Along an uninhabited stretch of the Numata River north bank, with Kochi being the next settlement, stands Yamatogen Shrine.
After the torii the way to the shrine crosses the railway tracks, a not too uncommon situation and when I appraoched the shrine I was very, very surprised to see this.....
A rope snake wrapped around a tree!!!!!.... this was called Omoto in my area, and ojin in Izumo and on the Oki Islands.
It is a remnant of a type of religious practice that was much more common in earlier days, a serpent representing the local land kami.
This was the first time to see one in Hiroshima although I have visited quite a few shrines in the mountains of Hiroshima, especially along the Gonokawa River and around Miyoshi...
The shrine was obviously of some importance as the banners were up for the annual matsuri
But I could find almost no information on the shrine except for one site suggesting the kami was Amenokoyane, the ancestral kami of the Fujiwara....
The way the serpent was wrapped around the tree and climbing up it was very reminiscent of how I had seen some in the Oki Islands. An enigma wrapped in a mystery.
Neat post.
ReplyDeleteamazing, thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteGabi fro Okayama
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