In your hometown, are there any "small halls" or "gods" quietly preserved by the local people?
Along the old road from Shidahama to Kawaketa on the east side of Lake Inawashiro, there is a hall called "Sekiwaki Yubai Hall", commonly known as "Onbasama". This place is filled with nostalgic memories, as it was my childhood playground, and I would feel excited as a child seeing the many cars lined up on festival days, thinking, "Today is a festival."
When I got married and welcomed my first "Inu no Hi (Prayers for Safe Delivery)", I was taken by my mother-in-law to visit this hall again. The prayer experience there was somewhat different from what is typically found at shrines and temples.
A hall without a monk. The "Goeika" sung by the women of the village.
This hall does not have a head priest. Women from the community, aged from their 50s to 80s, take the lead, and on festival days, they all come together to purify the hall and warmly welcome visitors.
The style of prayer is also unique. Instead of monks or priests, we chant the "Thirty-Three Kannon Goeika" together with the village women, who are life’s great seniors with childbirth experience, wishing for a safe delivery. The unique, slender, and nasal tone of the women's Goeika creates a strange sense of solidarity and a warm feeling of being watched over.
A circle of women connecting lives.
After the prayer, we enjoy pickles as a snack while sharing personal stories, and we receive a wooden spatula (shamoji) engraved with "Prayers for Safe Delivery" to take home.
A girl who once played in the precincts grows up, becomes a mother, and eventually becomes someone who wishes for the peace of others, just like the women who chanted Goeika back then. It was a quiet realization that a woman's life draws the same circle.
[Folklore Mystery] Is the true identity of "Onbasama" the old woman of the Sanzu River?
Now, let me introduce a mysterious history. This warm "Onbasama (Yuba-i)" is often represented by a statue of an old woman sitting with one knee raised.
Did you know that this is often referred to nationwide as "Datsuba (the old woman who strips clothes)?" Datsuba is a terrifying old woman of hell who strips the clothes of the deceased by the Sanzu River in the afterlife and weighs the sins of their lifetime.
So why is such a terrifying being deeply revered in Aizu as a "gentle deity for safe delivery and child-rearing"? What do you think?
The legend of the "strong woman who saves women" transcending time.
The key to solving this mystery lies in the "posture of childbirth in the past" and "various legends."
The "sitting posture with one knee raised" of Datsuba closely resembles the "sitting childbirth style" of women in the past. Additionally, it is thought that the way of sitting of Nyoirin Kannon (which is also the 11th temple of the Inawashiro Thirty-Three Kannon) overlaps, leading to a connection with the belief in safe delivery.
Furthermore, there are legends like this remaining in Aizu.
Legends of salvation related to old women remaining in Aizu.
- Legend of childbirth in the Muromachi period: When the wife of the lord of Iwatateyama was suffering from a difficult labor, an old woman appeared out of nowhere, kindly assisted her, and vanished like mist. It is said that the lady, moved by this experience, painted the old woman's likeness and worshipped it, which marked the beginning of the 'Onbasama' in Sekiwaki.
- Legend of the Bridge Princess (Ashina Hime): There is a legend that during a great flood, a pregnant woman in her final month, who had lost her way, was saved by a strong wish that 'even if I fall into hell, please save this mother and child.'
Though she appears as a 'terrifying old woman', her true essence is 'a being that helps women facing life-threatening childbirth with great strength.' This is why the people of Aizu have built as many as 80 halls, continuing to offer deep gratitude and prayers.
A journey to unravel the unknown 'deep history of Aizu'
How was it? In the small halls that the nameless women of the village have preserved, there lives a warm and profound history of folk beliefs that is not found in textbooks.
At 'Tabino Ito', we offer tours in the [Academic Style] that delve into the deep history and culture of the region, which can easily be overlooked in superficial tourism, along with the rich knowledge of our guides.
If you have the curiosity to 'know the deep side of Aizu that is not in guidebooks' or 'experience an intellectual Aha moment where historical dots connect,' why not join us for an adult historical exploration?
