Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto. On Setsubun, many temples and shrines in Kyoto, such as Yoshida Shrine, Rozanji Temple, and Senbon Shakado Temple, hold events to ward off demons and evil spirits.The reason why people scatter beans to ward off demons on Setsubun is because it has been believed since ancient times that grains and fruits have the power to ward off evil spirits.This may stem from the fact that

Setsubun Festival at Senbon Shakado

The most well-known representative of these "demons" to be chased away in Kyoto is,Shuten DojiI guess. I looked up the legend.

During the reign of Emperor Ichijo, the capital is struck by natural disasters and many women go missing. The Yin-Yang MasterAbe no Seimei era (1789.1.25-1789.1.25)The ogres were found to be hiding in Mt. Oe, west of Kyoto. Minamoto no Yorimitsu and other warriors gathered there and set out to defeat the demons. With the help of Shinto and Buddhist deities, they used trickery to get the demons drunk and vanquish them, but the leader of the demons was a three-meter-tall, heavy-drinking, flesh-eating drunken boy named Shuten Doji, who would drink heavily, kidnap people and eat their flesh.

The head of the demon that was cut off and buried in a mound in Kyoto City is said to have been the head of the demon that was killed and cut off by the Shuten Doji.

The mound is located on the old Aronosaka Pass, a side road to the south from the Kyoto side of the Aronosaka Tunnel on the border of Kyoto City and Kameoka City.Head Mound Great MyojinIt is often mentioned as one of the magical places in Kyoto. I visited the place immediately.

Oonosaka Tunnel

A stone torii gate can be seen immediately after the stone marker "従是東山城国" at the old Old Old Slope Pass.

Signposts in Yamashiro Province (Kyoto) east of here

Akasagarbha (bodhisattva)

As we walked up the approach to the shrine, which was covered by a grove of trees and dark even in the daytime, we came to a torii gate and a small shrine. Then, there was a head mound with stones piled up in a wooden frame.

Root stumps covering the approach to Kubuzuka Daimyojin

According to the history of this shrine, the Four Heavenly Kings, including Minamoto no Yorimitsu, who conquered Shuten Doji and his clan, tried to bring back their heads to Kyoto, but were rebuked by Koyasu Jizo, who stands on this Ronosaka Pass, who told them not to bring impure things to the capital of the Goddess of Heaven, and buried their heads on this pass to seal them.

It was a cloudy day, and there were no other visitors. A fellow writer had told me in advance that some people might get sick from the strong air, so I did not stay long and left the head mound early.

Research into the master of the head mound, Shuten-douji, revealed some interesting things. His true identity is actuallyplagueThe story goes that during the reign of Emperor Ichijo in the Heian period (794-1185), there was an epidemic of pemphigus. During the reign of Emperor Ichijo in the Heian period (794-1185), there was an epidemic of pemphigus, and the streets were lined with corpses. The people of the capital were said to have been terribly afraid of the disease, calling it "akahemuju" (red pox). It is said that the red devil figure of Shukutake-doji is the embodiment of the aka-emphasis, and that the demons drank heavily and ate human flesh, and the human bones piled up in the demon's mansion and left there to be discarded are said to be an image of the city filled with the corpses of those who died from the plague.

Oeyama Shuten-doji Emaki. II
(Reprinted from the Diet Digital Collections)

Also,Oeyama in Tamba, which includes Ronosaka, was home to many bandits who attacked the capital night after night.The theory is that Shuten-doji = bandit (bandit). In the Tango region, there is another theory that Shuten-doji = a foreigner. It is said that a foreign ship sailing in the seas around Japan was shipwrecked and drifted ashore on the Tango Peninsula, where the crew feared the aliens with different hair and skin colors. In other words, what is the true identity of "Oni"?The very thing that people should fear and pay for.pointed to the

Old Sanin Kaido (Old Sanin Road)

By the way, the earlier head mound deity is nowBlessings to seal off illnesses from the neck up.It is believed to be a god. It seems that the ancients believed that something as terrifying as a demon could be sealed and worshipped to counteract something equally terrifying.

Well, this Setsubun, many people will probably participate in "Tsuina" or "Oniyarai" events, or throw beans at home. What kind of ogres will everyone be driving away, and how will they do it to celebrate the spring equinox?