Introduction
Have you ever heard of an ear shrine? They are quite uncommon, but as we’ve established in this ongoing series of strangely specific shrines, there’s little that doesn’t merit a prayer to the deities. The word for ‘ear’ in Japanese is ‘mimi,’ and many of the shrines below have names that incorporate the word.
Amusingly, more than one of these institutions claim to be the only ear shrine in the country. This is obviously untrue, but it does speak to the hyper-local fashion in which these shrines likely came about, and how the origin stories of each shrine are rooted in regional folklore. Plus, we’re only covering the shrines here — we haven’t even touched on the few Buddhist temples with the Ear Buddha, nor the one that holds an ear festival.
Besides improved ear health, devotees also pray for more metaphorical ear-related things — attaining perfect pitch, developing an ear for music, improving interpersonal listening skills, encountering good news, not missing important information, and more. So lend me your ears, and I’ll tell you all about Japan’s ear shrines.
Mimigo Shrine, Hiroshima
Where ear shrines are concerned, Mimigo is likely the most well-known and most-visited of them all. One reason might be its location. It’s a subsidiary of Oyama Shrine on Innoshima, one of the six islands connecting Onomichi and Imabari along the Shimanami Kaido. Cyclists pedalling along Japan’s most popular cycling route often visit Oyama Shrine to have their bicycles blessed at the Bicycle Shrine — another subsidiary of Oyama — and so end up seeing Mimigo as well.
The other reason is probably its Ear Festival. Held in spring on a date adjacent to 3 March — National Ear Day — a number of events take place on the shrine grounds throughout the day, such as ‘ear-cleaning prayers,’ doll memorial services, lectures on ear health, hula dancing, and magic shows. Prayers made on this day are notable for using the shells of turbo sazae — a type of sea snail, also known as sazae or turban shell — filled with rice and sake as offerings to the deity, since they closely resemble the shape of the inner ear.
Visitors can also walk through the Otafuku Ear, a large diorama of a face with an extra-large, human-sized hole cut into the ear, while praying for ear-related benefits. Since the face is supposed to be Amenokoyane, this little ritual might represent one’s prayers safely reaching him. Peckish visitors may partake of ear-shaped rice cakes in red bean soup.
Also known as Yūtoku Shrine, Mimigo, literally meaning ‘Bright Ears,’ enshrines Amenokoyane, a deity said to be in charge of divine affairs. (Does this make him a heavenly bureaucrat?) The precise founding date is unknown, but according to the shrine, it was Fujiwara no Yasataka who established it during the early Kamakura period. Its association with ears comes from an old folk tale, where an old woman prayed at Mimigo Shrine for her grandchild’s hearing to be restored.
Mimi Shrine, Gifu
Located along the Nakasendo Way, this is a small, nondescript mountainside shrine dedicated to the Ear Deity. A number of websites describe Mimi Shrine as ‘nationally renowned,’ which is probably an exaggeration. Nevertheless, it attracts a steady trickle of people suffering from ear ailments, and the shrine itself is well-maintained by local residents.
The folktale concerning its origins is as follows. Long ago, there was a carpenter who had lost his hearing. He prayed to this shrine, and his hearing was instantly restored, leading to the belief that this shrine healed ear ailments. Wishing to express his gratitude to the deity, the carpenter made an offering of a chisel, drawing on the idea of a blockage in the ears being removed. (Although the thought of chiseling out one’s ears is rather horrifying.)
Subsequently, it became customary for worshippers who recovered from their ear issues to offer chisels and similar items to the shrine. They would also weave needles — a number equal to their age — into something resembling a bamboo screen, and use this as an offering. The reason behind this is unclear, but there is at least one other shrine which implies that pricking your ear with a needle can cure hearing problems.
Mimimori Shrine, Ibaraki
Affectionately nicknamed ‘Mimiccho-sama,’ Mimimori’s name translates to ‘Ear Protection’ or ‘Ear Guardian.’ This means that the ear-themed lucky amulets (omamori) sold here can be called ‘mimiomamori’ — try quickly saying that five times in a row!
The shrine was originally built over 1,000 years ago in what is now Omitama City. It was originally run by the Iizuka clan for centuries, until they were ousted from power by the Satake clan in 1590. It is slightly unclear as to whether it fell into disrepair for a time, or was then maintained by local residents thereafter, but what we do know is that it was newly rebuilt in 1982 or 1983. The shrine claims that at the time of its reconstruction in 1982, no other shrine in Japan offered relief from ear ailments through prayer. The sheer inaccuracy of this claim remains terribly amusing.
Its origin is associated with The Tale of Princess Mimichiyo, which unfolds as follows.
Long ago, the area where Mimimori now stands was governed by Kanetada Iizuka, the grandson of the military commander Taira no Kunika. Kanetada and his wife had a beautiful daughter named Chiyo, who they eventually realised was deaf. As she grew older, Chiyo herself slowly began to understand that she was not like people around her.
Eventually, her parents, desperate to help their daughter, fasted and fervently prayed to the deities of Kumano. Chiyo came to them a few days later, a look of astonishment on her face as she tried to communicate with them. Although she could not speak, her hearing had miraculously returned. From then on, her hearing became extremely sharp. The people of the area affectionately called her Lady Chiyo, the Ear of the Palace 館の耳千代様.
When Chiyo turned 33, she fell ill. Her condition steadily worsened, until it was clear that whatever she had was incurable. Chiyo’s dying wish to her parents was for a shrine to be built, as she hoped to protect the people from ear ailments. This was the origin of Mimimori Shrine, where she was deified and enshrined.
The ema (votive tablets) here are somewhat unorthodox, consisting of bamboo tubes with strings threaded through both ends. This symbolises a hope for ‘clear hearing.’ Visitors have the option of making their own ema with a bamboo craftsperson if they contact the shrine at least one week in advance.
Yatsumimi Shrine, Tokyo
One of Japanese mythology’s most revered figures is Prince Shōtoku (574-622), the semi-legendary regent and politician of the seventh century who is popularly credited with founding and promoting Japanese Buddhism. He also famously modernised the government administration. In other words, blame him for the beginnings of bureaucracy.
Jests aside, the Nihon Shoki, one of Japan’s first official written histories, is full of mythic anecdotes about Prince Shōtoku that detail his sterling qualities and heroic escapades. For instance, that he came out of the womb already able to speak, and never made a wrong decision; or that he had an exceptional intellect, and read widely as a small child.
Relevant for our purposes today, however, is one of his nicknames — Toyotomimi, or the Prince of Eight Ears who possesses “heavenly ears that discern all things.” This comes from a story where he once listened to eight people speaking to him simultaneously, and understood every single word of their pleas.
You can guess by now that the deity of Yatsumimi Shrine — which literally means ‘Eight Ear Shrine’ — is none other than Prince Shōtoku. Shrine lore says that when you are troubled, chanting ‘Hachimimi-sama, Hachimimi-sama, Hachimimi-sama’ (Lord Eight Ears) three times before praying will bring forth good ideas, and also help with treating one’s ear ailments. Perhaps those with writer’s block should pay a visit to the shrine, too.
Yatsumimi is one of four subsidiary shrines on the precincts of Akagi Shrine in the Shinjuku district. Although Akagi Shrine is less well-known today, during the Edo period it was considered one of the Three Great Shrines of Edo alongside Hie Shrine and Kanda Myōjin.
Kesazuka no Miminashi Fudō, Tokyo
A subsidiary shrine of Mitsumine Shrine in Arakawa Ward, whose name translates to ‘The Earless Wise King of Monastic Robe Mound.’ The Fudō Myōō (Wise King, Immovable King) statue that sits atop the mound is missing its left ear, and is purportedly efficacious for ear ailments and venereal diseases. There is also (reportedly) a custom whereby one dedicates bowls with holes pierced in them to the shrine.
This statue originally resided at Senkō-in, another temple that had been abandoned in 1868, and was moved to its present location in 1896. The story of its purported origin is as follows. It was commissioned by Kōe, the ninth head priest of Senkō-in, who had originally been a retainer of the Tachibana clan in Yanagawa Province (present-day Fukuoka). At the time, he went by the name of Tanaami Kōzaburō, and was betrothed to a beautiful woman named Okinu. However, Sano Hyōma, another retainer, abducted her and took her to Edo.
Kōe travelled to Edo, seeking revenge as well as his beloved, but Okinu had already been sold into servitude at the Shin-Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. Failing to locate her, he entered the priesthood, becoming a monk at Kan'ei-ji Temple in Ueno and taking the name Kōe. However, he eventually found Okinu, who had become a courtesan by the name of Benzan, and began regularly visiting her at her quarters in the red-light district.
He was later expelled from Kan’ei-ji for embezzling temple funds. Fortuitously, he was invited to become the head priest of Senkō-in, at which point he had already been suffering from a dreadful — and venereal, it is implied — disease, his condition so dire that his ears were falling off. Kōe then buried his own priestly vestments (the ‘kesa’) in the road facing the temple, creating a mound. Upon this he placed the carved statue of Fudō Myōō.
His illness proved incurable, and he passed away in 1757. Okinu had forsworn the pleasure quarters to become a nun, and she is thought to have followed him into death by hanging herself from a pine tree in front of the temple gates.
Ryūji-sha Shrine, Aichi
Located on the precincts of Inokoishi Shinmei Shrine in east Nagoya, Ryuji-sha is a small subsidiary shrine with a curious backstory. It dates back to 1890, when a rare and unusual “snake with ears” was captured at Benten Pond in the area now known as Toyota City.
According to a local newspaper dated 5 February 1890, a certain Sugiura Kibei of Tsuge Village, Hekikai District, had encountered a snake of some eight shaku (around 2.4 metres) in length. It was dry and stiff, and seemed to have been dead for some time. Upon closer inspection, it was found to have ears approximately six or seven bu (around 2.1 centimetres) in size. Sugiura brought it home, attracting a throng of onlookers.
A man named Hata Ichizaemon (or Ichiemon; it is unclear as to which is correct) of Obata subsequently enshrined it, calling it the Deity of the Ears. At his request, it became a subsidiary shrine at Inokoishi Shinmei, where people invoked the deity for improved ear health and recovery from ear ailments. Naturally, there is also an ear o-mamori (lucky amulet) for sale today.
Bonus: The Grave of Yufu Oisuke, or the Ear Deity, Kumamoto
Not a shrine, but the grave of a former retainer of Tachibana Muneshige, who was lord of Yanagawa Castle during the late 16th and early 17th century. Oisuke was one of Muneshige’s commanders. According to the story behind this grave, he had been born deaf, and was thus unable to hear his retainers’ urgent cries of ‘Danger, my lord!’ during a battle. He was felled by an arrow shot from the enemy castle, and perished shortly after.
The villagers of the area gave him a respectable burial, and for generations after continued to offer prayers for the repose of his soul. A bamboo blowpipe lies in front of his grave. When offering prayers, one is supposed to blow into this bamboo tube and hold it to one’s ears; if returning to give thanks, one is supposed to offer a new blowpipe. Whether this is still regularly practiced is hard to say, as little information is available beyond what I have outlined.
Bonus: Mimizuka, Kyoto
This one is not technically about worshipping ear deities, but is an interesting and gruesome enough story to make the list. From a Japanese perspective, Mimizuka is quite possibly Kyoto’s least advertised tourist attraction, as it is a burial mound for thousands of Korean and Ming Chinese soldiers and civilians — or rather, their ears and noses. You can see how that might not work with the rest of their tourism ads.
The early 20th century wasn’t the first time Japan had tried to conquer their neighbours; Toyotomi Hideyoshi had previously invaded Korea between 1592 to 1598 in an ultimately failed attempt to take over East Asia.
In the beginning, soldiers would take severed heads of their Korean enemies back to Japan as proof of their kills, but this quickly became impractical due to limited cargo space, even when the heads were meticulously salted and packed. The solution was to take the ears instead — and later on, the noses — of those killed in battle, pickle them in brine, and send them back for inspection. This was also the case for slain Ming Chinese soldiers during the concurrent Imjin War.
These ears and noses were later interred in what was first named Hanazuka, or the “Mound of Noses.” Its name was later changed to the more euphemistic-sounding Mimizuka, or the “Mound of Ears.” It’s not clear exactly how many noses and ears there are in the mound. Some sources put the number at around 38,000, while others suggest figures closer to 100,000 or 200,000.
Written by Florentyna Leow