rokubu pilgrims 02 Aichi

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. rokujuurokubu 六十六部 Rokujurokubu, Rokubu pilgrims .
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rokubu 六部 Rokubu pilgrims 02 - Aichi to Hyogo

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This is a pilgrimage to many places of Japan, and many legends are connected to the pilgrims.

六部(ろくぶ) Rokubu pilgrimage, Rokubu pilgrim / / 六十六部衆
Pilgrim traveling with 66 volumes of the Lotus Sutra
sixty-six part circuit pilgrimage

Rokujurokubu Hijiri - kaikoku hijiri 廻国聖 - itinerant Rokubu Pilgrim
六十六部行者 rokujuurokubu gyooja / 六部行者 / rokubu gyoja
六十六部廻国巡礼 rokujurokubu kaikoku junrei

A pilgrim copies the 法華経 Hokekyo Lotus Sutra 66 times and brings a copy each to 66 temples
in 66カ国 66 different domains of Japan.




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. Japanese Legends - 伝説　民話　昔話 – ABC-List .


................................................................................. Aichi 愛知県　

. ujigami 氏神 clan KAMI deities .
A couple who could not have a child went to the Ujigami shrine to pray and indeed, the wife bore a son.
A Rokubu staying at their home had a dream that night:
The Ujigami had made in known that the child would soon die of a water accident.
When the child grew up and could walk by himself, it was hit outside the home by a tile falling from the roof . . . and died.
And oh wonder, on the tile was the pattern of mitsudomoe 三つ巴, seen as three swirling waves.
These kinds of tiles are often on the roofs as amulets to protect from fire.


. mitsudomoe 三つ巴 family crest .

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知多郡 Chita district 南知多町 Minami-Chita

長田の娘清姫 Osada no Musume Kiyohime
Daughter of 長田忠致 Osada Tadamune (? - 1190) named 清 Kiyo is said to have transformed into a Rokubu and killed all strong enemies.

鎌田政家の妻 - 長田の娘、清姫
知多半島の美浜町にある野間大御堂寺
- reference source : nakanoprint.co.jp/sun... -

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豊田市 Toyota

There is a stone memorial with the inscription, said to be the last words of a Rokubu pilgrim who died on this spot:
「六部どうりん禅定」




................................................................................. Aomori 青森県　
八戸市 Hachinohe

niwatorizuka 鶏塚 rooster mound
Once the wife of a rich merchant was ill and in bed. An itinerant Rokubu told them that under the floor in the Northern direction there was a rooster mound.
The next morning they went there and dug - finding the body of 白雄鶏 a white rooster, almost like alive. The illness had been the curse of the rooster.
Now they could built a sanctuary and pray for its soul.

- - - - -
Before the Meiji period, near a swamp, there lived a Rokubu with his daughter.
One day the daughter took a white rooster in her arms, went into the swamp and died. Since then this was called the
tori numa 鳥沼 "bird swamp".
To our day sometimes the call of the rooster can be heard from the bottom of the swamp.
There is a place called
Torinuma Kuraishi-ishizawa, Gonohe-machi, Sannohe-gun, Aomori / 青森県三戸郡五戸町倉石石沢鳥沼





................................................................................. Chiba 千葉県　
安房郡 Awa district 鋸南町 Kyonan

oni 鬼 demon



On 人骨山 Mount Hitoboneyama (human bones) 218 m, there lived a demon hag (鬼婆 onibaba), who needed a human sacrifice every year from the village.
The whole mountain top was covered with bones of the female victims. To our day there grow very few trees on this mountain, south of 鋸山 Nokogiriyama.
Once an itinerant Rokubu came and tried to help the farmers. A strong dog named ドン太郎 Don Taro came running from the west and finally drove away the demon hag.


source : toki.moo.jp/gaten..gate145..

Old women from nearby villages also tell of a custom to bring the old hags to this mountain, like the famous "Obasuteyama" (オハツセ).
The mountain might also have been a very old graveyard.
Hase 長谷, hatsuse, ohatsuse オハツセ - 「小泊瀬」or「小初瀬」Obasute

. Onipedia - 鬼ペディア - Oni Demons - Table of Contents - .

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流山 Nagareyama town

memorial for Rokubu son 六部尊



流山市加１丁目
This memorial was erected in 1767 when a Rokubu pilgrim died in the village. They erected a stone memorial and a small hall around it, 六部尊堂, promising to worship there regularly.
But over the years all was forgotten and nobody cared for it any more.


But in 1958 a new hall was built and the neighbors begun to worship again. The hall was renewed in 2014.
- reference : wikipedia -








................................................................................. Ehime 愛媛県　
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今治市 Imabari 大西町 Onishi

A family had placed 餅 rice cake offerings for New Year at the grave when a Rokubu passed by. They thought he must be carrying a lot of money, so they killed him and took the money.
But this brought a curse on them and next year and all following years they did not make rice cake offerings. They had to ask other families to provide offerings for them.
And on the 15th day of the New Year they had to make rice cakes and give them to the other families in return.

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西予市 Seiyo 野村町 Nomura

medooshi ya 目通し矢 arrow piercing an eye
Once upon a time, a Rokubu wanted to walk over the pass at 宮成 Miyanari On the roof of one home was a famous archer who shot at the Rokubu. The arrow pierced the eye of the Rokubu and then - oh wonder, turned and flew back to the roof.







................................................................................. Fukushima 福島県　
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東白川郡 Higashi-Shirakawa district 塙町 Hanawa

shironezumi, shiro nezumi 白ネズミ white rat / mouse
Once around 1835, when a man named 銀三郎 Ginsaburo was still young, a Rokubu stayed at his home over night. Next morning the pilgrim left while it was snowing heavily, but soon he disappeared completely. Since then a white mouse begun to live in the home of Ginsaburo. When Ginsaburo got married and moved into the home of his new wife, the mouse came with him.


Rokubu no tatari 六部の祟り curse of the Rokubu
A Rokubu slowly lost his eyesight, became blind and could not go on any more. He stayed at the home of the family where this happened but soon his money was gone.
He went to the field at the back of the home and hit his hands, chanting:
「貧乏んなれ、貧乏んなれ、貧乏んなれ」 (Get used to beeing poor!)
And then he died.
Later a man of the family went to this field to cut weeds, but his horse stumbled and broke its backbone.
This was the curse of the Rokubu.






................................................................................. Gifu 岐阜県　
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大垣市 Ogaki

. hitobashira 人柱 "human pillar" sacrifice .
A legend from Wanouchi Town 輪之内町

In 1585, when 秀吉 Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Ogaki castle, he used an itinerant Rokubu as a human pillar, buried alive.
Her soul was kept there and every night at ushimitsu 丑三 the spooky hour people heard a prayer gong 「チーン、チリン」 chiiiin chirin.


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大野郡 Ogaki 丹生川村 Nyukawa

yama no kaibutsu 山の怪物 monster of the mountain
Every night a strange being appeared at the mountain hut. The forest workers were wondering what to do about it when a Rokubu happened to visit their hamlet.
They found out that a mushroom growing on nearby tree, saru no koshikake 猿の腰掛, had turned into a monster.
It would help if they could douse it in soup where an eggplant had been cooked.
And indeed, when they did this, the strange monster did not show up again.



. Saru no koshikake 猿の腰掛 shelf fungus, polypore
lit. "ape stool" "monkey's chair"

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多治見市 Tajimi

Rokubuzuka 六部塚 Rokubusama 六部様 Rokubu hill (155 m high)


source : .. gifu sakuraweb ... rokubu ...

At 大原岩崎 Ohara Iwasaki is a Rokubuzuka hill, where a Rokubu had been killed.
Once a 馬方 horse leader stayed there over night. The Rokubu appeared in his dream and told him, if you pray to me I will make you very rich.
ANd indeed, the horse leader soon became a rich merchant.

At the top of the hill is a shrine, 伊藤稲荷神社 Ito Inari Jinja.

and nearby is
六十六部地蔵尊 Rokuju Rokubu Jizo Son







................................................................................. Gunma 群馬県　
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勢多郡 Seta district 横野村 Yokono mura

A certain family is now quite rich. This happened because once a Rokubu stayed at their home over night.
They killed him and took away all his money to start a prosperous business.

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Go senzo sama ご先祖様 the ancestors
Once a Rokubu got lost on the way and an old couple took him in for the night. Grandfather said:
"Today is the middle day of higan 彼岸 the equinox celebrations. Our children will certainly come and bring some food and offerings." But nobody came and grandfather went to have a look. When he came back he said:
"I was quite furious, so I took their children and threw tham in the fire!"
The Rokubu thought this was quite strange, but said nothing and went to sleep. When he woke up next morning, he realized he had been sleeping on a family grave.
When he found the village and the home of the family, he heard that one child had been badly burned last night.
This was the punishment for not giving offerings to the ancestors.

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利根郡 Tone district みなかみ町 Minakami

shinin no shakkin tori 死人の借金取り a dead comes to collect the debt
At a certain home in 沼田 Numata the daughter died when she was just 16 years. When the family was discussing the funeral service, the dead girl suddenly got up and tried to open the door. They begun to grapple and all fled in fear. Later they understood:
In the family there had been a Rokubu lending them money, but then he died. The daughter would not go before giving the money back. So they put some money in her hand and then she became quiet, lay down and never moved again.





................................................................................. Hiroshima 広島県　
福山市 Fukuyama 走島町 Hashirijima town (on Hashirijima island)

hebi 蛇 serpent
Once upon a time, a serpent shape-shifted into a young man and begun to visit a certain girl. She eventually got pregnant.
An itinerant Rokubu understood that the child was from a serpent and told them to obeserve the following:
On the seasonal festival in March she should drink 桃酒 peach rice wine and on the seasonal festival in May she should drink 菖蒲酒 rice wine with iris. The girl did as told and when the time came she gave birth to a very long serpent.





................................................................................. Hyogo 兵庫県　
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加東郡 Kato district

kogane 黄金，hakugin 白銀，doosen 銅銭 gold silver and bronze money
Once upon a time there was a family almost extinguished by tuberculosis. Their home was thought to be under a bad spell of monsters.
Then came a Rokubu and stayed there over night all alone.
On the 丑満 spooky hour if the night three monks came along, clad in white, yellow and black robes. They walked around the Rokubu on the floor three times, mumbling strange sutras and spells and then left. The Rokubu followed them secretly and saw them disappear in the horse stable. There he found gold, silver and bronze money burried in the ground.
Some say this Rokubu was 三井家の祖先 the ancestor of the Mitsui family.

. Echigoya 越後屋 Mitsui三井 merchant.

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水上郡 Minakami district (氷上郡 Hikami district)

. hihi 狒々 the monster baboon .

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hebi 蛇，kaeru 蛙 the serpent and the frog
Once a grandfather observed a serpent trying to swallow a frog. He told her:
"I give you one of my three daughters as a wife if you let the frog go!"
So the youngest daughter had to go, but because of the son-in-law being a snake, she got more and more ill.
Just then a Rokubu stayed over night at the home and told them:
"If the son-in-law can climb up to the nest of a sagi 鷺 heron, (and get some eggs for the girl to eat), the girl will be saved."
So he took on his real features of a snake, climbed up a tree and tried to get some eggs from the nest. But there he was caught by the heron and the bird swallowed the snake.
The Rokubu was indeed the frog who had been helped in the past by Grandfather.

A similar story is told in Yamagata about the young man being eaten by
. a tonbi 鳶 black kite .

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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -




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. rokujuurokubu 六十六部 Rokujurokubu, Rokujuroku Bu pilgrim .
- Introduction -

. Japan - Shrines and Temples - Index .

. Onipedia 日本の鬼 The Demons of Japan .


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