Asakusa legends

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. Famous Places and Power spots of Edo　江戸の名所 .
. 浅草観音伝説 Legends from Asakusa Kannon Temple .
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Asakusa densetsu 浅草伝説 Legends from Asakusa
台東区元浅草 Taito ward, Moto-Asakusa and others

. Asakusa 浅草 district in Edo .

. 浅草観音伝説 Legends from Asakusa Kannon Temple .

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

.................................................................................　Tokyo 浅草 Asakusa

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浅草安部河町 Asakusa Abekawa district. Asakusa Abekawachō

. Asakusa Abekawacho　阿部川町 Abekawa district .
River Abe-Kawa 安倍川 / 阿部川 and Tokugawa Ieyasu

koonotori 鸛 Konotori, stork
In the year 1810, there was a temple of the Ikko sect 高田派一向宗, where a stork had put up his nest. Until then the stork had put up his nest at the temple 西福寺 Saifuku-Ji. In the same year in December, there was a fire and the temple Saifuku-Ji burned down. They say if a stork moves his nest, there might be a fire at the old spot.

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Ikkō-shū (一向宗) or "single-minded school" is usually viewed as a small, militant offshoot from Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism though the name has a complex history.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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浅草花川戸 Asakusa Hanakawado

. Asakusa Hanakawadocho　花川戸町 Hanakawado district .

marushime no neko 丸〆の猫 / 丸〆猫 / manekineko 招き猫 the lucky cat from Imado
. Imado yaki 今戸焼　 Imado ware and the Lucky Cat .

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浅草今戸町 Asakusa Imado district

In the year 1813, a man saw a strange woman and followed her. The way led to a graveyard in Imado, where the woman vanished in front of a grave.

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. 浅草駒形 Asakusa Komagata / Komakata district .

onna no ushi-oni 女の牛鬼 a female bull-demon
People have seen a female bull-demon running out of the gate to the Komagata district.

. ushi oni, ushioni, gyuuki 牛鬼 "bull-demon" .

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浅草南馬道竹門 Minami-Umamichi Takemon

. boozu 坊主と伝説 Legends about Bozu priests .
In the year 1810, on the 20th day of the 7th lunar month, there was suddenly a naked boy about 15 years old falling from the night sky at 竹門 Takemon. The boy was a retainer of a 京都安井門跡 Yasui, a samurai from Kyoto. He had climbed 愛宕山 Mount Atago on the 18th. Since it was very hot he had taken off his cloths. Just then an old priest appeared and said he wanted to show him something special. The boy did not remember any more.
But his 足袋 tabi socks were made in Kyoto.
- reference : edo.amebaownd.com... -
and 浅草北馬道町 Kita-Umamichi district

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浅草御蔵 Asakusa Okura

. hebi 蛇と伝説 Legends about snakes and serpents .
at Asakusa Okura there was a serpent coming out and ate all the rice in the fields. The farmers wanted to install a watchpost for snakes, but another man told them not to. Once this man had been shut in a storehouse for rice and had nothing to drink. A snake came along, took his hand towle and wetted it so that he could suck out the moisture and thus survive.
. . . . . another legend about
. mugiwara hebi 麦藁蛇 / 麦わら蛇 serpent made from wheat straw .

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牛込山伏町 Ushigome Yamabushi cho district

Tanaka 田中幸右衛門 Tanaka Koemon and the gate 田安門 Tayasumon
. Ushigome district 牛込 .

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ema 絵馬 votive tablet of a horse and a dragon

. 狩野元信 Kano Motobonu and 左甚五郎 Hidari Jingoro .
and the stray carved horse or dragon on the votive tablet

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. Kasha 火車 Kasha Demon "burning chariot" .

At 筑後守屋敷 the estate of the regent of Chikugo the 庚申 Koshin deity is venerated on the 7th day of the 4th lunar month.
In the evening they heard the noise of someone falling on the roof. It was the body of a drowned person. They say 火車 the Kasha Demon has dropped it there.
. kooshin 庚申伝説 Legends about the Koshin Cult .

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kitsune 狐 fox

. Yasuzaemon Inari 弥惣左ヱ門稲荷. .
A fox named 熊谷弥惣左ヱ門 Kumagaya Yasuzaemon got caught here in a trap and died.
The shrine was erected in his honor.
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Once a daughter was bewitched by the Inari fox from a nearby pond. A priest in a session asked the fox why. The fox said hw wanted to eat manjuu 饅頭 steamed buns and wanted them to be offered at a place where no dog would disturb him. The priest was well versed in the tales of Asakusa and got rid of the bewitchment with a special ritual.
. kitsune densetsu 狐と伝説 fox legends .

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kuchi-ire Inari 口入稲荷 Takadaya 高田屋

This shrine was located in the garden of the former employment agent Takadaya 高田屋 in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters of Edo.
In 1701 it was relocated in the precincts of 浅草玉姫稲荷 Tamahime Inari Shrine in Asakusa.

. Kuchi-ire Inari shrine 口入稲荷神社 .

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Iinuma no tenjin 飯沼の天神 Tenjin from Iinuma in 下総国 Shimosa no kuni (Chiba)

The Temple 浅草報恩寺 Asakusa Hoon-Ji was formerly located in Shimosa no Kuni (now Chiba). When the temple was built, there came an old man listening to the sermon and then told the priest that he was the Tenjin deity from Iinuma. He would care for the priest from now on.
In a dream he told the priest he would make an offering of two koi 鯉 carp. But during the annual festival a large tree fell down and all the carp in the pond were killed by the angry deity.

Hoon-Ji 坂東報恩寺 6-13-13 Higashiueno, Taito Ward

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o-neko sama お猫さま the honorable cat

In Asakusa lived a poor family, making a living by selling vegetables. When the old father got ill, they became even poorer. His son mumbled about the cat, which should be killed and from that day on the cat did not show up any more. The son thought this strange and asked the old man about it. The old man told his son that the cat came every night and lay on the part of his body that was ill. That way he could get some sleep. And soon the ill old man was cured.
. neko 猫 / ねこと伝説 Legends about cats, Katzen .

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tamashi 魂 soul

A man who had been ill for a long time went to the temple of his family and asked the priest to be burried there if he would die. The next day he came again and the priest thought this was strange. The priest investigated the case and found that the man had already died.

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tanuki 狸 badger

. tanukubayashi 狸囃子 Tanuki procession .

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Taroo Inari 太郎稲荷 the Deity Taro Inari

. Tachibana Sakon 立花左近 and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Taro Inari Jinja 太郎稲荷神社

柳川藩立花家 Yanagawa han, Tachibana clan - Naka Yashiki 中屋敷

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..... one of these Edo Yashiki shrines in Tokyo’s Asakusa district, the Taro Inari Jinja (Shrine). This used to be the estate shrine of the Tachibana House of the Yanagawa clan, who ruled southern Fukuoka province on the Island of Kyushu. The estate and the shrine was established here around 1660. This is the only remains of the old estate, even though some of the lots are still in the hands of the original noble family members who seem to be in the hotel business.
..... the Torii, the red gate in front of all shrines and holy places, has actually been incorporated into the neighboring building when it was erected, a torii shaped hole has been made in the building wall itself!
No matter how crowded Tokyo gets, you can’t really ask the Gods to move!
- source : tokyobling.wordpress.com... -

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yakujin 疫神 Deities of Illness

. Yakubyogami 疫病神 / 厄病神 Deity of Diseases .

In the year 1848 in Autumn, a pandemic was in the city. An old woman from Asakusa was walking with a strange youg woman, who said she had not eaten for some days. The old woman cooked some soba そば buckwheat noodles for her. After the meal the young woman thanked her and said she was in reality ekijin 疫神 the Deity of Disease. She instructed the old woman that if she would feel ill, she should soon eat some dojoo どじょう loach to get better soon.

- - - - - ekibyoo 疫病 epidemic and 第六天神様 Dairokutenjin Sama
There was an epidemic in the village 宝木塚村 Hogizuka with many dead people. The reason was the missing faith in a protecting deity - or so they said. Finally they got a deity from 第六天神社 DairokuTen Jinja Shrine in Asakusa and the epidemy stopped.

. Dairokuten Ma-O 第六天魔王 Big Number Six Heavenly Deity .

.................................................................................　Yamagata 山形県
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山形市 Yamagata city // 浅草の慶養寺 Keiyo-Ji

. hebi 蛇と伝説 Legends about snakes and serpents .
The tutelary deity of the Temple 竜門寺 Ryumon-Ji was a dragon.
Once the stone wall of the temple collapses and when people came to check, they found a serpent coming out. They chased the animal and killed it. The man who had killed the serpent died the same night. The others became very ill for about two months.
The serpent was rather thick and had four legs. The body is preserved at the temple Keiyo-Ji in Asakusa.

慶養寺 Keiyo-Ji
台東区今戸1-6-22 / Taito ward, Imado
founded in 1653 by priest Ryokan 龍門寺十二世良寮和尚.

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- reference : nichibun yokai database -

. Edo, Tokyo　江戸 - 東京 - 伝説 Legends Index .

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Edo - the EDOPEDIA -

5/26/2020

Asakusa legends

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