The Legends of Tōno: Kappa, Zashiki-warashi and Yanagita's Iwate

Tōno Monogatari tells of a goddess of Mount Hayachine who grants great strength to a wrestler who has prayed for it. Hayachine is the highest peak in the Kitakami Range and rises on the borders of Hanamaki, Tōno and Miyako, so the pin marks the summit area rather than a single shrine.

訪問のヒント: Hayachine is a mountain, not a stroll: plan a proper hike and check local conditions first.

In Yanagita's book, Oshira-sama is a household god, carved from mulberry wood and honoured on the fifteenth of the first month. Denshoen, an open-air museum opened in 1984 to keep Tōno's folklore alive, shows what that devotion looks like: its Silkworm God Hall enshrines 1,000 Oshira-sama figures. Yanagita published the book in 1910, recording tales from the Tōno region, and this museum was founded to carry those traditions on.

訪問のヒント: Open-air museum in Tsuchibuchi; check current opening hours before you go.

Tōno Monogatari places the child spirit zashiki-warashi in old family houses. In Yamaguchi village, the house of Yamaguchi Magozaemon was said to hold two girl spirits. Zashiki-warashi are spirit-like beings told about mostly in Iwate Prefecture, and the book names a village and a family rather than a place you can walk into. The pin marks the Yamaguchi district of Tsuchibuchi; no preserved house is tied to the tale.

場所の精度: The tales name Yamaguchi village and a family, not a building; the pin marks the Yamaguchi district.

Tōno Monogatari collects several kappa tales, and Kappabuchi, a pool behind Jōken-ji temple, is the place visitors now associate with them. Legend says many kappa once lived here and startled people. A small shrine to the kappa god stands at the water's edge, and the temple tradition says the kappa put out a fire at Jōken-ji and turned into its guardian dogs.

場所の精度: The book places its kappa tales at several pools; Kappabuchi is the traditional, tourist-friendly choice.

訪問のヒント: The pool sits behind Jōken-ji temple in Tsuchibuchi.

The book says that elders over sixty were once sent to Dendera-no, yet went down to the village by day to work in the fields. The one known site, Yamaguchi Dendera-no, covers about five hectares and is a Tōno Heritage site. The book lists several places with this name, so this stop marks the Yamaguchi one only in general terms, with no pin.

場所の精度: The book mentions several Dendera-no; only the Yamaguchi one is identified, and no pin is given.