KAINAN-HOSHI（海難法師）

Legend of Izu seven islands　
“Kainan-hoshi”

In Edo period, there lived a local governor(DAIKAN in Japanese), whose name was Toyoshima Tadamatsu, in Izu Oshima, the biggest island among the Izu seven islands.
He was a heartless and merciless local governor(so-called AKUDAIKAN). The villagers of the islands under his jurisdiction were always suffering with his oppression, especially in term of his strict collection of the annual tribute.
One day, he was about to go around the seven islands under his jurisdiction for inspection.
Before he set sail with his subordinates on a small boat, he asked the villagers what the weather forecast was for coming days. The villagers, as they were all fishermen, well knew about the weather, which was forecast to get bad in a few days. But, they answered, ”It will be OK, sir.” Because the villagers had been suffering with his oppression everyday, they even thought; “ We don’t care. It may be happy for us if he die at sea by bad weather.”
After the local governor and his subordinates left Izu Oshima for Niijima island (one of the Izu seven islands) by a small boat, the weather began to get worse, with strong wind and wave. Even the rain came and the against-current got so strong. The boat could never go ahead and went up and down in the big waves. Finally, the boat sunk and everybody died in the sea. It was January 24.

Even now, it is told that, in January 24 of the year, the ghost of Toyoshima tadamatsu, which is called KAINAN-HOSHI, appears from the sea, saying reproachfully, “ You lied ! And I died. I never forget this grudge. I bring you unhappiness.” So the villagers close the entrance door of the house for the day and keep staying at home whole day long. And, for exorcism, people put the leaves of Tobira（Japanese cheesewood) on the front door of the house.

An old woman who sells rice cakes 餅売りの嫗(おうな)

About 850 years ago, Minamoto-no-Yoritomo, a future founding Shogun (General) of Kamakura Shogunate, lived in Nirayama district of Izu (present Shizuoka prefecture), when he was young, as an exile, after his clan(Genji headed by Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo, his father) had been defeated by Heike clan ( headed by Taira -no-Kiyomori). There was a Mishima-Myojin shrine near his residence. He often visited the shrine to pray for his revenge
against Taira-no-Kiyomori.

On his way to Mishima-Myojin shrine, there was a small teahouse where an old woman sold rice cakes. whenever Yoritomo dropped in the teahouse for a rest, she was always very kind to him and took care of him as if Yoritomo were her son. From time to time, she murmured, “ You must be great and I’m sure you will defeat Heike clan someday in the future”. Young Yoritomo felt much much thanks to her and swore to his heart “ I will do it ! Yes,I shall make it !“

Time moved like a stream of the rivers.

In 1185, Minamoto-no-Yoritomo, after rising his army at Izu, defeated totally Heike clan and founded Kamakura Shogunate. He became the first Shogun ( General) of Japan and ruled all over Japan.

The old woman of Nirayama’s teahouse, was so delighted to hear Yoritomo’s victory and success, as her expectations had come true. She said repeatedly,” He did it ! He has done it ! Great ! Our great General
Yoritomo-Sama ! “

One day, several warriors came to the teahouse riding on horses and asked the woman,” Are you a woman who gave much kindness to our Shogun-sama, General Yoritomo, when he once lived here ?
General Yoritomo-sama said that he has never forgotten your kindness and encouragement　given him from you, and he wants to invite you to Kamakura where he lives now and give you something reward”
The old woman, being much much surprised to hear General Yoritomo’s kind hospitality, said,” I’m very very grateful for that, but, it is too much for me, sir. I couldn't go, sir", she declined the warriors' offer with much much thanks. The warriors repeatedly persuaded the old woman to go to Kamakura to see General Yoritomo, and finally, the woman followed the warriors offer. She went to Kamakura with the warriors riding on Kago(palanquin)
.
At Yoritomo’s official residence in Kamakura, the old woman met General Yoritomo .
He said;
“Welcome to Kamakura. I have not seen you for a long time. How are you ?”
“ I have never forgotten your kindness and encouragement given to me
when I was in Izu as an exile. I was much cheered up by your encouragement and could defeat Taira clan. And finally, I’m now here as Shogun (General) ruling Japan”
“Now, I want to present something reward to you. Tell me what you want. Anything OK !”
The old woman said; “ I did nothing special for you, sir. Getting a reward is too too much for me, sir”
Then, General Yoritomo, again and again, asked the old woman to receive his heartful gratitude. Finally the old woman said;
“I understand well. If so, would you please build a temple in Nirayama ? I need nothing else,sir”
General Yoritomo, nodding deeply, accepted her offer at once and ordered his retainers to build a temple in Nirayama as soon as possible.

Such being the case, a temple was constructed in Nirayama of Izu.
The tmple’s name is Joganji（成願寺）.
The Joganji temple is still there even now and we can see it if we go there.





Yoritomo Shogun(General)---Photo from Internet Wikipedia

A Mystery of Atake maru

” A mystery of Atake-maru”

It was the Edo period. There was a big big camphor tree in the grounds of Kasuga-jinja shrine in Usami village of Izu. With that camphor tree, a huge warship was built by order of the Tokugawa shogunate. The name of the ship was ATAKE-MARU. It was a super-warship which nobody had ever seen. There was even a castle on the upper-deck. The ship was equipped with, not only huge sails but also 50 oars on both side of the ship for propulsion and many cannon-type guns as well. It is said that there were more than 300 people on board, including 200 oarsmen.

One day, when Atake-Maru was at anchor in Tosa (Shikoku district, western Japan), one of the crew named Jukichi, who was from Izu, went down deep in to the dark ship’s hold. Then, he heard a weird voice coming from somewhere in the hold.
「Jukichi, let’s go back to Usami, Izu ! Jukichi ,let’s go back to Usami, Izu !」
Jukichi was so scared and got out of the hold. He told the captain and other crews what happened in the hold. As nobody believed it, Jukichi took them and went down into the ship’s hold again in the next day. In the dark hold, they could hear its mysterious voice, again, saying “ Let’s go back to Usami ! Let’s go back to Usami ! “ Everybody was scared much, of course, but nobody could confirm what it was and where the voice came from.


A few days later, Atake-maru left Tosa for Edo. On her way to the sea off Usami village, Izu, Atake-maru proceeded very smoothly and made very good high speed, which Atake-maru had never experienced before.
However, when the ship came just in the offing of Usami village of Izu, the ship’s speed gradually slowed down and finally the ship stopped by unknown reason.
「What’s the matter with the ship ? What should we do ?」, said the captain.
Then, Jukichi, as he had been thinking the mysterious things happened in the ship’s hold in Tosa, said his view;“As you knows, Akate-maru was made with a camphor tree of Kasuga-jinja shrine of Usami village of Izu, the ship should miss her hometown very much and wants to go back. I can understand her mind very well as I, myself, was born in Izu, too. So, I think we had better to give some parts of the ship back to the Kasuga-jinja shrine of Usami.
”That might be a good idea”, said the captain and he decided to visit to the Kasuga-jinja shrine and dedicate one of the ship’s oars which had been made with the camphor tree of the shrine. Good deeds should be done quickly. They took an oar and dedicated it to the Kasuga-jinja shrine immediately, and prayed. And then, surprisingly ,Atake-maru started to move again to Edo.

Since then, there happened no more weird voice in the ship’s hold or anywhere in the ship. The voyages of Atake-maru was always in a good and smooth condition without any trouble.

It is said that, many many years later, the oar which was brought from Atake-maru and stuck into the Kasuga-jinja shrine’s ground, became a big big camphor tree again. The End

Legend of Omuro Mountain

Long long ago, it was the age of the gods in Japan. A deity named Ninigi-no-Mikoto, who was sent down to Earth from Heaven by Amaterasu Ohmikami, the Sun Goddess, to rule Japan, met a beautiful girl at Kasasa-no-Misaki (Japan) and fell in love at first sight. Her name was Konohanasakuya-hime who was a
daughter of the mountain deity, Ohyamasumi-no-Kami.
Ninigi-no-Mikoto proposed to her; “ Please get married with me !”. She answered; “ I cannot say Yes or No now. I must ask to my father”. Ohyamasumi-no-Kami, to hear about Ninigi-no-Mikoto’s proposal, was very glad and agreed to give Konohanasakuya-hime
to Ninigi-no-Mikoto, with a condition, however, that;“if
Ninigi-no-Mikoto would get married to both Konohanasakuya-hime and, also, Iwanaga-hime( an elder sister of Konohanasakuya-hime),
at the same time, since both were too much close together and could not live separately”.　Ninigi-no-Mikoto accepted this condition with pleasure and successfully got married with both.

Everybody looked to be happy with everything going well, but unexpected unhappiness started with Iwanaga-hime, as follows;

Ninigi-no-Mikoto took care about and loved Konohanasakuya-hime more than Iwanaga-hime as she was cute and more beautiful, but, on the other hand, Iwanaga-hime(the elder sister) was not so beautiful. Because of this discrimination made by Ninigi-no-Mikoto, the relationship between the sisters became so bad and, finally, both even hated together and made an argument almost everyday.
Ninigi-no-Mikoto, on the pretext of the argument or fighting
everyday done between the sisters, made Iwanaga-hime( the elder
sister) go back to her parents’ home.
Ohyamasumi-no-Kami, getting angry at what Ninigi-no-Mikoto had done to his daughter, had grudge against him, but it could not be helped.

After several days, it was found that Iwanaga-hime got pregnant.
Ohyamasumi-no-Kami, having pity on his daughter, built a special maternity palace at Omuro mountain for safe delivery of her baby. Several months later, Iwanaga-hime could deliver a baby safely and comfortably in the maternity palace. Iwanaga-hime, the baby and Ohyamasumi-no-Kami spent their life happily since then.
It is said, however, that once created bad feeling between
Iwanaga-hime and Konohanasakuya-hime did not return to their former good relationship.

Long long years later, Iwanaga-hime was enshrined in Sengen-jinja shrine of Omuro mountain. In the meantime,Konohanasakuya-hime was enshrined in Sengen-jinja shrine of Mt.Fuji. As being described in the legend above, the relationship between two sisters may be still not good even now and, therefore, it is said even today that you must not extol the beauty of Mt.Fuji at Omuro mountain, because it may make Iwanaga-hime feel bad having jealousy to Konohanasakuya-hime.

To refrain from eating chicken/drinking liquor

To refrain from eating chicken and drinking
liquor ・・・ Kawazu-cho, Izu east coast
Long long ago, there lived a Shinto deity named
Sugihokowake-No-Mikoto, who governed Kawazu district of Izu east coast. He was a kindhearted deity and the villagers were happy under him. He, also, loved animals. Only defect he had was to drink much SAKE ( Japanese rice-wine) almost everyday.
One day, he carried out his routine patrol in the village and, after patrol, he took a rest in a field covered with lots of dry grasses in outskirts of the village. While he was taking the rest, he started drinking Sake and smoking there. Finally he fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand. He did not know how long he had been sleeping, but he was waked up by the sound like something was burning around him. It was a big field fire probably caused by his lit cigarette and the dry grasses around him were burning with big flames. He desperately tried to extinguish the fire, but it was too late, as the force of the fire had already become strong. He tried to get out of the place but it was also too late as the flames widely surrounded him. He could do nothing but to wait for his death.
At that moment, surprisingly, a large flock of birds, which were keeping much water in the feathers of their wings, came over above the field. When the birds flapped their wings in the sky above the field, the water dropped down like a heavy shower. The birds which finished to drop the water, returned to the river nearby to get the water in their wings, and came back to the field again to drop the water. The birds repeatedly carried out this unique fire fighting activity, and, finally, they could successfully put out the fire. The Shinto deity, Sugihokowake-No-Mikoto, was saved. It was a reply of the birds for the usual kindness of Sugihokowake-No-Mikoto who loved animals.
Since then, reflecting on this case, Sugihokowake-No-Mikoto stopped drinking much Sake.

Based on this tradition, even now, the people of Kawazu-cho of Izu east coast refrain from eating chicken ( and birds as well ) and drinking liquor for 6 days starting from December 18th till 23rd every year to express their gratitude to the birds and also to admonish drinking much liquor which had caused the incident of the field fire. (It is said that Sugihokowake- No-Mikoto met with above misfortune on December 18th and the fire was put out on 23rd.)

Origin of the place name"JAISHI"

Origin of the Name of the Place "JAISHI",
・・・・Minami-Izu
Once upon a time, there lived a big snake in a big pond named Oh-ike, in Minami-Izu ( the southern part of Izu peninsula). The big snake did many evil deeds to the villagers who lived near the pond and also to the peddlers who went back and forth between the south and the west in Izu peninsula. The peddlers included those who came from a long way from Izu such as the middle area of Japan.
One day, one peddler who came from Koshu district ( present Yamanashi prefecture ) to sell silk goods in Izu area, was going to Matsuzaki district ( the west coast of Izu peninsula ) from Minami-Izu through the path near the big pond. Suddenly the big snake came out from the big pond and attacked the peddler. He was swallowed up in a second by the big snake and killed.
The peddler had two daughters in his home town. The daughters, to hear their father’s death, deplored much with their mother and decided to revenge themselves upon the big snake for their father’s death. The sisters, then, started the hard practice on archery everyday to be an expert of archery and kill the big snake with it. After several years, the sisters could become the experts of archery and came to Izu to accomplish what they had made up their mind. They positioned themselves at the flat area near the big pond where the big snake lived and waited for the big snake to appear for several days.
One night, the big snake finally appeared. “ Now, the chance has come ! “ said the sisters. The elder sister shot her arrow at the right eye of the big snake and the younger at the left eye. The both arrows hit the targets without an error of one inch. Being hit both eyes deeply with the sisters’ revengeful arrows, the big snake could do nothing but to scream loudly and writhe heavily. The big snake, screaming and writhing, went down the river connected to the big pond and, finally, died at the bank of the river.
The sisters could successfully take vengeance on the big snake for their father. After then, the carcass of the snake became a stone at the river where it died. People called this area JA-ISHI or JA-ISHI village.
(Note) "JA" means a snake and "ISHI" means a stone.

Even now, you can see a big stone which very much looks like a big snake head at the river in JA-ISHI village of Izu peninsula.

A big snake in Omuro mountain

A Big Snake in Omuro Mountain
There is a big and weird cave at the foot of Omuro mountain in Ito city.The inside of the cave is always dark and damp. Nobody can see the very end of the cave and people says that the cave might be connected to Mt. Fuji.
Long long ago, there lived a big snake in this cave. The big snake often came down to Ike province near Omuro mountain and did many evil deeds to the people living in Ike province.
In 1203, when the second Shogun of Kamakura Shogunate, Minamoto-no-Yoriie, happened to come to Izu for hunting, the villagers of Ike province sincerely but strongly asked the Shogun to send a strong samurai(warrior) to their village to get rid of the big snake.
The Shogun willingly accepted the villagers’ request and appointed his retainer named Wada Heita to go to Ike province and satisfy the villagers’ request.
Wada Heita, guided by the villagers, came to the cave at the foot of Omuro mountain. He entered into the cave and proceeded deeper and deeper. The inside of the cave was very dark and silent. He was wrapped in an increased fear. But, as he was a brave samurai, he continuously went on deeper into the cave and trembled with excitement.
Suddenly, a big snake appeared in front of him, with a fully opened big mouth, a red tongue like a flare and the red glaring eyes. Wada Heita, without a moment’s delay, drew his sword and waited for a good chance to strike at the big snake. After staring at each other for a while, " It's time to kill it ! " said Wada Heita and stabbed the big snake deeply with his sharp sword. “ GYA-A-A-A-A ・・・・・”, screamed the big snake. The big snake writhed for a while and died. Wada Heita successfully could get rid of the big snake.
Since then, the villagers of Ike province could live happily and peacefully.

A pot presented by Kappa (Kappa-no-Kame)

A Pot presented by Kappa (Kappa-No-Kame)
Once upon a time, there lived a Kappa (a water imp) in the river in Kawazu province (situated at the east side of Izu peninsula) . The Kappa was very mischievous and often made troubles to the villagers. The Kappa, for example, pulled out the tail hairs of a horse and made the horse get mad while the villager was leading the horse to the field along the path near the river. Sometimes, the Kappa took a kid to the middle of the river and made the kid almost drown.
One day, when a villager was washing his horse in the river after finishing the farm-work for the day, the horse suddenly started to get mad screaming loudly. The villager found the Kappa was biting the horse on a leg in the river. The villager immediately separated the Kappa from his horse and, this time, could successfully catch the Kappa in his strong arms. He then bounded both hands and feet of the Kappa with the ropes and took the Kappa to the other villagers. When the Kappa was just being kicked half-dead by the villagers for punishment, a priest of Seisoku-ji tmple in Kawazu province happened to walk by on the scene. As he was a very merciful priest, he could not keep his eyes closed to see the scene, and asked the villagers to give him the Kappa. The priest, after helping the Kappa from the villagers’ treatment, let the Kappa go to the river, after fully telling the Kappa never to do mischief to the villagers again.
It was late in the evening of the day that the priest heard someone knocking the front door of the temple. It was the Kappa that the priest helped on the day. The Kappa carried a pot in his hands.
“ Thank you so much for your helping me today. This is just a small token of my gratitude ”, the Kappa told the priest and left the pot in front of the front door. It was a big and strange pot. When the priest put his ear closer to the pot, he could hear murmuring sound streaming out of the pot. The priest kept the pot in Seisoku-ji temple as a valuable treasure of the temple since.
Even now, we can see the pot and listen to the murmuring sound of the pot in Seisoku-ji temple of Kawazu-cho, Higashi-Izu.

A sea goblin of Futo, Ito

A Sea Goblin of Futo, Ito
Long long ago, there lived a sea goblin in the sea off Futo province, Ito village. The sea goblin often appeared in front of the fishermen when they were fishing on a fishing boat and did mischiefs to them . He always asked the fisherman, “ Lend me a ladle ! Lend me a ladle ! “ If the fisherman gave him the ladle, he poured sea water into the fishing boat with the ladle and sank the fishing boat.
With the sea goblin in the sea, the fishermen in Futo province could not maintain their fishing safely, and, therefore, one day, they discussed the way how to get rid of the sea goblin from their sea.
“ How about this idea that we prepare a bottomless ladle onboard and lend it to the sea goblin if asked ? He can not ladle sea water with it or pour sea water into our boat. While our boat is safe, we can have much time to fight with the sea goblin to get rid of him.” asked a fisherman.
“ That’s a good idea ! Let’s try with it.” said head fisherman.
Next day, preparing a bottomless ladle on board, they went out to sea for fishing with specially selected powerful fishermen onboard. They waited for the sea goblin to appear. It was just before dark when a part of the sea rose and the sea goblin appeared in front of them. “ Lend me a ladle ! Lend me a ladle.” asked the sea goblin. The fishermen gave a bottomless ladle to the sea goblin. While the sea goblin was trying to ladle the sea water in vain, the fishermen threw the fishing spears, rods, or whatever they had on board against the sea goblin, to break him into pieces.
Finally, the most powerful fisherman threw a heavy brazier against the space between the eyebrows of the sea goblin.
“ Gya-a-a-a---- !!!!”, screamed the sea goblin. The sea goblin disappeared deep into the sea. Since then the sea goblin never appeared again in the sea off Futo province. Having a lot of benefit from the sea, the fishermen in Futo province lived happily forever.

A red monster cow in Oh-ike lake

A Red Monster Cow in Oh-ike Lake,Ito
Once upon a time, there lived a red monster cow in Oh-ike lake( present Lake Ippeki in Ito city). The cow had a supernatural magical power and made lots of trouble for the people living near by. The cow, for example, transformed herself into a beautiful girl and beckoned a young man to come to her at the middle of the lake when he happened to pass by near the lake. The young man followed her and was drowned getting into a depth of the lake. The cow often capsized the ships crossing the lake for transporting the men and cargoes. The cow even ate a human being.
To know this fact, a holy priest named NIKKO of Koei-ji temple made up his mind to shut down the cow’s magical power by chanting the holy sutra by himself. He went to Oh-ike lake, landed one islet among 12 islets of the lake and sat down. For 7 days and 7 nights, he continuously chanted the holy sutra on the islet with his full power to shut down the magical power of the cow. Finally, the Buddhist scriptures chanted by NIKKO priest defeated the supernatural magical power of the red monster cow and NIKKO priest succeeded to shut down the red cow’s magical power.
Since then there happened no more trouble by the red monster cow in Oh-ike lake and people could live peacefully and happily forever.

(Presently, Lake Ippeki (former Oh-ike lake) is the only one and most beautiful lake in Izu peninsula. People call the lake “Pupil of Izu”.)

The SHISHIDO Hot Springs Source of Ito

The SHISHIDO Hot Springs Source of Ito
There are 788 sources of hot springs in Ito city.
The SHISHIDO source, which was discovered at the early stage of Ito’s hot springs history, is located in Matsubara area of the Central Ito.
This is a true story that;
Long long ago, Matsubara area of Ito village had not been developed yet and it was a kingdom of the wild animals and birds. One day, a villager found a wild boar soaking up in an unknown spring in Matsubara area of Ito village. The wild boar looked like the wounded one. The villager was afraid of the wild boar as he knew the wounded was savage, and he hided himself behind a tree and stayed quiet until the wild boar left there.
After the wild boar had gone, the villager went near to the spring in which the wild boar was soaking up. Surprisingly, it was a hot spring not cold water. The villager understood that the wild boar was taking a bath in the hot spring for healing a wound.
Thus, this hot springs source was discovered and named SHISHIDO source, as a wild boar taught the villager the point.

(Note: “SHISHI” means a wild boar and “DO” means a door or a door to a hot springs source)

A Letter of Apology from Tengu

A letter of apology from Tengu
Long, long ago, there lived a Tengu, a long-nosed goblin, in the Kashiwa mountain-pass which was situated between Ito province and Hiekawa area (the central part of Izu peninsula). The Tengu was very mischievous and made tricky troubles for the people who went over the mountain pass. He often let them lose their way to go, or to scare them. Not only that, he came down to the village area and damaged the crops in the field. He sometimes broke the fishing-net or stole the dried-fishes which were being dried outside the fisherman’s house. He even snatched the rice-cake from the kids. People of Ito province was very much in trouble with this mischievous Tengu.
Everyday, people talked about the way how to punish the Tengu but they could not get any good idea by themselves. Finally, they decided to go to Butsugen-ji temple and ask the priest named Nichian, who was of very virtue and was much respected by the villagers, to help them. Nichian priest, of course, complied with the villager’s request with pleasure.
He, then, went up to the Kashiwa Pass with several woodcutters. He found a very old huge tree in the woods near the Kashiwa Pass and said “ This must be a tree where the Tengu lives”. He commenced to offer prayers in front of the old huge tree wishing the Tengu to go away somewhere. Nichian priest’s prayers lasted for long long hours. After Nichian priest finished the prayers finally, he ordered the woodcutters to cut down the old tree. It took not so long time for the woodcutters to cut the tree completely, as they were skilled woodcutters. At the final stage of the work, the old tree showed tremblingly vibration by itself and, then, the woodcutters saw something falling down from top of the tree. It was a huge piece of paper with some strange letters on. Nobody could read the letters. The woodcutters brought the paper to Nichian priest.
“ This must be a letter of apology from the Tengu ! He must have written this letter to the villagers after he felt sorry for what he had been doing and left it on the top of the tree ,” said Nichian priest.
Since that time, there happened no more Tengu’s mischief, not only at Kashiwa Pass but also at village area.

Even now, the paper is kept carefully in Butsugen-ji temple of Ito city as a treasure of the temple.
Nobody, yet, can read the letters written on the paper.

A Shinto deity who loved Sake(Yawatano, Ito city)

A shinto deity who loved Sake
Deep in Yawatano district of Ito city, there is a Shinto shrine named Hachimangu-Kinomiya-Jinja Shrine, in which a Shinto deity named Iwakurawake-no-Mikoto is enshrined. There is a legend about him as follows;

Long, long ago, Yawatano province of Izu peninsula was governed by a Shinto deity named Iwakurawake-no-Mikoto. He was wise and thoughtful.He was gentle-hearted to the villagers. He was adored by everybody. Only problem was that he loved Sake (Japanese rice-wine) and drank too much. As he lived near the seashore, he could see the ships passing in the offing or entering to Yawatano port from his residence. He often stopped the ships and asked the skipper to present Sake to him. If the skipper did not follow his request, he caused the ship a heavy storm with strong wind and high sea, by the divine power. Naturally, the ship, being afraid of the deity’s behavior, came to Yawatano port or passed in the offing less and less, which was not good for the prosperity of the village. The village people, however, did not directly advise him to refrain from so much drinking.
One day, when Iwakurawake-no-mikoto was taking a walk in the village, reeling down the street drunkenly, he heard a song which the villagers were singing.

“ Drinking Sake is happy !
Ships are in trouble !
But people are indifferent !
Our deity is not aware of it !
To be unaware of it is happy !
To be unaware of it is sorrowful!“
Iwakurawake-no-mikoto could easily understand what the song meant, as he was wise. He felt himself to be very much shamed about what he was doing. He felt very sorry what he had been doing. Since that time, he stopped drinking Sake and never asked anybody to present Sake to him.
He even moved his residence to the place where he was unable to see the ship from. The villagers was very grad to see that their ruler stopped drinking Sake and respected the ruler more and more. And, then, Yawatano province flourished for a long time.

At present, it is said that Hachimangu-Kinomiya Shinto shrine may bring blessings to those who want to stop drinking of Sake and pray for it.

Kame-Ishi Pass

An Origin of a name "KAME-ISHI Pass, Ito city "
On the mountain side (on the west side) of Usami district in Ito city, there is a mountain pass, named KAME-ISHI Pass. When we go to the central part of Izu peninsula (such as Ohito, Nirayama, Izu-Nagaoka, Shuzenji, etc.) we go over this KAME-ISHI Pass. It also leads to Hakone area in the shortest way from Ito. There is an old tale about an origin of a name “KAME-ISHI Pass, as follows;

Long, long ago, there lived a male-tortoise in Usami province and female-tortoise in Tahara province( the central part of Izu), which was in the other side of Usami province. She was a beloved sweetheart of the male-tortoise. Everyday, the male-tortoise went to the female-tortoise’s house to see her. However, to reach her house, he must go up and down the mountains and go over a mountain pass . It was really a very hard work. But, male-tortoise so much loved female-tortoise and, therefore, he was never tired out in going up and down the mountain to see her.
It was a very hot summer day when the male-tortoise, having so much shower of hot sunshine, could not walk any longer and sank down at the middle of the mountain pass. Finally, he died there. He could not see her any more.
Even after he died, however, he was thinking of her. He transformed himself into a stone-tortoise at the place he died and he was thinking of her forever.
People named the mountain pass “KAME-ISHI Pass”, or Stone-Tortoise Pass.

Amida(Buddah) Cave in Teishi Village, Minami-Izu

Amida-nyorai(Buddah) Cave in Teishi Village, Minami-Izu
Once upon a time, there lived a fisherman named Shichibei in Koina village of Minami-Izu. He was very poor. He lost his wife early. He had three sons. The youngest son, Sanpei, was suffering from an incurable disease and lying in Huton (Japanese bed ) all day long as he could not stand up. Sanpei’s disease was becoming worse, day by day. Shichibei loved Sanpei so much but he could not take Sanpei to the doctor as he is too poor to pay to the doctor. Only thing Shichibei could do was to pray to Buddah for Sanpei’s recovery from his disease.
He went to and from Seiryuji temple in the village and offered prayers for the recovery of Sanpei. He prayed and prayed, in the morning time and in the evening time, everyday.
One day, after Shichibei went to bed and slept, Buddah appeared in his dream and said to Shichibei, “ Go to the cave in the seashore. Get an abalone there and feed Sanpei it.”
After he woke up in the next morning, he rushed to the cave in the seashore between Koina village and Teishi village, by rowing his Tenma boat ( a Japanese traditional wooden boat). When he rowed deep into the cave, he saw Buddah, with two attendants on both side, shining in gold at the very end of the cave. Shichibei, fully receiving the aureole of Buddah, prostrated in his boat with his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes again, Buddah and both attendants were no longer there and he found a lot of abalone on deck of his Tenma boat.
“ These are the abalone Buddah told me in the dream last night ! “ he thought.
As soon as he came back home, he fed Sanpei the abalone which Buddah gave him. Then, Shichibei continued to feed Sanpei the abalone everyday.
Surprisingly, Sanpei began to recover himself from his incurable disease, day by day. Finally, Sanpei could get well. Shichibei was so much glad that Sanpei had got well and told the village people how the divine protection of Buddah was blessing. The village people, and Shichibei as well, always blessed Buddah since then.