Introduction
The sea is to Japan as air is to us — an inextricable part of its culture, as essential as breathing. Elements of the ocean are everywhere. Kelp and skipjack tuna form the backbone of Japanese cuisine, fish and crustaceans much of its body. Creatures and mythical beings from the sea appear time and again in its mythology. Offerings at the Shinto altar often combine elements of sea and mountain, the two natural elements that dominate Japan’s idea of its own landscape.
Occasionally, I am struck by small bolts of cynicism and dismay regarding the sheer number of shrines and temples in Japan, accompanied by the usual observations on the connections between religion, money, and other unsavoury practices. But more often than not I appreciate their existence.
As with other strangely specific shrines I have written about, this series of shrines dedicated to sea creatures (or seafood, depending on your preferred point of view) is emblematic of a culture-wide emphasis on gratitude. I like to think of each shrine as a choice, a chance to express gratitude for whichever little thing sustains and nourishes us from day to day.
Prawn (Ebi)
Namiyoke Inari Shrine is Tsukiji Market’s de facto shrine. It is compact and unassuming, an essential part of the fabric of this neighbourhood. In the morning, you may see market vendors stopping by to say a quick prayer before continuing on their way to work.
The shrine precincts have several memorial stones dedicated to various sea creatures (or foodstuff) essential to Tsukiji Market. One of them is Ebizuka, or the Prawn Mound. It was dedicated to the shrine by shrimp wholesaler Ebi no Daimaru Co., Ltd and the Tōtenkai Tempura Cooking Cooperative, and the names of around 60 member tempura restaurants are inscribed on the back of this commemorative plaque. And yes, the shrine conducts an annual shrimp memorial service. Other memorials in their collection include ones for kelp (kombu), anko (anglerfish/monkfish), clams (hamaguri), and egg (tamago).
Elsewhere in Japan, Ebi Shrine and Ebi Inari Shrine can be found in Aichi Prefecture. Unfortunately, these two shrines don’t seem to have anything to do with actual prawns, but appear to have been named after the neighbourhood they stand in.
Clams (Kai)
Kisa Shrine in Shizuoka, on the shores of Lake Hamana, may be the only shrine in Japan dedicated to clams.
Its precise founding date is unknown, but it is listed in the Engishiki Jinmyōchō (Engishiki Register of Shrines) compiled in 927, suggesting it existed even longer before that. The shrine was founded at its current site sometime after 1498, when the villagers of 舞澤 discovered a small shrine dedicated to ‘The Great Shining Kisa’ (Kisa Daimyojin) at the base of a venerable willow tree, atop a sand-covered hill. This is where the shrine is presently located.
Two deities from Japanese mythology are enshrined here: Kisagaihime-no-mikoto, the deity of the ark shell clam (akagai); and Umugaihime-no-mikoto, the deity of clams (kai).
The story concerning these deities appears in the Kojiki, one of Japan’s oldest collection of myths and oral histories. Okuninushi and his elder brother, Yasogami, were fighting over the beautiful Yagamihime, who eventually decided to marry Okuninushi. Enraged, Yasogami told Okuninushi that he would release a red boar from Mount Tema, and that he should catch this boar at the bottom of the mountain.
However, Yasogami had tricked his brother —what rolled down the mountain was not a boar, but a large boulder heated red-hot. Okuninushi stopped the boulder with his whole body, and was instantly burned to death. His grieving mother ascended to Takamagahara, the abode of the heavenly gods, pleaded with Kamimusubi-no-kami to revive him.
Kamimusubi’s daughter, Akagaihime, provided a fine white powder ground from the shell of an akagai (red clam), while Hamagurihime offered water (brine, probably) from the hamaguri (clam). They mixed these two ingredients together to create an ointment, which they rubbed on Okuninushi’s body. In doing so, he was restored to his strong and beautiful form.
It has been suggested that those who play conch shells (horagai) might like to visit Kisa Shrine to pray for an improvement in their blowing technique. Conch shells are not exactly a common instrument, but they are used by shugendo practitioners and monks at some temples. The daily fire rituals at Naritasan Fukagawa Fudodo in Tokyo, for example, open with the monks blowing their conch shells in unison.
Oysters (Kaki)
Although a number of areas in Japan are famous for oysters, the only one (that we know of) featuring any part of the oyster is Kakigara Inari Shrine 蛎殻稲荷神社, a small sub-shrine at Hasedera Temple in Kamakura.
It is tucked away in a little corner of Hasedera, enshrining an oyster shell shard. According to legend, the founder of Hasedera in Nara sculpted two images of the Kannon bodhisattva out of camphor wood in 721. (The official website claims that it took the two sculptors a mere three days, which seems ambitious and unlikely.) One statue was enshrined at Hasedera; the other was cast into the sea. The huge statue drifted for years, eventually becoming covered in oyster shells, until it washed ashore on at Nagai Bay on the Miura peninsula 15 years later.
The local people who encountered the statue built a small shrine to the Kannon. Later, Fujiwara no Fusae, the founder of Hasedera in Nara, moved the statue to Kamakura and built a temple there to house and preserve the statue. As an expression of gratitude to the oyster shells that protected the statue from decay, they also built Kakigara Inari Shrine.
Today, visitors to Hasedera can write their wishes on votive plaques made from polished oyster shells.
Stingray (Akaei)
At Hirota Shrine in downtown Osaka, red stingrays are thought to be the messengers of the sea deity enshrined there. Sufferers will be cured if they abstain from eating red stingray and make an offering of one of the votive plaques while praying at the shrine. This practice also exists at Nagata Shrine in Kobe, Hyogo.
Red stingray is (apparently) revered for its efficacy in curing ailments such as hemorrhoids and other intractable diseases. Why, then, should abstaining from it by fasting and praying cure these illnesses? In a word, a pun. These sea creatures have sharp spines on their tails, and by metaphorically cutting the tail off — i.e. abstention — one could eradicate ailments that resembled the pain of being pricked by these spines. The area was historically a coastal fishing village, and fishermen often suffered from hemorrhoids during their work, which theoretically gave rise to this folk belief. People will try anything to cure piles.
How and when did Hirota Shrine come to be associated with hemorrhoids? Iwai Hiromi mentions a few folk theories in Cultural History of Humans and Things 12. One is that the ‘deity of the land’ was mistakenly identified as ‘hemorrhoid deity’ — an easy mistake, since they sound quite close in Japanese. Another odd story links it to its former location on the precincts of Shitennō-ji (also downtown Osaka), with the implication that the temple grounds were hemorrhoids and that the shrine was the cure.
By Florentyna Leow