text: Kojiki

text: Ōkuninushi

text: Izumo

text: Ashihara no Nakatsukuni

text: Takemikazuchi

text: heaven

text: warrior

text: Kōga Saburō

text: Kojiki

text: "Sendai Kuji Hongi"

text: national histories

text: Edo period

text: kokugaku

text: Motoori Norinaga

text: Awa Province

text: Ishii

text: Tokushima Prefecture

text: Munakata

text: Kyushu

text: Imperial Navy

text: Lake Suwa

text: lagoon

text: inlet

text: serpentine

text: mizuchi

text: Lake Suwa

text: metonymy

text: Ryōbu Shintō

text: Dharma-Nature

text: is uncertain: suggestions include the name being a reference to the geographical location of the Suwa "Kamisha" (Upper Shrine) on the south of Lake Suwa

text: Nangū Shrine

text: Gifu Prefecture

text: Sengoku

text: daimyō

text: Takeda Shingen

text: national histories of Japan

text: Izumo Province

text: Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba

text: Ōkuninushi

text: Koshi

text: heaven

text: Takemikazuchi

text: Ashihara no Nakatsukuni

text: Amaterasu

text: Kotoshironushi

text: Suwa

text: province of Shinano

text: Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba

text: Futsunushi-no-Kami

text: Katori Shrine

text: Sōshū

text: Takeikatsuchi-no-Kami

text: Kashima Shrine

text: Jōshū

text: Ōanamuchi

text: Kitsuki

text: Unshū

text: Miwa

text: Washū

text: Kotoshironushi-no-Kami

text: Nagata Shrine

text: Sesshū

text: Jingi-kan

text: manifestation

text: Shimoina District

text: Toyooka

text: Ōshika

text: origin myth

text: sumo wrestling

text: Moreya

text: tug of war

text: wisteria

text: Suwa City

text: auxiliary shrines

text: manifested himself

text: the true Dharma

text: Emperor Yōmei

text: Suwa City

text: Tenryū River

text: Okaya City

text: Suwa City

text: Meiji period

text: Suwa clan

text: a living god

text: manifestation

text: Emperor Kanmu

text: Heizei

text: Saga

text: kuni no miyatsuko

text: Aso Shrine

text: Kyushu

text: Iware Ikebe no Ōmiya

text: Meiji

text: Kamakura shogunate

text: Moriya Daijin

text: to become a native "kami"

text: taboos

text: Persia

text: and realize the Buddhist path

text: Yatsugatake Mountains

text: India

text: Deer Park

text: the seventh month

text: Brahmā

text: four great deva-kings

text: vajra

text: expedient means

text: Magada-no-kuni

text: King Siṃhahanu

text: Gautama Buddha

text: Prasenajit

text: ritual declaration

text: [the year/month/day of] the Yang Wood Horse

text: body

text: Vulture Peak

text: evil thoughts, evil speech and evil actions

text: the lower, evil realms of existence

text: landlord

text: Kōka District

text: Ōmi Province

text: Mount Tateshina

text: travelling through these subterranean lands for a long period of time

text: folk etymology

text: Hōjō clan

text: retainers

text: four seas

text: toad

text: dragon god of the sea

text: Ryūgū-jō

text: etiological legend

text: New Year's Day

text: see below

text: folk etymology

text: Ugajin

text: Mishaguji

text: three poisons

text: an incarnation

text: Samantabhadra

text: Vajrasattva

text: Wisdom King

text: Trailokyavijaya

text: Edo period

text: pagoda

text: iron tower

text: see below

text: separation of Buddhism and Shinto

text: Meiji period

text: go-shintai

text: ethnologist

text: Tenshō period

text: Chino, Nagano

text: wetland

text: Mount Tateshina

text: levee breach

text: Kannazuki

text: Izumo Province

text: Imperial Palace

text: Kyoto

text: New Year's Day

text: Cracks and ridges

text: Lake Suwa

text: global warming

text: Sakanoue no Tamuramaro

text: Emishi

text: Emperor Kanmu

text: Sei-i Taishōgun

text: Ōshū

text: were passing by

text: Ina

text: yabusame

text: mounted archery

text: court dress

text: ignorant

text: enlightenment

text: dhāraṇī

text: Mongol invasions of Japan

text: Kublai Khan

text: Taiheiki

text: Lake Suwa

text: Kōan 2

text: Fudoki

text: Motoori Norinaga

text: Isetsuhiko

text: Hokuriku region

text: sphere of influence

text: Echigo Province

text: Niigata Prefecture

text: Kamiina

text: Shimoina

text: kofun

text: Lake Suwa

text: Emperor Jimmu

text: kuni no miyatsuko

text: Emperor Sujin

text: see above

text: Emperor Kinmei

text: Sakurai City

text: Nara Prefecture

text: kabane

text: kōri no kami"/"hyōtoku

text: above

text: Yayoi period

text: village communities

text: Mishaguji

text: inhabit natural objects

text: like trees or rocks

text: life-giving

text: guardians

text: Moreya

text: see above

text: shamanistic

text: Emperor Yōmei

text: Shinano Province

text: Ō no Yasumaro

text: Emperor Tenmu

text: District

text: Shoku Nihon Kōki

text: Jōwa

text: Montoku Jitsuroku

text: Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku

text: Kashō

text: Ninju

text: Jōgan

text: Engishiki

text: major ('eminent') shrines

text: Tengyō

text: Heian-kyō

text: see above

text: myōjin

text: Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba

text: Jōwa

text: Jōhō

text: Watatsumi

text: Azumi clan

text: Edo period

text: Nigihayahi-no-Mikoto

text: see above

text: Suwa clan

text: see above

text: Tatsuta Shrine

text: drought

text: typhoon

text: wind

text: water

text: see above

text: sickle

text: onbashira

text: shintai

text: Suwa shrine network

text: snake

text: dragon

text: 'Legends of Suwa Myōjin'

text: mizuchi

text: synthesis of Buddhism and Shinto

text: identified

text: bodhisattva

text: Samantabhadra

text: thousand-armed form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara

text: Buddhist temples and other edifices

text: pagoda

text: iron tower in India

text: Shingon

text: Nagarjuna

text: Vajrasattva

text: main objects of worship

text: State Shinto

text: Meiji Restoration

text: separation of Buddhism and Shinto

text: Lotus Sutra

text: god of hunting

text: hunting

text: animal sacrifice

text: Day of

text: the Rooster

text: stuffed deer heads

text: venison

text: game

text: wild boar

text: rabbit

text: Yatsugatake Mountains

text: the seventh month

text: Kamakura period

text: samurai class

text: mounted archery

text: sumo wrestling

text: falconry

text: Mahayana Buddhism

text: strict views on vegetarianism

text: the general Buddhist opposition against the taking of life

text: enlightenment

text: venison

text: chopsticks

text: god of war

text: Sakanoue no Tamuramaro

text: see above

text: Ryōjin Hishō

text: Heian period

text: shogunate

text: Hōjō clan

text: Kantō region

text: Minamoto

text: Seiwa Genji

text: Takeda clan

text: Kai Province

text: Yamanashi Prefecture

text: Takeda Shingen

text: Namo

text: helmet

text: Moreya

text: Mishaguji

text: Takemikazuchi

text: Ōkuninushi

text: Snake worship

text: Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba

text: Chino City

wikipedia_title: Songs to Make the Dust Dance on the Beams

categories: Legendary serpents,Agricultural gods,Nature gods,Japanese mythology,Shinto,Shinto kami,Japanese deities,War gods,Hunting gods,Wind deities,Sky and weather gods

paragraph: Takeminakata

paragraph: The god of Suwa Shrine is the subject of a number of different, often conflicting myths. For instance, in the "Kojiki" (720 CE) and later derivative accounts, Takeminakata appears as one of the sons of Ōkuninushi, god of Izumo and lord of Ashihara no Nakatsukuni (i.e. the land of Japan), who was forced into exile in the region of Suwa after being defeated by Takemikazuchi, an envoy sent by the gods of heaven, whereas other stories portray the god as being among other things a deity who conquered the Suwa region, an ruler of an Indian kingdom, or even a human warrior named Kōga Saburō.

paragraph: Section::::Name.

paragraph: Section::::Name.:Etymology.

paragraph: The god is named 'Takeminakata' ( "Takeminakata-no-Kami") in both the "Kojiki" and the ""Sendai Kuji Hongi"" (aka "Kujiki"). Variants of the name found in the imperially commissioned national histories and other literary sources include 'Minakatatomi' ( "Minakatomi-no-Kami" or "Minakatatomi-no-Mikoto-no-Kami") or 'Takeminakatatomi' ( "Takeminakatatomi-no-Mikoto-no-Kami").

paragraph: The name's etymology is unclear. While most commentators seem to agree that "take-" (and probably "-tomi") are honorifics, they differ in how to interpret the other components of the name. Some of the proposed solutions are as follows.

paragraph: BULLET::::- The Edo period "kokugaku" scholar Motoori Norinaga explained both "take-" (建) and "mi-" (御) as honorifics (称名 "tatae-na"), with "kata" (方) as yet another "tatae-na" meaning 'hard' or 'firm' (堅). Basil Chamberlain followed Motoori's lead and rendered the god's name as 'Brave-August-Name-Firm' in his translation of the "Kojiki".

paragraph: BULLET::::- Historian (1926) interpreted "take-", "mi-" and "-tomi" as honorifics and took "Nakata" (名方) to be a place name: Nakata District () in Awa Province (modern Ishii, Tokushima Prefecture), where Takeminatomi Shrine (多祁御奈刀弥神社) stands. Owa Iwao (1990) explains the similarity between 'Takeminakata(tomi)' and 'Takeminatomi' by proposing that the name may have been brought to Suwa by immigrants from Nakata in Awa.

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Minakata" has also been linked to the Munakata (宗像) of Kyushu. Imperial Navy colonel and amateur ethnographer (1936) interpreted Minakatatomi as originally being a goddess – citing the fact that the deities of Munakata shrine were female – that was later conflated with the male god Takeminakata.

paragraph: BULLET::::- A number of more recent scholars have theorized that "mina" most likely means "water" (水), pointing to the god originally being a water deity and/or a connection to Lake Suwa. The full name is thought to derive from a word denoting a body of water or a waterside region such as 水潟 ("minakata", 'lagoon' or 'inlet') or 水県 ("mina" 'water' + "agata" 'country(side)').

paragraph: BULLET::::- An alternative explanation for the word "-tomi" (as well as the "-tome" in 'Yasakatome', the name of this god's consort) is to link it with dialectal words for 'snake' ("tomi", "tobe", or "tōbe"), thereby seeing the name as hinting to the god being a kind of serpentine water deity ("mizuchi").

paragraph: Section::::Name.:"Suwa Daimyōjin".

paragraph: A common epithet for the god enshrined in Suwa Grand Shrine – specifically, in the Upper Shrine ("Kamisha") located southeast of Lake Suwa – since the Middle Ages is "Suwa Myōjin" () or "Suwa Daimyōjin" (), a name also applied via metonymy to the shrine itself. A variant associated with the syncretic Ryōbu Shintō sect, "Suwa (Nangū) Hosshō (Kamishimo) Daimyōjin" (諏訪(南宮)法性(上下)大明神), "Dharma-Nature "Daimyōjin" of (the Upper and Lower) Suwa ("Nangū" is uncertain: suggestions include the name being a reference to the geographical location of the Suwa "Kamisha" (Upper Shrine) on the south of Lake Suwa, it having a supposed connection to Nangū Shrine in modern Gifu Prefecture, or it deriving from 'Minakata', here understood as meaning 'south(ern)' (南方).}})," was most famously employed by Sengoku "daimyō" Takeda Shingen (a devotee of the god) on some of his war banners.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.

paragraph: While the deity of Suwa Shrine, officially named '(Take)minakata(tomi)' in the imperially-commissioned national histories of Japan, is already associated with the Takeminakata of the "Kojiki" (a son of Ōkuninushi and a deity of Izumo Province) in the "Sendai Kuji Hongi" (compiled 807-936 CE), an identification repeated and popularized by the "Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba" (1356), other myths and legends, some from within Suwa itself, give completely different accounts of the god's origin and nature.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Takeminakata of Izumo.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Takeminakata of Izumo.:Parentage.

paragraph: Takeminakata is portrayed in both the "Kojiki" and the "Sendai Kuji Hongi" as a son of earthly deity ("kunitsukami") Ōkuninushi. He is absent from the "Kojiki"s genealogy of Ōkuninushi's children, although the corresponding section in the "Kuji Hongi" reckons him as the son of one of Ōkuninushi's wives, Nunakawahime of Koshi.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Takeminakata of Izumo.:Takeminakata and Takemikazuchi.

paragraph: Takeminakata appears in the "Kojiki" and the "Kuji Hongi" in the context of Ōkuninushi's "transfer of the land" ("kuni-yuzuri") to the "amatsukami", the gods of heaven (Takamagahara).

paragraph: When the gods of Takamagahara sent Takemikazuchi and another messenger to demand that Ōkuninushi relinquish his authority over the Central Land of Reed-Plains (Ashihara no Nakatsukuni) to the progeny of the sun goddess Amaterasu, he asked to confer with two sons of his first before giving his decision. While the first son, Kotoshironushi, immediately accepted their demands and advised his father to do likewise, the second, Takeminakata, carrying an enormous rock (千引之石 "chibiki no ishi", i.e. a boulder so large it would take a thousand men to pull) on the fingertips of one hand, challenged Takemikazuchi to a test of strength, grabbing the messenger's arm.

paragraph: Upon having his arm seized by Takeminakata, Takemikazuchi transformed it into an icicle and then a sword blade, preventing Takeminakata from holding onto it. In return, Takemikazuchi grasped Takeminakata's arm, crushing it like a reed and throwing it (or him) aside. The injured Takeminakata then fled in fear, pursued by the heavenly messenger. Upon arriving at "the sea of Suwa in the province of Shinano" (科野国州羽海), Takeminakata begged for his life, vowing not to leave Shinano at any pretext.

paragraph: With Takeminakata's surrender, Ōkuninushi finally agreed to cede the land to the heavenly deities.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Takeminakata of Izumo.:Variants.

paragraph: The opening section of the "Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba" gives a summary of the "Kuji Hongi" version of this story, notably omitting any mention of Takeminakata's defeat under Takemikazuchi.

paragraph: Amaterasu-Ōmikami gave a decree and sent two gods, Futsunushi-no-Kami (of Katori Shrine in Sōshū) and Takeikatsuchi-no-Kami (of Kashima Shrine in Jōshū), down to the land of Izumo, where they declared to Ōanamuchi (of Kitsuki in Unshū [and] Miwa in Washū), "The Central Land of Reed-Plains is the land entrusted to our heir. Are you willing to give it up to the heavenly deities?"

paragraph: Ōanamuchi said, "Ask my son, Kotoshironushi-no-Kami (of Nagata Shrine in Sesshū; eighth [patron deity of] the Jingi-kan); he will give you an answer."

paragraph: Kotoshironushi-no-Kami said, "My father ought respectfully to withdraw, nor will I disobey."

paragraph: [The messengers said,] "Do you have any other sons who ought to speak?"

paragraph: "There is also my son, Takeminakata-no-Kami (of Suwa Shrine)."

paragraph: [He] came, bearing a boulder that would take a thousand men to pull ("chibiki no ishi") on his fingertips, saying, "Who is this that has come to our land, talking so furtively? I wish to challenge you to a test of strength."

paragraph: When he took his hand, it turned into an icicle, and then it turned into a sword blade. Upon arriving at the sea of Suwa in the land of Shinano, Takeminakata-no-Kami said, "I will go to no other place but this," etc. This is the origin story of this shrine's manifestation (当社垂迹の本縁 "tōsha suijaku no hon'en").

paragraph: Variants in the story exist in other texts as well as in folk legends. In one late retelling of the story, Takeminakata goes to Suwa to pacify the land under the orders of his father Ōkuninushi.

paragraph: A number of folktales place Takeminakata in different locations throughout Nagano Province. One story from Shimoina District claims that Takemikazuchi caught up with the fleeing Takeminakata in the modern village of Toyooka, at which they both agreed to cease hostilities. The two then left imprints of their hands on a rock as a sign of their agreement. The rock, bearing the gods' supposed handprints ("tegata"), is found in Otegata Shrine (御手形神社) in Toyooka. After Takemikazuchi's departure, Takeminakata temporarily resided in the neighboring village of Ōshika, hunting deer in the mountains, before making his way northward to Suwa. While there, he is reputed to have discovered the saltwater hot springs Ōshika is known for.

paragraph: The contest between Takemikazuchi and Takeminakata has also sometimes been interpreted as an origin myth for sumo wrestling.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Arrival in Suwa.

paragraph: Both the official records of the central Yamato government and local myths agree in portraying the god of Suwa as an interloper into the region. Stories of how Takeminakata (Suwa Myōjin) arrived in Suwa and established himself therein are related below.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Arrival in Suwa.:Moreya.

paragraph: A myth from the Suwa area portrays Suwa Myōjin as being opposed during his advent by the local god Moreya (Moriya).

paragraph: A document supposedly penned by Suwa Nobushige (then high priest or "Ōhōri" (大祝) of the Upper Shrine of Suwa) in 1249 relates a story from "the ancient customs" (舊貫) that the Suwa deity came down from heaven in order to take possession of the land of 'Moriya Daijin' (守屋大臣). The conflict between the two escalated into a battle, but as no winner could be declared, the two finally compete in a tug of war using hooks ("kagi"): Suwa Myōjin, using a hook made out of the wisteria plant (藤鎰), emerges victorious against Moriya, who used an iron hook (鐵鎰). After his victory, the god built his dwelling (what would become the Upper Shrine) in Moriya's land and planted the wisteria hook, which became a grove known as the 'Forest of Fujisuwa' (藤諏訪之森 "Fujisuwa no mori").

paragraph: The "Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba" relates a variant of this myth as an origin story of Fujishima Shrine in Suwa City, one of the Upper Shrine's auxiliary shrines where its yearly rice-planting ceremony is traditionally held. In this version, the god of Suwa defeats "Moriya the evil outlaw" using a wisteria branch:

paragraph: As for this so-called Fujishima no Myōjin (藤島明神): long ago, when the revered deity (尊神 "sonshin") manifested himself, Moriya the evil outlaw (洩矢の惡賊) sought to hinder the god's stay and fought him with an iron ring (鐵輪), but the "Myōjin", taking up a wisteria branch (藤の枝), defeated him, thus finally subduing heresy (邪輪 "jarin", lit. "wheel/circle/ring of evil") and establishing the true Dharma. When the Myōjin swore an oath and threw the wisteria branch away, immediately it took root [in the ground], its branches and leaves flourishing in abundance, and [sprouted] beautiful blossoms, leaving behind a marker of the battleground for posterity. 'Fujishima no Myōjin' is named thus for this reason.Two extant medieval genealogies of the Suwa (Miwa) clan also begin by recounting the legend of a battle between Suwa Myōjin and 'Moriya' (守屋) during the reign of Emperor Yōmei (585-587).

paragraph: The "Suwa Daimyojin Kōshiki" integrates this story into the legend of the king of Hadai (see below) by portraying Moriya as an incarnation of Bikyō, the rebel who raised up an army against the king in India (cf. the version in the "Monoimi no rei", wherein the king is opposed by a rebel named 'Moriya').

paragraph: In later versions of this story which combine it with the "kuni-yuzuri" myth, Moreya opposes Takeminakata after the latter had fled from Izumo. After being defeated, Moreya swears fealty to Takeminakata and becomes a faithful ally. Moreya is reckoned as the divine ancestor of the Moriya (守矢) clan, one of the former priestly lineages of the Upper Shrine.

paragraph: While earlier sources such as Nobushige's petition and the "Ekotoba" situate the battle between the two gods somewhere in the vicinity of the Upper Shrine (modern Suwa City), modern retellings instead place it on the banks of the Tenryū River (modern Okaya City).

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Arrival in Suwa.:Yatsukao (Ganigawara).

paragraph: Another god that is said to have opposed Suwa Myōjin and his new ally Moreya in local folklore was Yatsukao-no-Mikoto (矢塚男命), also known as Ganigawara (蟹河原長者 "Ganigawara-chōja").

paragraph: After Moreya's defeat, Ganigawara held Moreya in contempt for surrendering to Takeminakata and had messengers publicly harass him by calling him a coward. When Ganigawara's servants began to resort to violence, Takeminakata retaliated by invading Ganigawara's turf. Mortally wounded by an arrow in the ensuing battle, Ganigawara begs forgiveness from Moreya and entrusts his youngest daughter to Takeminakata, who gives her in marriage to the god Taokihooi-no-Mikoto (手置帆負命) a.k.a. Hikosachi-no-Kami (彦狭知神), who was injured by Ganigawara's messengers as he was keeping watch over Takeminakata's abode.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Arrival in Suwa.:Other deities.

paragraph: A few scattered local legends make reference to other deities who either submitted to the Suwa deity or refused to do so.

paragraph: In one legend, a god named Takei-Ōtomonushi (武居大伴主 or 武居大友主) swore allegiance to Suwa Myōjin and became the ancestor of a line of priests in the Lower Shrine known as the "Takeihōri" (武居祝). Another story relates that the Suwa deity forbade the goddess of Sakinomiya Shrine in Owa, Suwa City from building a bridge over the creek before her shrine as punishment for her refusal to submit to him.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:The "Ōhōri" and the Suwa deity.

paragraph: Before the abolition of the Suwa Grand Shrine's traditional priestly offices during the Meiji period, the Upper Shrine of Suwa's high priest or "Ōhōri" (大祝 'great priest'; also "Ōhafuri") was a young boy chosen from the Suwa clan, who was, during his term of office, considered to be a living god, the visible incarnation or 'body' of the unseen Suwa deity.

paragraph: The legend of how Suwa Myōjin chose his first priest is recounted in various sources, such as the "Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba":

paragraph: At the beginning of the god's manifestation, he took off his robe, put them on an eight-year-old boy, and dubbed him 'great priest' ("Ōhōri"). The god declared, "I do not have a body and so make this priest ("hōri") my body."

paragraph: This [boy] is Arikazu (有員), the priest of the sacred robe (御衣祝 "Misogihōri"), the founding ancestor of the Miwa/Jin (神, i.e. Suwa) clan.

paragraph: Although most sources (such as the "Ekotoba" above) identify the boy with the semi-legendary priest Arikazu, who is said to have lived during the reign of Emperor Kanmu (781-806) or his immediate successors Heizei (806-809) or Saga (809-823), two recently discovered genealogical lists - of disputed historical reliability - instead identify the first priest with Otoei (乙頴) or Kumako (神子 or 熊古), a son of Mase-gimi (麻背君) or Iotari (五百足), head of the Kanesashi (金刺, also 'Kanasashi') clan and "kuni no miyatsuko" of Shinano Province during the late 6th century.

paragraph: One of these two texts is a genealogy of the Aso (阿蘇) clan of Aso Shrine in Kyushu known as the 異本阿蘇氏系図 ("Ihon Asoshi Keizu"). It reads in part:

paragraph: Otoei ("Ōhōri" of the great god of Suwa): also known as Kumako (神子) or Kumako (熊古).

paragraph: When he was eight years old, the great god Minakatatomi-no-Mikoto appeared, took off his robe and put them on Kumako, declaring, "I do not have a body and so make you my body." In the third month of the second year of Iware Ikebe no Ōmiya (587), a sanctuary (社壇) was built at the foot of the mountain at the southern side of the lake (i.e. Lake Suwa) to worship the great god of Suwa and various other gods ...

paragraph: The other is the "Ōhōri-ke Jinshi Keizu" (大祝家神氏系図), a genealogy of the Suwa clan discovered in the "Ōhōri"'s residence in 1884 (Meiji 17). It portrays Arikazu as a descendant of Kumako, the priest chosen by the deity (identified here as Takeminakata of Izumo):

paragraph: When Kumako was eight years old, the revered deity appeared, took off his robe and put them on Kumako. After declaring, "I do not have a body and so make you my body," he disappeared. This [Kumako] is the ancestor of Arikazu of the Miwa/Jin (Suwa) clan, the "Misogihōri". In the second year of Emperor Yōmei, Kumako built a sanctuary at the foot of the mountain at the southern side of the lake.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:The "Ōhōri" and the Suwa deity.:As a god from heaven.

paragraph: Whereas the "Kojiki" portrays Takeminakata as an earthly god defeated by a deity from heaven, a myth from Suwa itself features the exact opposite scenario, in which Takeminakata / Suwa Myōjin is the heavenly deity who descends and conquers the land below.

paragraph: A petition (解状 "gejō") submitted to the Kamakura shogunate in 1249 by Suwa Nobushige, then high priest of the Upper Shrine, recounts an origin myth of the Upper Shrine wherein the Suwa deity - here unnamed - is portrayed as coming down from the heavens to wrest control of the land of Suwa from 'Moriya Daijin'.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:The "Ōhōri" and the Suwa deity.:As an Indian king.

paragraph: A medieval Buddhist legend portrays Suwa Myōjin as a king from India who later achieved enlightenment and went to Japan to become a native "kami".

paragraph: A short text attached to an ordinance regulating the Upper Shrine's ritual purity taboos (物忌み "monoimi") originally enforced in 1238 and revised in 1317, the "Suwa Kamisha monoimi no rei no koto" (諏訪上社物忌令之事), relates that the Suwa deity, 'Takeminakata Myōjin' (武御名方明神), was originally the ruler of a certain Indian kingdom called 'Hadai' (波堤国 "Hadai-koku") who survived an insurrection instigated by the rebel Moriya (守屋 or 守洩) during the king's absence while the latter was out hunting deer. After going to Persia to rescue its inhabitants from an evil dragon, the king ruled over it for some time as 'Emperor Suwa' (陬波皇帝 "Suwa Kōtei") before retiring to "cultivate the seedling of virtue and realize the Buddhist path." He eventually manifested in Japan, appearing in various places before finally choosing to dwell in Suwa.

paragraph: The "Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba" relates a slightly different, fuller version of the first half of this story as an origin myth for the Upper Shrine's hunting ceremony held every seventh month of the year at Misayama (御射山) on the slopes of the Yatsugatake Mountains:

paragraph: If one should inquire about the origins (因縁 "in'en", lit. 'causes and conditions') of this hunt: long ago, the Daimyōjin was the king of the land of Hadai in India who went out to hunt at Deer Park from the twenty-seventh to the thirtieth day of the seventh month. At that time, a traitorous vassal named Bikyō (美教) suddenly organized an army and sought to kill the king. The king, ringing a golden bell, looked up to heaven and shouted eight times: "I am now about to be killed by this rebel. I have hunted animals, not for my own enjoyment, but in order to lead them to the Buddhist path. If this my action is in accordance with Heaven's will, may Brahmā save me."

paragraph: Brahmā then saw this and commanded the four great deva-kings to wield vajra-poles and destroy the army. It is said that the Misayama (三齋山) of today reflects that event. ... One should know, therefore, that the deity's compassionate hunting is an expedient means for the salvation of creatures.

paragraph: Regarding the Upper Shrine's hunting rituals, the "Monoimi no rei" asserts that

paragraph: [The shrine's] hunts began in the deer park of Hadai-no-kuni [in India]. [The use of] hawks began in Magada-no-kuni.

paragraph: The second half of the legend (the slaying of the dragon in Persia and the king's migration to Japan) is used by the "Ekotoba"'s compiler, Suwa Enchū, in a liturgical text, the "Suwa Daimyōjin Kōshiki" (諏方大明神講式), where it is introduced as an alternative, if somewhat less credible, account of the Suwa deity's origins (in comparison to the myth of Takeminakata of Izumo as found in the "Kuji Hongi", touted by the same text as the authoritative origin story of the god) that nevertheless should not be suppressed.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:The "Ōhōri" and the Suwa deity.:As an Indian king.:Ancestry.

paragraph: The "Suwa Daimyōjin Kōshiki" claims the king of Hadai to be a great-great-grandson of King Siṃhahanu (獅子頬王 "Shishikyō-ō"), Gautama Buddha's grandfather.

paragraph: A similar account appears in a work known as the "Suwa Jinja Engi" (諏訪神社縁起) or "Suwa Shintō Engi" (諏訪神道縁起), wherein the Suwa deity is identified as the son of Kibonnō (貴飯王), the son of Amṛtodana (甘呂飯王 "Kanrobonnō"), one of Siṃhahanu's four sons. The Lower Shrine's goddess, meanwhile, is the daughter of Prasenajit (波斯匿王 "Hashinoku-ō"), claimed here to be the son of Dronodana (黒飯王 "Kokubonnō"), another son of Siṃhananu.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:The "Ōhōri" and the Suwa deity.:As an Indian king.:The "Suwa Mishirushibumi".

paragraph: During the Misayama festival as performed during the medieval period, the "Ōhōri" recited a ritual declaration supposedly composed by the Suwa deity himself known as the "Suwa Mishirushibumi" (陬波御記文), which begins:

paragraph: I, Great King Suwa (陬波大王), have hidden my person during [the year/month/day of] the Yang Wood Horse (甲午 "kinoe-uma").

paragraph: [The name] 'Suwa' (陬波) and [the sign] Yang Wood Horse [and] the seal (印文) - these three are all one and the same.

paragraph: Within the text, King Suwa (i.e. Suwa Myōjin) declares the "Ōhōri" to be his 'true body' (真神体 "shin no shintai") and the Misayama (三斎山) hunting grounds below Yatsugatake (here likened to Vulture Peak in India) to be another manifestation of himself that cleanses (斎) the three (三) evils: evil thoughts, evil speech and evil actions. He promises that whoever sets foot at Misayama will not fall into the lower, evil realms of existence (悪趣 "akushu"); conversely, the god condemns and disowns whoever defiles this place by cutting down its trees or digging out the soil.

paragraph: A commentary on the "Mishirushibumi", the "Suwa Shichū" (陬波私注 "Personal Notes on the "Suwa Mishirusibumi"," written 1313-1314), elaborates on the text by retelling the legend of Suwa Myōjin's consecration of his first priest:

paragraph: The Daimyōjin was born during [the year/month/day of] the Yang Wood Horse and disappeared during [the year/month/day of] the Yang Wood Horse.

paragraph: Sokutan Daijin (続旦大臣) was the Daimyōjin's uncle who accompanied him from India. When the Daimyōjin was to disappear, he took off his garments, put them on the Daijin, and dubbed him the "Misogihōri" (御衣木法理). He then pronounced a vow: "You shall consider this priest to be my body."

paragraph: The same text identifies the god's uncle Sokutan Daijin with Arikazu.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:The "Ōhōri" and the Suwa deity.:As Kōga Saburō.

paragraph: A popular story promulgated by wandering preachers associated with the shrines of Suwa during the medieval period claimed the Suwa deity to have originally been a man who temporarily became a dragon or a snake after a journey into the underworld. Many variants on the basic story exist; the following summary is based on the earliest literary version of the tale found in the "Shintōshū".

paragraph: The third son of a local landlord of Kōka District in Ōmi Province, a distinguished warrior named Kōga Saburō Yorikata (甲賀三郎諏方) was searching for his lost wife, Princess Kasuga (春日姫 "Kasuga-hime") in a cave in Mount Tateshina in Shinano, with his two elder brothers. The second brother, who was jealous of Saburō's prowess and fame and who coveted Kasuga, traps the latter inside the cave after they had rescued the princess.

paragraph: With no way out, Saburō has no other choice but to go deeper into the cave, which was actually an entrance to various underground realms filled with many wonders. After travelling through these subterranean lands for a long period of time, he finally finds his way back to the surface, only to find himself transformed into a giant snake or dragon. With the help of Buddhist monks (who turn out to be gods in disguise), Saburō regains his human form and is finally reunited with his wife. Saburō eventually becomes Suwa Myōjin, the god of the Upper Shrine of Suwa, while his wife becomes the goddess of the Lower Shrine.

paragraph: This version of the legend explains the origin of the name 'Suwa' (諏訪 or 諏方) via folk etymology as being derived from Saburō's personal name, Yorikata (諏方).

paragraph: It has been proposed that the Kōga Saburō legend arose as a result of the collapse of the Kamakura shogunate and the downfall of the Hōjō clan, which the Suwa clan had faithfully served as retainers. The status and prestige of the "Ōhōri" having been diminished in the aftermath of these events, localized stories about Suwa Myōjin such as that of Kōga Saburō began to circulate among devotees of the Suwa cult.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Subduing the toad god.

paragraph: Two texts, the "Monoimi no rei" and the "Suwa Shichū" (陬波私注 "Personal Notes on the "Suwa Mishirusibumi"," written 1313-1314), mention an oral legend about Suwa Myōjin pacifying the waves of the four seas by subduing an unruly and savage toad god (蝦蟆神). After defeating the toad, Suwa Myōjin then blocked the way to its dwelling - a hole leading to the underwater palace of the dragon god of the sea, the Ryūgū-jō - with a rock and sat on it (御座石 "Goza-ishi" or 石(之)御座 "ishi no goza" "stone seat").

paragraph: This story functions as an etiological legend for the annual sacrifice of frogs held every New Year's Day in the Suwa "Kamisha" (see below) as well as yet another folk etymology for the toponym 'Suwa', here explained as deriving from a term for a wave lapping onto the sea's edge (陬波 "namishizuka").

paragraph: The portrayal of Suwa Myōjin's enemy as a toad or a frog also hints at Suwa Myōjin's character as a serpentine water god, frogs being preyed upon by snakes. (As a point of comparison, the obscure snake god Ugajin was also credited with defeating a malevolent frog deity.) The toad god itself has been interpreted either as representing the native deities Mishaguji and/or Moreya, with its defeat symbolizing the victory of the cult of Suwa Myōjin over the indigenous belief system, or as a symbol of the Buddhist concept of the three poisons (ignorance, greed, and hatred), which Suwa Myōjin, as an incarnation of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, his esoteric aspect Vajrasattva and the Wisdom King Trailokyavijaya (interpreted as a form of Vajrasattva), is said to destroy.

paragraph: The current whereabouts of the "Goza-ishi" is unclear. The "Monoimi no rei" claims it to have been located "within the "Shōmen"" (正面之内ニ在リ, i.e. the 'upper plateau' (上壇 "jōdan") of the "Kamisha Honmiya" where the inner sanctum is) and reckons it as one of seven sacred stones or rocks (七石 "nana-ishi") associated with the shrine. While three of the seven stones are indeed located within the "Kamisha Honmiya" - the "Suzuri-ishi" (硯石), the "(O)kutsu-ishi" (御沓石), and the "Kaeru-ishi" (蛙石) or "Kabuto-ishi" (甲石) - none of these are currently referred to as "Goza-ishi". Nevertheless, attempts have been made to identify the "Goza-ishi" with any one of these three rocks.

paragraph: Hara (2012) proposes the "Goza-ishi" to have been the same rock as the "Kaeru-ishi" / "Kabuto-ishi" (the precise location of which is itself under dispute), noting that two sources from the Edo period both claim the "Kaeru-ishi" to be beneath a stone pagoda once located in the inner sanctum known as the "Tettō" (鉄塔 "iron tower"; see below), considered before the separation of Buddhism and Shinto in the Meiji period to be the physical 'body' ("go-shintai") of the god of Suwa and the "Kamisha"'s main object of worship, and that the 18th-century traveller and ethnologist Sugae Masumi (菅江真澄, 1754-1829) reported that the frogs sacrificed during the New Year's Day ritual were offered up to an "iwakura" (磐座, a 'rock-throne' or sacred rock) in the shrine.

paragraph: Meanwhile, a map of the "Kamisha" dating to the Tenshō period (1573-1592) depicts a rock labelled "Goza-ishi" located beside the Tenryūsui-sha (天流水舎), a building with a hole or pipe in its roof meant to collect the three drops of water said to miraculously trickle into it everyday no matter the weather. One author has interpreted this to mean that the "Goza-ishi" was moved outside the inner sanctum once Buddhism became more firmly entrenched in the shrine and "iwakura" worship became less important. However, no such rock currently exists beside the edifice.

paragraph: Outside of the "Kamisha", Goza-ishi Shrine (御座石神社, also "Gozansho") in the city of Chino, Nagano houses a stone which is sometimes identified with the elusive "Goza-ishi". Kanai (1982) meanwhile believed the "Goza-ishi" to originally refer to a large boulder in the artificial Lake Shirakaba (), a former wetland at the foot of Mount Tateshina, underneath which a cavern containing ancient pottery and stoneware - interpreted by Kanai to be ritual goods and a sign that the area once had religious significance - was discovered when a levee breach drained the lake in 1954.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:Travel to Izumo.

paragraph: According to a local folktale, Suwa Myōjin is one of the very few "kami" in Japan who do not leave their shrines during the month of Kannazuki, when most gods are thought to gather at Izumo Province and thus are absent from most of the country.

paragraph: The folktale relates that Suwa Myōjin once came to Izumo in the form of a dragon so gigantic that only his head can be seen; his tail was still at Suwa, caught in a tall pine tree by the shores of the lake. The other gods, upon seeing him, were so astounded and frightened at his enormous size that they exempted him from attending their yearly meetings. The supposed tree where the dragon's tail was caught (currently reduced to a stump) is locally known as "Okakematsu" ().

paragraph: A variant of this story transposes the setting from Izumo to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto; in this version, the various "kami" are said to travel to the ancient capital every New Year's Day to greet the emperor.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:"Omiwatari".

paragraph: Cracks and ridges that form on a frozen Lake Suwa during cold winters have traditionally been interpreted as the trail left behind by Suwa Myōjin as he leaves the "Kamisha" and crosses the lake to meet his wife enshrined on the "Shimosha" on the opposite (northern) shore. Called "Omiwatari" (御神渡 'the god's crossing' or 'the god's pathway'), the cracks were considered to be a good omen for the coming year. The priests of the Grand Shrine of Suwa traditionally used the crack's appearance to divine the quality of the year's harvest. For the locals, the crack also served as a sign that the frozen lake was safe to walk upon. Conversely, the "omiwatari"'s failure to appear at all (明海 "ake no umi") or the cracks forming in an unusual way were held to be a sign of bad luck for the year.

paragraph: Since the late 20th century, the "omiwatari" has become a much rarer sight than it was in the past due to rising temperatures caused by global warming.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:As god of war.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:As god of war.:Apparition to Sakanoue no Tamuramaro.

paragraph: The association of Suwa Myōjin with warfare and hunting is most apparent in another legend about his apparition to the general Sakanoue no Tamuramaro during the latter's campaign to subjugate the Emishi of northeastern Japan. The following summary is based on the version found in the "Ekotoba".

paragraph: During the reign of Emperor Kanmu, an Emishi chief named Abe no Takamaru (安倍高丸) staged a rebellion against the imperial court. The emperor, in response, appointed Sakanoue no Tamuramaro as "Sei-i Taishōgun", sending him to Ōshū to quell the Emishi threat. Knowing that Takamaru cannot be defeated without divine aid, Tamuramaro prays to Suwa Myōjin for victory. As he and his troops were passing by the Ina and Suwa districts of Shinano Province, a warrior riding a dapple horse – Suwa Myōjin in disguise – joins their company.

paragraph: Upon arriving at Takamaru's impregnable stronghold by the sea, the horseman from Shinano miraculously splits into five identical mounted warriors (the manifestations of Suwa Myōjin's thirteen divine children), while twenty men dressed in yellow (the god's attendants) appear from out of nowhere. The horsemen and the men in yellow then begin to hold a "yabusame" (mounted archery) competition over the surface of the sea, which succeeds in luring Takamaru out of hiding. The horseman then blinds Takamaru with his last remaining arrow as the twenty men in yellow proceed to capture and behead him, mounting his head onto a spear.

paragraph: On the return journey, the warrior's horse suddenly rises into the air as the rider assumes the aspect of a deity attired in court dress. He then announces to the company his true identity as the god of Suwa and his love of hunting. Tamuramaro questions why the god revels in such an activity that involves taking the lives of sentient beings, to which Suwa Myōjin gives an explanation to the effect that being hunted and killed actually helps sinful and ignorant animals to reach enlightenment. He then bequeaths to Tamuramaro a written dhāraṇī - probably a reference to the "Suwa Mishirushibumi" - and finally disappears. In accordance with Suwa Myōjin's request, Tamuramaro then petitions the court to institute the religious festivals of the shrines of Suwa.

paragraph: Section::::Suwa Myōjin in mythology.:As god of war.:Repelling the Mongol invasions.

paragraph: Suwa Myōjin has also been credited with repelling the attempted Mongol invasions of Japan under Kublai Khan.

paragraph: The "Taiheiki" recounts a story where a five-colored cloud resembling a serpent (a manifestation of Suwa Myōjin) rose up from Lake Suwa and spread away westward to assist the Japanese army against the Mongols. The "Ekotoba" recounts a similar anecdote about Suwa Myōjin appearing as a great dragon riding on a cloud in the summer of 1279 (Kōan 2).

paragraph: Section::::Analysis.

paragraph: Section::::Analysis.:Takeminakata's absence in other Izumo-related contexts.

paragraph: Takeminakata's rather abrupt appearance in the "Kojiki"'s version of the "kuni-yuzuri" myth has long puzzled scholars, as the god is mentioned nowhere else in the work, including the genealogy of Ōkuninushi's progeny that precedes the "kuni-yuzuri" narrative proper. Aside from the parallel account contained in the "Kuji Hongi" (which was itself based on the "Kojiki"'s), he is altogether absent from the "Nihon Shoki"'s version of the myth. In addition to this, early sources from Izumo such as the province's "Fudoki" also fail to mention any god named '(Take)minakata'; neither is there any trace of such a deity being worshipped in Izumo in antiquity.

paragraph: Pre-modern authors such as Motoori Norinaga tended to explain Takeminakata's absence outside of the "Kojiki" and the "Kuji Hongi" by conflating the god with certain obscure deities found in other sources thought to share certain similar characteristics (e.g. Isetsuhiko). While some modern scholars still suppose some kind of connection between the deity and Izumo by postulating that Takeminakata's origins lie either in peoples that migrated from Izumo northwards to Suwa and the Hokuriku region or in Hokuriku itself (a region once under Izumo's sphere of influence), specifically in Echigo Province (modern Niigata Prefecture), others, in light of the aforementioned silence, think it more likely that the connection between Takeminakata and Izumo was an artificial construct by the "Kojiki"'s compilers.

paragraph: Section::::Analysis.:The Yamato state's expansion into Suwa.

paragraph: Yamato rule is thought to have entered Suwa from the south (the modern districts of Kamiina and Shimoina) somewhere around the latter half of the 6th century. The appearance of corridor-type (横穴式石室 "yokoana-shiki sekishitsu") "kofun" in the region, markedly different from the mounds (thought to be the tombs of influential local priest-chiefs) built on the southern side of Lake Suwa - the site of the Suwa "Kamisha" - during the 5th-6th centuries, which were characterized by ditches surrounding the burial area, are taken to be the signs of the expansion of the Yamato state in the region.

paragraph: The "Kuji Hongi" mentions a grandson (or descendant) of Kamuyaimimi-no-Mikoto (a son of Emperor Jimmu), Takeiotatsu-no-Mikoto, (建五百建命) who was appointed the governor or "kuni no miyatsuko" of Shinano (科野国造) during the reign of Emperor Sujin (traditionally dated to the 1st century BCE but most likely somewhere around the 4th century CE).

paragraph: The "Ihon Aso-shi keizu", of disputed historicity, (see above) claims that Takeiotatsu's descendant, Kaneyumi-no-kimi (金弓君), served as "toneri" (舎人, attendant or palace guard) of the Emperor Kinmei (reigned 539-571) in his palace, the Kanasashi-no-miya (金刺宮) in modern-day Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture, receiving the "kabane" "atai" (直) from said emperor. One of Kaneyumi's sons, Mase-gimi (麻背君), who became the "kuni no miyatsuko" of Shinano (reestablished for the first time in a few generations), had two sons: the first, Kuratari (倉足), was appointed the administrator ("kōri no kami"/"hyōtoku") of Suwa district (諏訪評督), while the second, Otoei or Kumako (see above), became the priest or "ōhōri" of the god of Suwa (諏訪大神大祝).

paragraph: Section::::Analysis.:Turnover of authority.

paragraph: The Suwa region during the late Yayoi period was thought to have been originally populated by autonomous village communities, the chiefs of which also functioned as the ritual heads of their respective communities. These villages were eventually united under a single leader who governed the religious practices of these communities, which were centered around the worship of the god(s) Mishaguji, spirits that were thought to descend upon and inhabit natural objects like trees or rocks and function as life-giving guardians of local communities.

paragraph: The legend of the battle between the god Moreya and Suwa Myōjin (see above) may suggest that the advent of Yamato rule in Suwa during the late 6th century was initially met with resistance, especially on the southern side of Lake Suwa, the stronghold of the indigenous Mishaguji cult. This intransigence was ultimately quelled, and politico-religious rule over the region was soon turned over from an indigenous lineage of priest-chiefs, what would later become known as the Moriya clan (守矢氏), to Yamato-appointed authorities.

paragraph: It was probably around this time that the shamanistic concept of the "misogi-hōri"/"ōhōri", the physical manifestation of an invisible divinity, came into being as a way to subsume native religious practices into the Yamato belief system. The office of "ōhōri" was probably meant to rival that of the "okō" (神使), a young boy (or boys) who became vessels for Mishaguji during religious rituals who later became interpreted as representatives of the "ōhōri". The priest-chieftain of the Moriya clan meanwhile was integrated into the new system as the "kan no osa"/"jinchō" (神長) or "jinchōkan" (神長官), the sole priest who could call upon Mishaguji.

paragraph: The Moriya's submission to and cooperation with the new system enabled the local Mishaguji cult to survive underneath it: while officially subservient to the "ōhōri", in reality the Moriya "jinchōkan", who presided over religious rites, continued to hold actual power while the "ōhōri" was but a symbolic figurehead. The "ōhōri"'s investiture ceremony even involved the "jinchōkan" summoning Mishaguji to enter the young candidate's body during the ritual; it is only by being possessed by Mishaguji that the candidate became a god himself.

paragraph: Section::::Analysis.:The rise of Takeminakata.

paragraph: Both the Aso and the Suwa clan genealogies refer to the foundation of a sanctuary (社壇) on the southern side of Lake Suwa (where the Suwa "Kamisha" currently stands) by Otoei/Kumako, claimed to be in both sources as the first "ōhōri", where the "great god of Suwa" (諏訪大神) and other divinities were worshipped in the third month of the second year of the Emperor Yōmei (587 CE).

paragraph: In 691 CE, the "Nihon Shoki" refers to envoys of the Yamato court going to Shinano Province to worship "the gods of Suwa and Minochi"(須波水内等神). This reference suggests that the cult of the "ōhōri" and the sanctuary at Suwa had become established and influential enough to attract attention from the Yamato imperial court.

paragraph: Just twenty years after this, the name '(Take)minakata(tomi)' - which may have originated as a name for (the deity manifest in) the "ōhōri" - appears in the historical record for the first time in the "Kojiki" (711–712 CE). Due to the absence of Takeminakata in other sources dealing with Izumo, it is thought that the god was interpolated into the "Kojiki" by its chief compiler, Ō no Yasumaro, who may have either adapted a preexisting myth or created one outright.

paragraph: Scholars believe various factors were at play for Takeminakata's introduction in the "Kojiki"'s narrative - one being that Yasumaro's clan, the Ō (太氏; also written variously as 多, 意富, or 於保), were distantly related to the clan who ruled the Suwa region, the Kanasashi-no-toneri (金刺舎人), in that both were supposedly descendants of Kamuyaimimi-no-Mikoto: Takeminakata's inclusion in the "Kojiki" was thus a means to advertise the 'new' god of the Kanasashi. Another possible reason was the special interest Emperor Tenmu (the one who commissioned both the "Kojiki" and the "Nihon Shoki") showed to Shinano: the "Nihon Shoki" speaks of Tenmu sending envoys to inspect the province "perhaps with the object of having a capital there" in the thirteenth year of his reign.

paragraph: While the "Kojiki" does not yet explicitly mention the worship of Takeminakata in Suwa, by the following century, we see the name applied to the god worshipped in what is now the Grand Shrine of Suwa: aside from the "Kuji Hongi"'s (807-936 CE) reference to Takeminakata being enshrined in 'Suwa Shrine in Suwa District' the "Shoku Nihon Kōki" mentions the deity 'Minakatatomi-no-Kami of Suwa District, Shinano Province' (信濃国諏訪郡 ... 南方刀美神) being promoted from rankless (无位) to junior fifth rank, lower grade (従五位下) by the imperial court in the year 842 CE (Jōwa 9).

paragraph: During the 850-60s, Takeminakata and his shrine rose very rapidly in rank ("Montoku Jitsuroku", "Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku"), being promoted to the rank of junior fifth, upper grade (従五位上) in 850 (Kashō 3), to junior third (従三位) in 851 (Ninju 1), to junior (従二位) and then senior second (正二位) in 859 (Jōgan 1), and finally to junior first rank (従一位) in 867 (Jōgan 9). The influence of the Kanasashi-no-toneri clan is thought to be behind the deity's sudden progress in rank.

paragraph: After a few decades, the 'Register of Deities' (神名帳 "Jinmyōchō") section of the "Engishiki" (927) speaks of the 'Minakatatomi Shrine(s)' (南方刀美神社) as enshrining two deities and being the two major ('eminent') shrines of Suwa district. By 940 (Tengyō 3), the deity had been promoted to the highest rank of senior first (正一位).

paragraph: Section::::Analysis.:Takeminakata and Suwa Myōjin.

paragraph: While the above sources (compiled by the imperial court in Heian-kyō) apply the name '(Take)minakata' to the god of Suwa Grand Shrine, within Suwa itself the god was never worshipped or referred to under that name. A testament to the enduring influence of the pre-Yamato Mishaguji belief system is the fact that many of the religious ceremonies of the Suwa "Kamisha" and surviving descriptions of said rituals feature Mishaguji as the focus of worship rather than 'Takeminakata', who never appears at all in these rites. Even local stories that feature the god of the Suwa "Kamisha" recorded in medieval texts (see above) refer to the deity in question with such generic terms as "sonshin" (尊神 'revered deity') or "myōjin" (明神 'manifest deity'). Takeminakata's portrayal in the "Kojiki" and the "Kuji Hongi" as one who suffered a humiliating defeat was apparently seen as something of an embarrassment during the Middle Ages, leading to the appearance of alternative stories which portray Suwa Myōjin's origins in a more positive light such as the Kōga Saburō legend.

paragraph: The earliest documents from within (or connected to) Suwa to explicitly call Suwa Myōjin 'Takeminakata' or identify him with the god from Izumo are the "Monoimi no rei" (1238) - which refers in passing to Suwa Myōjin's name being 'Takeminakata Myōjin' (武御名方明神) - and the "Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba" (1356), the latter creatively retelling the Izumo "kuni-yuzuri" legend as found in the "Kuji Hongi" by omitting any mention of Takeminakata being defeated. The "Ekotoba"'s popularity among a wide audience that included the priestly families of the Suwa Grand Shrine seems to have contributed to eventually cementing the identification of Suwa Myōjin with the Takeminakata of the official histories: Ōkuninushi's son who came to Suwa from Izumo.

paragraph: Section::::Consort and Offspring.

paragraph: Section::::Consort and Offspring.:Yasakatome.

paragraph: Suwa Myōjin's spouse is the goddess , most often considered to be the deity of the Lower Shrine of Suwa or the "Shimosha". Unlike the relatively well-documented Suwa "Kamisha", very little concrete information is available regarding the origins of the "Shimosha" and its goddess.

paragraph: Yasakatome's first historical attestation is in the "Shoku Nihon Kōki", where the goddess is given the rank of junior fifth, lower grade (従五位下) by the imperial court in the tenth month of Jōwa 9 (842 CE), five months after the same rank was conferred on Takeminakata. As Takeminakata rose up in rank, so did Yasakatome, so that by 867 CE, Yasakatome had been promoted to senior second (正二位). The goddess was finally promoted to senior first rank (正一位) in 1074 (Jōhō 1).

paragraph: Stories and claims about the goddess are diverse and contradictory. Regarding her parentage for instance, the lore of Kawaai Shrine (川会神社) in Kitaazumi District identifies Yasakatome as the daughter of Watatsumi, god of the sea,

paragraph: which has been seen as hinting to a connection between the goddess and the seafaring Azumi clan (). Another claim originating from sources dating from the Edo period is that Yasakatome was the daughter of Ame-no-yasakahiko (天八坂彦命), a god recorded in the "Kuji Hongi" as one of the companions of Nigihayahi-no-Mikoto when the latter came down from heaven.

paragraph: The ice cracks that appear on Lake Suwa during cold winters, the "omiwatari" (see above) are reputed in folklore to be caused by Suwa Myōjin's crossing the frozen lake to visit Yasakatome.

paragraph: Section::::Consort and Offspring.:Yasakatome.:Princess Kasuga.

paragraph: The Kōga Saburō legend identifies the goddess of the Shimosha with Saburō's wife, whose name is given in some variants of the story as 'Princess Kasuga' (春日姫 "Kasuga-hime").

paragraph: Section::::Consort and Offspring.:Children.

paragraph: In Suwa, a number of local deities are popularly considered to be the children of Suwa Myōjin and his consort. Ōta (1926) lists the following gods:

paragraph: BULLET::::- Hikokamiwake-no-Mikoto (彦神別命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Tatsuwakahime-no-Kami (多都若姫神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Taruhime-no-Kami (多留姫神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Izuhayao-no-Mikoto (伊豆早雄命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Tateshina-no-Kami (建志名神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Tsumashinahime-no-Kami (妻科姫神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ikeno'o-no-Kami (池生神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Tsumayamizuhime-no-mMikoto (都麻屋美豆姫命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Yakine-no-Mikoto (八杵命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Suwa-wakahiko-no-Mikoto (洲羽若彦命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Katakurabe-no-Mikoto (片倉辺命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Okihagi-no-Mikoto (興波岐命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Wakemizuhiko-no-Mikoto (別水彦命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Moritatsu-no-Kami (守達神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Takamori-no-kami (高杜神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Enatakemimi-no-Mikoto (恵奈武耳命)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Okutsuiwatate-no-Kami (奥津石建神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ohotsuno-no-Kami (竟富角神)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ōkunugi-no-Kami (大橡神)

paragraph: Section::::Consort and Offspring.:Claimed descendants.

paragraph: Section::::Consort and Offspring.:Claimed descendants.:Suwa clan.

paragraph: The Suwa clan who once occupied the position of head priest or "ōhōri" of the Suwa "Kamisha" traditionally considered themselves to be descendants of Suwa Myōjin/Takeminakata, although historically they are probably descended from the Kanasashi-no-toneri clan appointed by the Yamato court to govern the Suwa area in the 6th century (see above).

paragraph: Section::::Consort and Offspring.:Claimed descendants.:Other clans.

paragraph: The Suwa "ōhōri" was assisted by five priests, some of whom were also considered to be descendants of local deities related to Suwa Myōjin/Takeminakata. One clan, the Koide (小出氏), the original occupants of the offices of "negi-dayū" (禰宜大夫) and "gi-no-hōri" (擬祝), claimed descent from the god Yakine. A second clan, the Yajima (八島(嶋)氏 or 矢島氏), which served as "gon-no-hōri" (権祝), considered the god Ikeno'o to be their ancestor.

paragraph: Section::::Worship.

paragraph: Section::::Worship.:Shrines.

paragraph: As the gods of the Grand Shrine of Suwa, Suwa Myōjin/Takeminakata and Yasakatome also serve as the deities of shrines belonging to the Suwa shrine network (諏訪神社 "Suwa-jinja") all over Japan.

paragraph: Section::::Worship.:As god of wind and water.

paragraph: The "Nihon Shoki"'s record of Yamato emissaries worshipping the god of Suwa alongside the gods of Tatsuta Shrine - worshipped for their power to control and ward off wind-related disasters such as droughts and typhoons - implies that the Yamato imperial court recognized the deity as a god of wind and water during the late 7th century. One theory regarding the origin of the name '(Take)minakata' even supposes it to derive from a word denoting a body of water (水潟 "minakata"; see above).

paragraph: Snake-shaped iron sickle blades called "nagikama" (薙鎌) were traditionally used in the Suwa region to ward off strong winds, typhoons and other natural disasters; it was once customary for "nagikama" to be attached to wooden staves and placed on one corner of the rooftop of the house during the autumn typhoon season. "Nagikama" are also traditionally hammered onto the trees chosen to become the "onbashira" of the Suwa "Kamisha" and "Shimosha" some time before these are actually felled. In addition to these and other uses, the blades are also distributed to function as "shintai" for branch shrines of the Suwa shrine network.

paragraph: Section::::Worship.:Association with snakes and dragons.

paragraph: Suwa Myōjin's association with the snake or the dragon in many stories featuring the god such as the Kōga Saburō legend (see 'Legends of Suwa Myōjin' above) might be related to his being considered as a deity presiding over wind and water, due to the association of dragons with winds and the rain in Japanese belief. (See also "mizuchi".)

paragraph: Section::::Worship.:Under "shinbutsu-shūgō".

paragraph: During the Middle Ages, under the then-prevalent synthesis of Buddhism and Shinto, Suwa Myōjin was identified with the bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Fugen), with the goddess of the "Shimosha" being associated with the thousand-armed form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Senju Kannon). During the medieval period, Buddhist temples and other edifices were erected on the precincts of both shrines, including a stone pagoda called the "Tettō" (鉄塔 "iron tower") - symbolizing the legendary iron tower in India where, according to Shingon tradition, Nagarjuna was said to have received esoteric teachings from Vajrasattva (who is sometimes identified with Samantabhadra) - and a sanctuary to Samantabhadra (普賢堂 "Fugendō"), both of which served at the time as the "Kamisha"'s main objects of worship.

paragraph: With the establishment of State Shinto after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and the subsequent separation of Buddhism and Shinto, the shrine monks ("shasō") attached to Buddhist temples in the Suwa shrine complex were laicized, with Buddhist symbols and structures being either removed or destroyed; Buddhist ceremonies performed in both the "Kamisha" and the "Shimosha", such as the yearly offering of the Lotus Sutra to Suwa Myōjin (involving the placing of a copy of the sutra inside the "Tettō"), were discontinued.

paragraph: Section::::Worship.:As god of hunting.

paragraph: Suwa Myōjin is also worshipped as a god of hunting; not surprisingly, some of the "Kamisha"'s religious ceremonies traditionally involve(d) ritual hunting and/or animal sacrifice.

paragraph: For instance, the Frog Hunting Ritual (蛙狩神事 "kawazugari shinji") held every New Year's Day involves the shooting (or rather, piercing) of frogs captured from a sacred river or stream within the "Kamisha"'s precincts with miniature arrows. This ritual - which has come under harsh criticism from local activists and animal rights groups for its perceived cruelty to the frogs involved - was traditionally performed to secure peace and a bountiful harvest for the coming year.

paragraph: Another festival, the "Ontōsai" (御頭祭) or the "Tori no matsuri" (酉の祭, so called because it was formerly held on the Day of the Rooster) currently held every April 15, feature the offering of seventy-five stuffed deer heads (a substitute for freshly cut heads of deer used in the past), as well as the consumption of venison and other game such as wild boar or rabbit, various kinds of seafood and other foodstuffs by the priests and other participants in a ritual banquet.

paragraph: One of the Suwa "Kamisha"'s hunting festivals, the Misayama Festival (御射山祭), formerly held in a field - the "kōya" (神野 'the god's plain') - at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains for five days (from the 26th to the 30th of the seventh month), was one of the grandest festivals in Suwa during the Kamakura period, attracting many of the samurai class from all across Japan who engaged in displays of mounted archery, bouts of sumo wrestling and falconry as part of the festivities, as well as people from all walks of life. The "Shimosha" also held its own Misayama Festival at the same time as the "Kamisha" (albeit in a different location), in which various warrior clans also participated.

paragraph: Suwa Myōjin's association with the mountains and hunting is also evident from the description of the "ōhōri" as sitting upon a deer hide (the deer being an animal thought to be sacred to Suwa Myōjin) during the "Ontōsai" ritual as practiced during medieval times.

paragraph: Section::::Worship.:As god of hunting.:Suwa Myōjin and meat eating.

paragraph: At a time when slaughter of animals and consumption of meat was frowned upon due to Mahayana Buddhism's strict views on vegetarianism and the general Buddhist opposition against the taking of life, the cult of Suwa Myōjin was a unique feature in the Japanese religious landscape for its celebration of hunting and meat eating.

paragraph: A four-line verse attached to the Kōga Saburō legend popularly known as the "Suwa no kanmon" (諏訪の勘文) encapsulates the justification of meat eating within a Buddhist framework: by being eaten by humans and 'dwelling' inside their bodies, ignorant animals could achieve enlightenment together with their human consumers.

paragraph: The "Kamisha" produced special talismans (鹿食免 "kajiki-men" "permit to eat venison") and chopsticks (鹿食箸 "kajiki-bashi") that were held to allow the bearer to eat meat. Since it was the only one of its kind in Japan, the talisman was popular among hunters and meat eaters. These sacred licenses and chopsticks were distributed to the public both by the priests of the "Kamisha" as well as wandering preachers associated with the shrine known as "oshi" (御師), who preached the tale of Suwa Myōjin as Kōga Saburō as well as other stories concerning the god and his benefits.

paragraph: Section::::Worship.:As war god.

paragraph: Suwa Myōjin is also considered to be a god of war, one of a number of such deities in the Japanese pantheon. Besides the legend of the god's apparition to Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (see above), the "Ryōjin Hishō" compiled in 1179 (the late Heian period) also attest to the worship of the god of Suwa in the capacity of god of warfare at the time of its compilation, naming the shrine of Suwa among famous shrines to martial deities in the eastern half of the country.

paragraph: During the Kamakura period, the Suwa clan's association with the shogunate and the Hōjō clan helped further cement Suwa Myōjin's reputation as a martial deity. The shrines of Suwa and the priestly clans thereof flourished under the patronage of the Hōjō, which promoted devotion to the god as a sign of loyalty to the shogunate. Suwa branch shrines became numerous all across Japan, especially in territories held by clans devoted to the god (for instance, the Kantō region, traditional stronghold of the Minamoto (Seiwa Genji) clan).

paragraph: The Takeda clan of Kai Province (modern Yamanashi Prefecture) were devotees of Suwa Myōjin, its most famous member, the Sengoku "daimyō" Takeda Shingen being no exception. His devotion is visibly evident in some of his war banners, which bore the god's name and invocations such as "Namu Suwa Nangū Hosshō Kamishimo Daimyōjin" (南無諏方南宮法性上下大明神 'Namo Dharma-Nature "Daimyōjin" of the Suwa Upper and Lower Shrines'). The iconic horned helmet with the flowing white hair commonly associated with Shingen, popularly known as the "Suwa-hosshō" helmet (諏訪法性兜 "Suwa-hosshō-(no)-kabuto"), came to be reputed in some popular culture retellings to have been blessed by the god, guaranteeing success in battle to its wearer. Shingen also issued an order for the reinstitution of the religious rites of both the "Kamisha" and the "Shimosha" in 1565.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Moreya

paragraph: BULLET::::- Mishaguji

paragraph: BULLET::::- Takemikazuchi

paragraph: BULLET::::- Suwa taisha

paragraph: BULLET::::- Onbashira Festival

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ōkuninushi

paragraph: BULLET::::- Snake worship

paragraph: BULLET::::- Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba

paragraph: Section::::Bibliography.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Inoue, Takami (2003). "The Interaction between Buddhist and Shinto Traditions at Suwa Shrine." In

paragraph: BULLET::::- Suwa, Enchū. "Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba", in

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Official website of Suwa Grand Shrine

paragraph: BULLET::::- Official website of Moriya Shrine (洩矢神社公式HP)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum on Chino City's official website

wikidata_label: Takeminakata

wikipedia_title: Takeminakata


text:
English
Bristol
Giovanni Battista Belzoni
strongman
Abu Simbel temples
Aswan
Luxor
ophthalmia
Benin
Jersey

categories: People from Bristol,1783 births,1870 deaths

paragraph: Sarah Belzoni

paragraph: Sarah Belzoni or Sarah Banne (January 1783 – 12 January 1870) was an English traveller and writer. She travelled notably to Egypt and wrote about women there.

paragraph: Section::::Life.

paragraph: Sarah Banne was born in January 1783 in Bristol. She met Giovanni Battista Belzoni and in 1812 the pair employed the Irishman, James Curtin, as a servant. In 1813 she married Belzoni and they travelled around England where her husband, who was exceptionally tall, was working as a circus strongman. In 1815 the couple travelled to Egypt.

paragraph: Section::::Egypt.

paragraph: In Egypt the two of them lived sometimes in boats and at other times in temples. Her husband would leave her alone for period of weeks or months and she would be left to speak with the local women around her in whatever language they spoke. She spent this time documenting the lives of the local women, eventually publishing "Mrs. Belzoni's trifling account of the women of Egypt, Nubia, and Syria" as part of her husband's 1820 work "Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries … in Egypt and Nubia". Her work was the first of its kind on the topic.

paragraph: In 1816, Sarah visited the chief's women at the Abu Simbel temples near Aswan. She noted that although the chief treated his women poorly, she was treated well. In her account, she noted detail of the women's lives from their possessions to their relationships. The couple returned to Luxor, where Belzoni left Sarah in an Arab house, unable to speak the language and without an interpreter. The village women crowded to look at her, going on to help her through an attack of ophthalmia.

paragraph: In 1818, Sarah and Belzoni went to Jerusalem, joining the Jordan pilgrimage in May. She was fiercely independent of other European travellers, concerned that they would take credit for her actions. She was determined to enter a Muslim temple, so dressed as a man to avoid suspicion.

paragraph: Section::::Later life.

paragraph: While on an expedition in Benin in 1823, her husband died, leaving her in a difficult financial situation. She put on an exhibition of their tomb work at 28 Leicester Square, London in 1825, but it was not successful and failed to alleviate her monetary difficulties. She had to sell the haul and was left without an income. After a long campaign, her supporters eventually secured a £100 a year pension for her by 1851.

paragraph: Belzoni died in Jersey on 12 January 1870, and was buried there, with a simple gravestone.

wikidata_label: Sarah Belzoni

wikipedia_title: Sarah Belzoni


text: nobility

text: Wars of the Roses

text: William, Lord FitzHugh

text: John de Greystoke, 4th Baron Greystoke

text: Greystoke Castle

text: Cumberland

text: the king's

text: Margaret d'Anjou

text: duke of Suffolk's

text: indenture

text: Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury

text: Richard of York

text: the duke of Somerset

text: Richard, Duke of York

text: parliament

text: Protector

text: Oyer and Terminer

text: Percy adherents

text: between the Percies and the Nevilles.

text: Yorkist government

text: raise troops

text: Yorkshire

text: Lancashire

text: Salisbury and York at Ludlow

text: Calais

text: Ireland

text: fealty

text: Parliament of Devils

text: attainted

text: the king

text: Battle of Wakefield

text: Second Battle of St Albans

text: Battle of Towton

text: Edward IV of England

text: fourth Baron FitzHugh

text: Sir Gilbert Talbot of Grafton, KG

text: lord of the manor

text: Grafton Manor

text: Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent

text: Elizabeth, 6th Baroness Greystoke

text: Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre

categories: People of the Wars of the Roses,People from Cumberland,1414 births,1487 deaths,15th-century English people

paragraph: Ralph Greystoke, 5th Baron Greystoke

paragraph: Ralph Greystoke, 5th Baron Greystoke (–1 June 1487) was a member of the English nobility in the early 15th century, and a protagonist during the Wars of the Roses in the north. By his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of William, Lord FitzHugh he formalized the long-standing alliance that had existed between the two families for some time.

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: Ralph was the eldest son of John de Greystoke, 4th Baron Greystoke by his second wife, Elizabeth Ferrers, daughter of Robert Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Wem. At age 22, he succeeded his father in the barony after the latter's death in 1436.

paragraph: A resident of Greystoke Castle in Cumberland, he was frequently called upon to the king's service in matters concerning the English-Scotland border. He was summoned to parliament in 1436, 1439, 1441, and 1485.

paragraph: In 1444, Greystoke escorted the king's new bride, Margaret d'Anjou back to England, as part of the duke of Suffolk's embassy.

paragraph: Section::::Wars of the Roses.

paragraph: In July 1447, Greystoke sealed an indenture with Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury promising to ride with the earl "in time of peace and of war." When the Earl of Salisbury allied with Richard of York against the duke of Somerset's regime in February 1454, as a royal councilor Greystoke aided Richard, Duke of York to gain permission to open parliament, and become Protector. He again supported Salisbury that summer, being part of a commission of Oyer and Terminer which investigated Percy adherents from the previous year's feud between the Percies and the Nevilles. Later that year he was instructed by the Yorkist government to raise troops in Yorkshire to assist in crushing disorder that had broken out in neighbouring Lancashire.

paragraph: However, in a political reversal not uncommon for the period, after the rout of Salisbury and York at Ludlow in October 1459, and their self-imposed exiles in Calais and Ireland respectively, he apparently swore an oath of fealty to the Lancastrians at the Parliament of Devils which in October attainted the Yorkists. He may have fought for the king at the Battle of Wakefield the next year, which resulted in the deaths of York and Salisbury, and also on the victorious Lancastrian side at the Second Battle of St Albans in early 1461. However, it has been suggested that as he was probably absent from the decisive Battle of Towton two months later, which led to the accession of York's eldest son as King Edward IV of England, this possibly demonstrates that his loyalties to the Nevilles had never diminished, and that in spite of Wakefield and St Albans, "he had been playing a double game" since Ludford.

paragraph: Section::::Marriage and issue.

paragraph: He married Elizabeth FitzHugh, daughter of the fourth Baron FitzHugh. They had several children, including:

paragraph: BULLET::::1. Elizabeth (died 1490) who married firstly Thomas Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Masham, and secondly, Sir Gilbert Talbot of Grafton, KG (died 1517/18). Her second husband was the lord of the manor of Grafton Manor in Worcestershire.

paragraph: BULLET::::2. Sir Robert Greystoke (-1483), who married Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent. Sir Robert had one daughter, also named Elizabeth, who succeeded her grandfather in the barony as Elizabeth, 6th Baroness Greystoke. She in turn married Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre, transferring the Greystoke titles and lands into the Dacre family.

paragraph: BULLET::::3. Margaret (or Margery), married Sir Thomas Grey of Chllingham (d. 16 August 1498). Their daughter Anne married three times: (1) Sir John Delaval of Seaton-Delaval, Sheriff of Northumberland (d. 4 February 1498); (2) Thos. Hopton; and (3) Phillip Dacre.

alias:
Ralph de Greystoke, 5th Baron Greystoke
Ralph Greystoke
Ralph (III) Greystoke

description: English Yorkist

wikidata_label: Ralph Greystoke, 5th Baron Greystoke

wikipedia_title: Ralph Greystoke, 5th Baron Greystoke


text: Republican Party

text: Governor of New Jersey

text: Union County

text: New Jersey Senate

text: John W. Griggs

text: Attorney General of the United States

text: 1900 Republican National Convention

text: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

text: myocarditis

text: High Bridge, New Jersey

text: Clinton, New Jersey

text: Voorhees Township

text: Voorhees High School

text: Rutgers

text: Voorhees State Park

text: List of Governors of New Jersey

text: New Jersey State Library

text: Political Graveyard biography

categories: Governors of New Jersey,Republican Party state governors of the United States,New Jersey state senators,American Presbyterians,American people of Dutch descent,New Jersey Republicans,People from High Bridge, New Jersey,Rutgers University alumni,1927 deaths,Presidents of the New Jersey Senate,1856 births,People from Clinton, New Jersey,New Jersey lawyers

paragraph: Foster McGowan Voorhees

paragraph: Foster McGowan Voorhees (November 5, 1856 – June 14, 1927) was an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 30th Governor of New Jersey from 1899 to 1902.

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: Voorhees represented Union County in the New Jersey Senate from 1895 to 1898. As President of the Senate, he became acting governor briefly in 1898 when John W. Griggs resigned to become the Attorney General of the United States and again as an elected governor from 1899 to 1902. He was a New Jersey delegate to the 1900 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died of chronic myocarditis on his farm in High Bridge, New Jersey and was interred at Riverside Cemetery in Clinton, New Jersey.

paragraph: Section::::Legacy.

paragraph: New Jersey's Voorhees Township, Voorhees High School, Voorhees dorm at Rutgers and Voorhees State Park, his former farm, are named in his honor.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of Governors of New Jersey

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Biography of Foster MacGowan Voorhees (PDF), New Jersey State Library

paragraph: BULLET::::- Political Graveyard biography

paragraph: BULLET::::- Dead Governors of New Jersey bio for Foster M. Voorhees

description: American politician

wikidata_label: Foster McGowan Voorhees

wikipedia_title: Foster McGowan Voorhees


text:
Frankfurt
Berlin
German
mathematician
Ph.D.
University of Berlin
Hermann Schwarz
Lazarus Fuchs
projective geometry
Desargues' theorem
Pappus's hexagon theorem
differential geometry
connection
Hessenberg sum and product
Hessenberg matrices
Karl Hessenberg
ICM

categories: 1874 births,Geometers,19th-century German mathematicians,20th-century German mathematicians,1925 deaths

paragraph: Gerhard Hessenberg

paragraph: Gerhard Hessenberg (Frankfurt, 16 August 1874 – Berlin, 16 November 1925) was a German mathematician. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin in 1899 under the guidance of Hermann Schwarz and Lazarus Fuchs. His name is usually associated with projective geometry, where he is known for proving that Desargues' theorem is a consequence of Pappus's hexagon theorem, and differential geometry where he is known for introducing the concept of a connection. He was also a set theorist: the Hessenberg sum and product of ordinals are named after him. However, Hessenberg matrices are named for Karl Hessenberg, a near relative.

paragraph: In 1908 Gerhard Hessenberg was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in Rome.

paragraph: Section::::Publications.

paragraph: BULLET::::- (also in book form as a separate publication from Verlag Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, Göttingen 1906).

paragraph: BULLET::::- (unaltered reprint of the Teubner edition of 1912).

description: German mathematician

wikidata_label: Gerhard Hessenberg

wikipedia_title: Gerhard Hessenberg


text:
St. Petersburg
Tokyo
Alexander Glazunov
Anna Yesipova
Egon Petri
Władysław Szpilman
Hans-Erich Riebensahm
Vladimir Horbowski
Karl-Ulrich Schnabel
Franz Osborn
Boris Berlin
Ignace Strasfogel
Grete Sultan
avant-garde
César Franck
Claude Debussy
Paul Hindemith
Paul Juon
Nazis
Frieda Loebenstein
Rosenberg
Ullstein-Verlag
piano pedal
Ingrid Fuzjko Hemming
Schott Music

categories: People from Saint Petersburg,German classical pianists,1884 births,German Jews,Japanese classical pianists,Imperial Russian classical pianists,1953 deaths,Jewish classical pianists,Japanese Jews,Imperial Russian Jews,Pupils of Anna Yesipova,Japanese people of German-Jewish descent

paragraph: Leonid Kreutzer

paragraph: Leonid Kreutzer (13 March 1884 in St. Petersburg – 30 October 1953 in Tokyo) was a classical pianist.

paragraph: Section::::Life and career.

paragraph: Kreutzer was born in St. Petersburg into a Jewish family. He studied composition under Alexander Glazunov and piano under Anna Yesipova. He was a highly influential piano teacher at the Berlin Academy of Music (Berliner Hochschule für Musik), together with Egon Petri. Amongst Kreutzer's students were Władysław Szpilman, Hans-Erich Riebensahm, Vladimir Horbowski, Karl-Ulrich Schnabel, Franz Osborn, Boris Berlin, Ignace Strasfogel and Grete Sultan. Leonid Kreutzer also gave musically and technically demanding solo recitals, mostly dedicated to specific composers or themes. At some of these, notably in June 1925, he performed works of contemporaries or modern, avant-garde composers of his time or of the recent past such as César Franck, Claude Debussy, Paul Hindemith and Paul Juon.

paragraph: The Nazis targeted him prominently as a cultural enemy: Together with Frieda Loebenstein he is the one of two pianists whose name appears in a list of "tidy-up tasks" ("Aufräumungsarbeiten") compiled by Rosenberg's "Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur" (Battle-Union for German Culture). He emigrated in 1933 to Tokyo, Japan. He is also known as editor of Chopin's works at the Ullstein-Verlag. He wrote one of the first works on systematic use of the piano pedal ("Das normale Klavierpedal vom akustischen und ästhetischen Standpunkt", 1915). One of his students was the deaf pianist Ingrid Fuzjko Hemming.

paragraph: There are pianos which are built under his name in Japan.

paragraph: Kreutzer married one of his pupils; his daughter is the soprano Ryoko Kreutzer.

paragraph: Section::::Sources.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Wolfgang Rathert and Dietmar Schenk (eds.). Pianisten in Berlin: Klavierspiel und Klavierausbildung seit dem 19. Jahrhundert. Hochschule der Künste Berlin Archiv, vol. 3. Berlin, 1999.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Bredow, Moritz von. 2012. "Rebellische Pianistin. Das Leben der Grete Sultan zwischen Berlin und New York." (Biography). Schott Music, Mainz, Germany. (Contains previously unpublished image of Leonid Kreutzer and important references to his work as Professor of Piano in Berlin).

description: German musician

wikidata_label: Leonid Kreutzer

wikipedia_title: Leonid Kreutzer


text: courtesy name

text: mechanical engineer

text: Cao Wei

text: Three Kingdoms

text: south-pointing chariot

text: compass

text: magnetic

text: differential

text: torque

text: Zhang Heng

text: Eastern Han dynasty

text: Zu Chongzhi

text: odometer

text: Fu Xuan

text: Fufeng Commandery

text: Xingping

text: Shaanxi

text: Henan

text: boshi

text: Cao Wei

text: Cao Rui

text: Fu Xuan

text: orator

text: introverted

text: silk

text: drawloom

text: treadles

text: Qin Lang

text: south-pointing chariot

text: Yellow Emperor

text: history of differential gears

text: Zu Chongzhi

text: Cao Rui

text: puppet

text: theatre

text: Liu Bang (Emperor Gao)

text: Han dynasty

text: Qin Shi Huang

text: Heron of Alexandria

text: Joseph Needham

text: Records of the Three Kingdoms

text: Jin dynasty (265–420)

text: Joseph Needham

text: chain pumps

text: irrigation

text: Wang Chong

text: Eastern Han dynasty

text: eunuch

text: Zhang Rang

text: Luoyang

text: Cao Rui

text: Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms

text: List of mechanical engineers

text: Chen, Shou

text: Records of the Three Kingdoms

text: Fan, Ye

text: Book of the Later Han

text: Pei, Songzhi

text: South-pointing chariot at DR Gears

categories: Hydraulic engineers,Cao Wei politicians,3rd-century Chinese people,265 deaths,200 births,Chinese mechanical engineers,Politicians from Xianyang,Engineers from Shaanxi,Chinese inventors

paragraph: Ma Jun

paragraph: Ma Jun ( 220–265), courtesy name Deheng, was a Chinese mechanical engineer, inventor, and politician who lived in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. His most notable invention was that of the south-pointing chariot, a directional compass vehicle which actually had no magnetic function, but was operated by use of differential gears (which applies equal amount of torque to driving wheels rotating at different speeds). It is because of this revolutionary device (and other achievements) that Ma Jun is known as one of the most brilliant mechanical engineers and inventors of his day (alongside Zhang Heng of the earlier Eastern Han dynasty). The device was re-invented by many after Ma Jun, including the astronomer and mathematician Zu Chongzhi (429–500). In the later medieval dynastic periods, Ma Jun's south-pointing chariot was combined in a single device with the distance-measuring odometer.

paragraph: Section::::Life.

paragraph: According to his friend and contemporary poet and philosopher Fu Xuan (217-278), Ma Jun was born in Fufeng Commandery (扶風郡), which is located around present-day Xingping, Shaanxi. In his youth, Ma Jun travelled throughout present-day Henan and obtained the position of a "boshi" (博士; a minor literary degree). Despite this degree, Ma Jun was relatively poor in his youth, yet found means to gain recognition by employing his natural genius in creating mechanical contraptions and inventions.

paragraph: Ma Jun was a somewhat distinguished official serving under the state of Cao Wei, becoming an Official Who Concurrently Serves in the Palace (給事中). Ma Jun once oversaw the construction of Chonghua Palace (崇華殿) under the orders of Cao Rui, the second Wei emperor. Ma Jun was very well known in Wei as a very gifted designer of weapons and certain types of devices, and was praised especially by Fu Xuan in an essay of his. Fu Xuan noted that Ma Jun was not the best orator or master of rhetorics, and had trouble conveying his ideas to others with his somewhat introverted personality. Nonetheless, he gained fame for his mechanical genius, and is universally considered one of the greatest mechanical engineers of ancient China.

paragraph: Section::::Engineering and technological achievements.

paragraph: One of Ma Jun's early inventions was an improved silk drawloom, which, according to Fu Xuan, earned Ma Jun considerable recognition for his innovative skill. In his time, silk looms generally had fifty heddles and fifty treadles, some even up to sixty of each. Ma Jun crafted a loom that had only twelve treadles, which not only made the process faster and more efficient, but also allowed the weaving of new intricate patterns.

paragraph: While serving in the Wei government, Ma Jun got into a dispute with Gaotang Long (高唐隆) and Qin Lang over the concept of the south-pointing carriage, or the south-pointing chariot. Gaotang Long and Qin Lang mocked Ma Jun for his belief in historical texts that the south-pointing chariot had actually been invented in the past (as the legend goes, by the Yellow Emperor), something they viewed as nonsensical, non-historical myth. Ma Jun retorted, "Empty arguments with words cannot (in any way) compare with a test which will show practical results". After being instructed to craft such a device, Ma Jun completed his fully functional design of the south-pointing chariot in the year 255. With this mechanical-driven compass-vehicle device, Ma Jun created one of the first mechanical devices in the world to employ differential gear designs. Referring to history of differential gears, Ma Jun's differential gear is the earliest historically verifiable design. In China, the south-pointing chariot was re-invented a second time by Zu Chongzhi (429-500) due to the original detailed instructions being lost.

paragraph: Ma Jun once invented for the Wei emperor Cao Rui an intricate hydraulic-powered, mechanical-operated puppet theatre (much more complex than the mechanical puppet set discovered by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao), the founding emperor of the Han dynasty, when he observed the state-absorbed items taken from the treasury of Qin Shi Huang). His puppet theatre is similar to that of a Greek model invented by Heron of Alexandria, the difference being that the latter used instead a rotating cylindrical cogwheel with ropes and pulleys to operate his mechanical theatre. Joseph Needham describes Ma Jun's mechanical theatre in a passage taken from the "Records of the Three Kingdoms":

paragraph: Possibly inspired by this incredible mechanical theatre of puppets, Qu Zhi of the Jin dynasty (265–420) made similar mechanical sets with wooden dolls. Joseph Needham states that he was famous for his ""wooden dolls' house, with images which opened doors and bowed, and for his 'rats' market', which had figures which automatically closed the doors when the rats wanted to leave"".

paragraph: Ma Jun was also responsible for the construction of square-pallet chain pumps meant for irrigation. However, Ma Jun was not the first person in China to invent such a device. An earlier account was made in the year 80 by the philosopher Wang Chong in his "Discourses Weighed in the Balance". The Eastern Han dynasty court eunuch Zhang Rang once ordered the engineer Bi Lan to construct a series of chain pumps outside the capital city of Luoyang, used for irrigation and means of fresh water source. Ma Jun constructed his square-pallet chain pumps to water newly-designated garden space established within Luoyang by Cao Rui.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of mechanical engineers

paragraph: BULLET::::- History of science and technology in China

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Chen, Shou (3rd century). "Records of the Three Kingdoms" ("Sanguozhi").

paragraph: BULLET::::- Fan, Ye (5th century). "Book of the Later Han" ("Houhanshu").

paragraph: BULLET::::- Pei, Songzhi (5th century). "Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms" ("Sanguozhi zhu").

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- South-pointing chariot at DR Gears

description: Chinese mechanical engineer

wikidata_label: Ma Jun

wikipedia_title: Ma Jun