Introduction
Japan is an egg-loving nation. Was this ever in doubt? The population consumes between 300 to 350 eggs per capita every year, bested only by Mexico and Colombia. One of the most popular Sanrio characters in recent memory is Gudetama, a perpetually tired and apathetic egg yolk who’s utterly disenchanted with life. This is to say nothing of the country’s magnificent egg dishes — tamagoyaki, chawanmushi, TKG, omurice, and the all-mighty convenience store egg sandwich.
Eggs were not always widely consumed due to the influence of Buddhist philosophy and thought that placed them in the same category as meat. But as dishes like tempura and castella that incorporated egg grew in popularity, so did the value of the egg as a highly nutritious and delicious food. While people began actively eating them during the Edo period, eggs continued to be seen as a luxury product well into the postwar era, before becoming a household staple towards the end of the 1950s.
In the grand scheme of things, Japan has a short history of egg appreciation, which may account for the relative paucity of egg-related customs and monuments at temples and shrines. Nevertheless, they do exist. Whether you want to appreciate eggs, offer them to a deity, eat them for good luck, or avoid them altogether, there’s a shrine for that.
Namiyoke Shrine, Tokyo
This might be the only place (that we know of) with a monument specifically dedicated to eggs. In Tsukiji Market’s unofficial guardian shrine is the Tamago-zuka (Egg Mound), a one metre-tall stone monument that’s shaped like — you guessed it — an egg.
Dedicated to the souls of all the eggs sacrificed in the name of feeding us, it was erected in 1993 by the Tokyo Egg Processing Industry Association (東京鶏卵加工業組合). Since the Outer Market nearby has several vendors who sell thousands of egg skewers a day, a little gratitude certainly doesn’t go amiss.
The official egg memorial service takes place at Namiyoke Shrine every October. There are also other related monuments in the precincts, such as the monument for live fish, monkfish, sushi, and shrimp.
Miho Shrine, Shimane
Shimane occupies a special place in Japanese mythology. It is considered one of the nation’s most sacred places, thought to be the birthplace of sake, kagura, and the gods more generally.
At the eastern end of the Shimane Peninsula is the fishing port of Mihonoseki. This port, along with others up and down the coast, had historically been a hub for exchanges with the Silla and Gaya kingdoms of the Korean Peninsula. It was supposedly at Miho Bay that Okuninushi, the kami of nation-building, first encountered the dwarf-sized kami Sukunabikona.
Here we find Miho Shrine, cradled by lush green mountain forest. Its origins are unclear, but it is thought to have existed by at least 733, if not earlier. Enshrined here is the first divine child of Okuninushi: Kotoshironushi, who is better known as Ebisu, the deity of prosperity, fishing, maritime safety, and business, among other domains.
For a long time, Mihonoseki had a custom of abstaining entirely from eating chicken or eggs, which stems from a folk tale about Kotoshironushi. He was married to Mihotsuhime, a maiden deity who lived in the village of Ifuya on the opposite shore to him, and every night, he would cross the sea to visit her. However, one night, a sleepy rooster crowed at the wrong hour.
Flustered, Kotoshironushi hurriedly boarded his boat, but left the oar behind on the shore in his haste. As he was paddling back home with his hands, a crocodile (a shark, perhaps?) bit his hand. This too was blamed on the rooster, and the deity came to detest chickens. The area-wide custom of not eating chicken or eggs persisted until the early Showa period. Even now, the priests do not eat chicken. However, it seems that neither duck meat or eggs are taboo.
Washinomiya Shrine, Saitama
Can abstaining from chicken meat and eggs cure whooping cough? Hōjō Masako, wife to Minamoto no Yoritomo, the second shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate, certainly thought so. When their young son Yoriie came down with a bad bout of whooping cough, she stopped eating poultry and prayed at Washinomiya Shrine for his recovery. You know how the rest of the story goes: the child recovered, and the shrine gained a reputation for banishing coughs.
This tale would have taken place sometime during the 1180s. By this time, Washinomiya was already a venerable shrine in its own right, having existed since 808. One of its enshrined deities is the sun goddess Amaterasu-no-Mikoto. Her divine messenger is the chicken, so the chief priest of every generation has traditionally abstained from eating chicken meat and eggs; worshippers who visit are supposed to do the same.
Their main festival held on 23 November features the Gōran-shiki, or the ‘Strong Egg Ceremony.’ It is a unique variation on a ritual where participants are urged to eat rice served to them; it is expected that they will resist these temptations. At Washinomiya, the rice is replaced by raw eggs. Participants will be purified by the shrine priest before being invited to drink sake by a tengu, representing the deity’s messenger. Then, the tengu will pressure them to eat the raw eggs; participants are expected to decline and point out that the eggs are offerings to the deity.
To the right of the shrine’s main hall is the large ‘Dream Egg.’ Place your hands on this stone egg and recite your wish three times. Your dream will grow within and eventually come to fruition. For extra blessings, you can pick up a ‘cough-stopping amulet,’ a ‘great wish fulfilling egg amulet,’ or a kumade covered in auspicious motifs.
Omiwa Shrine, Nara
Several shrines across Japan claim to be the oldest: Izumo Taisha in Shimane, Tamaki Shrine in Nara, and Ōmiwa Shrine in Nara. No precise origin dates to be found here, but at least one of them dates back to Emperor Sujin’s reign (97-30 BC) if not earlier. At any rate, Omiwa Shrine is one of Japan’s oldest places of worship, unusual in that the goshintai — the physical object of worship — is Mount Miwa itself. (Readers may remember its connection with the legendary origins of somen noodles.)
The primary deity associated with Mount Miwa is Ōmononushi, the kami of rain; according to the Nihon Shoki, he is another aspect of the above-mentioned Ōkuninushi. Ōmononushi’s true form is thought to be a large snake. Indeed, the Nihon Shoki has several tales of him appearing before various people in his serpentine form — once in his wife’s comb case as a small snake, another as a large, terrifying snake when captured by a retainer named Chiisakobe no Sugaru.
Snakes are said to love eggs, and a local legend says that a white snake did indeed live on Mount Miwa, so worshippers leave offerings of sake and chicken eggs around the grounds of Omiwa Shrine. A popular place to leave eggs is in front of the sacred cedar tree known as Mi no Kami Sugi 巳の神杉. 巳 ‘Mi’ is also the character representing the snake in the zodiac cycle, reinforcing the connection between the deity, snakes, and eggs.
Hataya no Inari, Saitama
Located a short walk from Izumoiwai Shrine, Hataya no Inari is one of those small neighbourhood shrines consisting of a hokora, a torii gate, and not much else. Its main claim to fame is having been featured in the 2009 animated film Hottarake no Shima (Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror) as a magical doorway to another world.
Local belief holds that if you pray here, anything you have lost will find its way back to you. Should this be the case, raw eggs should be offered as a token of gratitude. It’s unclear as to when this custom began, but given that eggs were historically a rare treat for commoners, it would have been an appropriate offering for any deities at the shrine.
Raiden Shrine, Gunma
Located in Itakura, Gunma, Raiden Shrine is one of the oldest in the prefecture. The shrine supposedly dates back to 598, but the main shrine hall was constructed relatively recently in 1835. One of its main claims to fame is a special pillar said to contain the power of Raijin, the Shinto kami of thunder — hence its name, ‘Thunder and Lightning Shrine.’ The wooden carvings are the work of master craftsperson Ishihara Tsunehachi, and well worth paying attention to during a visit.
Standing in the car park is a statue of Benzaiten. Benzaiten — or Saraswati as she’s known in Hinduism — is the goddess of the arts, speech, learning, dragons, snakes, good fortune, and wealth, and ‘things that flow,’ like music and time. As we have learned above, where there are snakes, there are eggs.
At her feet is an egg-shaped stone, which worshippers should stroke while thinking of good things. On the second Sunday in July, visitors can get a ‘beautiful egg’ (美卵) from the shrine office — which is probably a regular chicken egg they blessed — to offer to Benzaiten. It is important to then bring this egg home and eat it (cooked, presumably) to fully benefit from her divine blessings.
Kunigami Shrine, Tochigi
Located in the town of Motegi, Tochigi Prefecture, Kunigami Shrine is a bit of a mystery. There isn’t much information on its history, origins, traditions, or rituals. We don’t know how old the shrine is; it fell into disrepair in the 1980s before being reopened some thirty years later.
However, the most interesting aspect of this shrine is its curious festival (‘kisai’) – the Jikatamajinai Festival, which was revived in 2012 by a local preservation society after it had been discontinued in 1988.
The festival is held every year in mid-July, and revolves around the sacred egg-shaped “butt-washing stone” on the shrine grounds. It begins with speeches, followed by an egg art award ceremony, but the real highlight of the Jikatamajinai is the butt-washing ritual.
In this ritual — which the shrine priest will first demonstrate for all — worshippers pray for the prevention and healing of hemorrhoids by squatting and pointing their butt out towards the stone, chanting ‘ketsupitashi’ three times. ‘Jikata’ is a local term used to refer to people with hemorrhoids, while ‘ketsupitashi’ derives from ‘ketsu wo hitasu’ or to ‘soak the buttocks.’
Naturally, one must pay to pray. Participating costs ¥1,000 or ¥2,000, which also nets you a boiled egg, a raw egg, and a drink; the more expensive entry fee includes a lucky amulet.
The original ritual consisted of getting naked and cleaning one’s rectum in the holy Naka river nearby before pointing their arse towards the egg while praying. Then, you ate boiled eggs. (Unclear why.) However, modern morality discourages the practice of mooning everyone from an open river, so the first bit of the ceremony was discontinued while keeping its essence.
One source claims that the festival was originally held on 1 June, as many farmers suffered from hemorrhoids due to over-exertion and exposure to the cold during the rice planting season. This day was for them to take a break from the fields — and hope their piles wouldn’t get worse, probably.
By Florentyna Leow