 Shrine Toki Jinja .

. gama 蝦蟇と伝説 Legends about toads .
oogama 大蝦蟇 a huge toad
Around 1900 there was an article in the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun newspaper about Shinodayama no oogama 信田山の大蝦蟇 a huge toad from Mount Shinodayama. In that summer, at the Shrine Toki Jinja in 瀬戸物町 the Setomoni district in d gorge someone had seen a huge toad, almost as big as a human, with sparkling eyeballs. Many visitors came to the mountain in that summer.
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. hitodama 人魂 / 人玉と伝説 Legends about sparkling human souls .
One summer some young people saw a hitodama 人魂 sparkle of human soul near 船町橋 the Funamachibashi bridge, but it did not stay long.
Then 陶器商の主人 a pottery merchant from 筋違橋 Sujikaibashi had a dream : He went to the bridge because he felt thirsty, but he was attacked by some thugs and fled in haste. When he awoke, he was covered in sweat. After he had told the dream to his wife, he dropped dead.



......................................................................................... Shiga 滋賀県
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犬上郡 Inukami District 甲良町 Kora town

. ryuujin 竜神 /龍神 と伝説 Ryujin, Legends about the Dragon Deity .
Once a woman could not forgive the sins of her man and committed suicide by drowning in the pond and became a Dragon Deity. If people throw shards of pottery into this pond, she gets angry and brings great rain over the area.
If other women commit suicide in the pond, they will be transformed into snakes and serpents 蛇身.




......................................................................................... Tottori 鳥取県
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西伯郡 Saihaku district 中山町 Nakayama town // 瀬戸物

TEXT big font kin no tamago 金の卵 the golden egg
Once a man exchanged a cow for a rooster which could lay golden eggs. He wanted to have one more and decided to buy another cow to exchange it. That night Kannon Bosatsu appeared in his dream. She made him realize that this was too much of greed and he needed to change.
The next morning when he awoke, the golden egg had turned into an egg of pottery.




......................................................................................... Wakayama 和歌山県
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西牟婁郡 Nishi-Muro district

. raijin 雷神 Kaminari, God of Thunder - Legends .
The heso　臍 navel of the God of Thunder had come out of the ground. It looked like 陶器質 a piece of pottery, its size that of the heart of a mullet.

- quote -
Thunder(Kaminari in Japanese) is a god. He is fearful but makes us grateful because he brings out rain which make rice plants grow up. So we call him Kaminari-sama with respect. Sama is a term of respect. He is often shown in Japanese picture books as a demon with two horns on his head, only wearing pants of tiger skin, carrying small drumson his back. When he starts to beat his drums, thunder and lighting are born and it rains.
Parents often tell their children to be careful of their navels, because Kaminari's favorite food is a navel and he is coming to steal theirs.
- source : rieezaki.la.coocan.jp/smalltalk... -

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Wakayama 東平婁郡 Tohei district

nanatsuzuka no tatari 七塚の祟り the curse of the "seven mounds"

Near the graves of Jofuku there is a place called Nanatsuzuka 七塚 "seven mounds", where seven retainers of the Lord are buried. Once the graves were dug out and some swords and 陶器 pottery pieces were found. The people involved in this digging suddenly became ill, so the place was refilled again and never touched.
Now it is 七塚の碑 a stone memorial at 徐福公園 Jofuku Park.




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

If a ten 貂 marten is killing chickens or fish from the pond, people place 陶器製 a huge statue of a toad nearby.
This will stop the marten from coming again.

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


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. Kaido highway legends 街道と伝説 - - ABC list .

. animals and their legends 動物と伝説 - - ABC list .

. plants and their legends 　植物と伝説 - - ABC list .

. trees and their legends 　樹木, 木と伝説 - - ABC list .

. Persons, People, Personen and their legends - - ABC list .

. 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 -

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