hakuroku white deer

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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .
- - - . Legends about the deer　鹿と伝説 .
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hakuroku 白鹿 white deer, white stag
hakushika, shirojika, shiroi shika
Hirsch; Reh; Rotwild; Cervida. - Sikahirsch



The Japanese deer (Cervus nippon) is a sacred animal in Buddhism and in Shintoism too.
It is a symbol of a long and prosperous life.

. shika 鹿 / しか / シカ deer .
- Introduction -

Also the name of a prostitute of high ranking.

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. jizake 地酒 local brands of rice wine .



How to Serve Hakushika Sake
- source : hakushika.co.jp/en -





白鹿 Legend of the White Deer“Hakushika"
Our core brand, "Hakushika," which literally means "white deer,"
is the subject of an old Chinese legend. According to this legend, the Tang Emperor Hsuan-Tsung who ruled from 712-756 and is known as the longest reigning emperor during the culture rich Tang Dynasty, found a white deer one day wandering in his palace gardens. Seeing that this rare and beautiful animal was adorned with a bronze medal indicating that the animal was 1000 years old, the Emperor recognized this as
an auspicious sign symbolizing a long and prosperous life.
The Japanese, who have traditionally adopted the Chinese images and legends of the deer also regard the white deer as a sign of longevity. As such, we chose Hakushika as our brand to represent both our long history as well as the future ahead of us.
- source : hakushika.co.jp/en -

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. Kasuga Taisha Kyoto 春日大社　 .

春日鹿曼荼羅 Kasuga Deer Mandala


CLICK for more versions !

On this scroll, a sacred Sakaki tree (Cleyera japonica) stands on the back of the white deer,
which is the messenger of the Deity of Kasuga.
The deer go back to the legend of the deity Takemikazuchi no mikoto 武甕槌神.
The "Great God of Kashima" rode on a white deer from Kashima, Ibaraki, all the way to the Kasuga shrine in Nara
as a divine messenger, and the deer became the symbol of Nara.
The Kasuga Deer Mandala tells the story.

Kasuga shrine has four main deities and the one of Wakamiya (the New Shrine) is seen as Buddhas standing on the branches. There are also wisteria blossoms (fuji), the symbol of the shrine and the Fujiwara family.
The top part of the mandala shows Mount Mikasa in front of the Kasuga hills.

Kasuga deer 春日の鹿
In October, the divine deer are all gathered in one place and the horns are cut.




御籤　Mikuji holder from Kasuga Taisha

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goshiki jika 五色鹿 deer in five colors
These deer are only about 2 cm high, made with bamboo legs.
They come in five colors and have white dots on their body.

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春日のの鹿も立ちそう花御堂
Kasuga no no shika mo tachisoo hana midoo

Kasuga Field's deer
also attend, I see...
blossom-filled temple

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. David Lanoue

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. . . . . . . . . . Gunma 群馬県



hakuroku Daruma 白鹿だるま　white deer Daruma
The white deer is a messenger of the Gods.
This is an original Daruma from the Takasaki Gunma Daruma workshop
群馬県高崎で三代続くだるま工房「高崎だるま　真下輝永」.

. Gunma Folk Art - 群馬県 .





幸運の白鹿だるま white deer Daruma cookie

. Mingei Kukkii　みんげいクッキー　Mingei Folk Art Cookies .


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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

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. . . . . . . . . . Aichi 愛知県

jooruji gozen 浄瑠璃御前 Lady Joruri - 浄瑠璃姫 Princess Joruri


歌川国貞 Utagawa Kunisada

In the village of 矢作村　Yahagi in the province of 東三河 Eastern Mikawa, the courtesan 兼高長者 Kanetaka Choja gave birth to a beautiful girl named Joruri Gozen after praying to Yakushi Nyorai at the temple 鳳来寺 Horai-Ji. Yakushi came down in the form of a white deer. (Other versions tell of an old man with white hair who came to deliver the child of a white deer.)
Joruri Gozen was very beautiful, but she had only two toes on her feet, so she had to hide them with a cloth all the time.
The young samurai Yoshitsune, still under his boyhood name of 　Ushiwakamaru was traveling with a gold merchant from Kyoto, Kaneuri Kichiji 金売吉次, to Hiraizumi in the Tohoku region (former みちのく　Michinoku ). They spent the night at Choja's house and Joruri Gozen fell in love with Ushiwakamaru at first sight.
Both exchanged poems, as it was customary, and then spent the night together.
But come next morning Ushiwakamaru had to continue his journey.


Jorurihime　浄瑠璃姫 Pricness Joruri


Ushiwakamaru (Minamoto Yoshitsune) serenading Jorurihime (Lady Joruri) with a flute
Tamagawa Shucho (ca. 1790)



. 牛若丸 Ushiwakamaru - 義経　Yoshitsune .

Yahagi Jinja 矢作神社 "Shrine were an arrow was made"
愛知県岡崎市矢作町字宝珠庵1
Legend knows that Yamato Takeru passed here and made a arrow from bamboo that grew in the shallows of the river .
. . . CLICK here for more Photos - 矢作神社 !


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. . . . . . . . . . Fukushima 福島県

. the brothers 万二万三郎 Banji and Banzaburo .
The animal messenger of the Deity 日光山の大権現 Nikko Daigongen is the white deer.
The legend is also told in Tochigi.

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伊達市 Date

reimu 霊夢 oracle dream
The four shrines of Kasuga 春日四社宮 are in honor of 仁明天皇 Emperor Ninmyo (808 - 850).
According to an oracle dream of 藤原政朝 - 藤原山蔭 Fujiwara no Yamakage (824 - 888) there was a white deer at the Shrine Hokotsuki Jinja 桙衝神社 in 岩瀬郡 Iwase. In 850 he he had the shrine built by 底磐之岩根 (シタツイハネ) Shitatsu no Iwane.
While he was wandering around in the area and almost got lost, he came to a place called Sagugakubi 猿か首 "Head of a Monkey", where he had his oracle dream.


Shrine in Hokotsuki, Sukagawa, Fukushima / 福島県須賀川市桙衝 亀居山97-1
Sources say it was built in 712 and the deity in residence is
Yamato Takeru 日本武尊.
桙衝鹿島大明神 Hokotsuki Kashima Daimyojin
- reference source : wikipedia -

- wikipedia : Emperor Ninmyō (仁明天皇 Ninmyō-tennō) -



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. . . . . . . . . . Iwate 岩手県　

. Tono Monogatari 遠野物語 Legends of Tono .
The Tono festival features a dance where a decorated 白き鹿 white deer appears. It is called shishi mai.
In Tono, shishi 獅子 does not refere to the lion head, but the white deer.
The white deer, the messenger of the Deity, can ward off evil influence.　
遠野物語 Nr. 61(鹿の夢) The Dream of the Deer

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Hiraizumi - Motsu-Ji 毛越寺

Legend of the White Deer
The temple history records that in the year 850 the great priest Ennin (Jikaku Daishi), the third head abbot of the Tendai sect, was traveling around northern Japan when he became lost in a thick fog in this area and was unable to proceed another single step.

When Ennin glanced at his feet, he noticed the hair of a white deer lying there beside them. Intrigued, the priest followed the trail of hair to find its owner, a white stag. Ennin approached the deer, but it vanished into the fog. In its place appeared a silver-haired old man who told the abbot,
"This is a sacred place.
If you build a temple here, the Buddhist law shall surely spread among the people."



Ennin sensed that this old man was an incarnation of the healing Buddha, Yakushi, and followed his advice. The priest built a hall which he named Kashoji, after the name of that historical period (850 was year 3 of Kasho).
And that is the legend of Motsuji's founding.
- source : motsuji.or.jp/english... -

. Ennin - Jigaku Daishi 慈覚大師 / 慈覺大師 . - (794 – 864)




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. . . . . . . . . . Kanagawa 神奈川県 　


source : nihonsinwa.com

Sakagami 坂神 "Deity of the Slope"
足柄山の白い鹿 The White Deer of Mount Ashigara
When Yamato Takeru 倭健命 / 日本武尊 came to the slope of the 足柄の坂 Ashigara Pass, the Deity of the Slope came out in the form of a white deer to disturb him.
Yamato Takeru took out his 乾飯 food packet with dry rice from Kyoto and some nira 韮 garlic chives and thew it at the Bad Deity. It hit his eye of the white deer and the animal died on the spot.
Yamato Takeru could now reach the top of the pass, sighing deeply three times.





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. . . . . . . . . . Miyagi 宮城県
Sendai, 太白区 Taihaku

. Banjibanzaburo 万二万三郎 Banji Banzaburo Matagi hunters .

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石巻市 Ishinomaki

Hitsujizaki 零羊崎 - 石竜 sekiryuu stone dragon
In the North of Nagahama is the Shrine Hitsujisaki Jinja 零羊崎神社 （ひつじさきじんじゃ）- (Reihitsujisaki)
In this region, 零羊 refers to a kamoshika カモシカ Japanese serow with red fur.
Since the Kami come riding on a white deer, the spelling 零羊 was maybe used.
A very very long time ago, a dragon had wrapped three times around boulders and created Mimakiyama 三巻（みまき）山.
Later the spelling was changed to the honorable 御 and the mountain named Omagiyama 御牧山（おまぎやま）.
御牧山(オマキヤマ) Omakiyama, 405 m high.


宮城県石巻市湊牧山7 Ishinomaki, Minato, Magiyama
Mount Magiyama is 240 m high.
The deity in residence is
Himitsuniwake no kami 涸満瓊別神（ひみつにさけのかみ）/ （ひみつにわけのかみ）
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !



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. . . . . . . . . . Shizuoka 静岡県

tatari 祟り curse
A samurai from the Takeda clan fled to Mount Ryuusoozan 竜爪山 Ryusozan. There 権兵衛 Gonbei shot a white deer, but was soon cursed with a high fever. In a dream it was revealed to him that he should built a shrine. So he changed his name from Takeda to Taki 瀧 (waterfall)
and built a shrine to honor 竜爪権現 Ryuso Gongen.
Mount Ryusozan is 1015 meter high.
Some legends say it takes its name "nail of a dragon" because the form looks like scratched out by a 竜 dragon. This name was given to the mountain by Yamato Takeru.

Hozumi Jinja 穂積神社（ほづみじんじゃ）- another name for
Ryuusoo Daigongen 竜爪大権現（りゅうそうだいごんげん）
- source : junko 神が宿るところ -

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鉄砲祭り　Teppō matsuri
This "gun festival" is an annual festival (reisai) held on April 17 at Hozumi Jinja in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture.
The shrine is also called Ryūsō-sama, and has attracted the faith of hunters as the kami of hunting. Especially during war years, Ryūsō became a "faddish deity" (hayarigami) that could provide protection from bullets, and thus drew many worshippers to this shrine. After the completion of worship observances, the ceremonial shooting of targets is performed by gun instead of by bow and arrow.
- source : Mogi Sakae, Kokugakuin 2007 -




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. . . . . . . . . . Tokyo 東京都

. white wolf 白狼 and 日本武尊 Yamato Takeru .
A local demon shape-shifted into a hakuroku 白鹿 white deer and obstucted the road . . .


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- source : nichibun yokai database -


. Yamato Takeru 日本武尊 / 倭健命 - Introduction .

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. . . CLICK here for Photos !
. Reference 白鹿 .

. gangu 玩具　伝説, omochcha おもちゃ 　toy, toys and legends .
- Introduction -

- - - #hakuroku #shiroshika #shirojika #hakushika - - - - -
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. Regional Folk Toys from Japan .

. Japan - Shrines and Temples .


. Tohoku after the BIG earthquake March 11, 2011

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