Shiga
1. (yokai) Tesso (鉄鼠) or, "The Iron Rat" aka "Raigo the Rat" (頼豪鼠)
Site: Hiyoshi Taisha (日吉大社)
Nearest Station: (Keihan Line) Sakamoto Stn. (坂本駅) or (JR Line) Hieizan Sakamoto Stn. (比叡山坂本駅)
Google Map Search: "Hiyoshi Taisha"
Notes: On the grounds of Hiyoshi Taisha there is a small shrine off to the side known as the "Nezumi no Hokura" (鼠の秀倉); "Sosha," or maybe "Nesha" (鼠社); or the "Shrine of the Rat." It is also sometimes associated with the Tesso legend.
2. (yokai) Tesso (鉄鼠) or, "The Iron Rat" aka "Raigo the Rat" (頼豪鼠)
Site: Enryaku-ji (延暦寺)
Nearest Station: (Hieizan Line) Cable Enryakuji Stn. (ケーブル延暦寺駅)
Google Map Search: "Enryakuji"
Notes: It was Enryaku-ji where Tesso and an army of rats took out their malice by eating Buddhist scriptures and statues.
3. (yokai) Hitotsume-nyudo (一つ目入道) or Ichigan Hitoashi Hoshi (一眼一足法師); "One-Eyed Monk" or "One-Eyed One-Footed Priest"
Site: Enryaku-ji (延暦寺)
Nearest Station: (Hieizan Line) Cable Enryakuji Stn. (ケーブル延暦寺駅)
Google Map Search: "Enryakuji"
Notes: The One-Eyed One-Footed Priest is said to reside on Mt. Hiei, admonishing and driving out lazy monks by giving them the stink-eye. This yokai is thought perhaps to be Ryogen (良源), a particularly strict abbot at Enryaku-ji during the 10th century.
4. (yokai) Shuten-doji (酒呑童子)
Site: Enryaku-ji (延暦寺)
Nearest Station: (Hieizan Line) Cable Enryakuji Stn. (ケーブル延暦寺駅)
Google Map Search: "Enryakuji"
Notes: In one account of Shuten-doji's life, his mother was human but his father was the eight-headed snake Yamata no Orochi. He became a page at Enryakuji, but his boozing distracted him from the monastic life. Wikipedia writes how he was a big drinker and was therefore "hated by everyone." (citation needed) One day he dressed up as a demon as part of a festival, and found that when it came to taking off the costume he was unable to remove the mask. Similar to Ibaraki-doji noticing his (or her) reflection in the river, Shuten-doji decided that the demon's life was for him.
5. (yokai) Giant Centipede, or 大百足 (おおむかで)
Site: Katsube Shrine (勝部神社)
Nearest Station: (JR Line) Moriyama Stn. (守山駅)
Google Map Search: "Katsube Shrine Moriyama"
Notes: Fujiwara no Hidesato dispatched the Giant Centipede with a poison-tipped arrow (actually it wasn't poison, he just spat on it). In a follow-up account to "My Lord Bag of Rice," the centipede was said to have fallen from the sky in firey pieces. The tail landed near the Seta Karahashi Bridge, but the body landed on the grounds of Katsube Shrine. The telling has become entwined with their yearly fire festival. (Another telling has hunters slaying an orochi, which is either a giant snake or a kind of dragon-serpent, again with its body falling onto the grounds of the shrine.) The fire festival is held on the second Saturday in January. This location is closer to Mt. Mikami, but it can take some doing getting a clear view of it between buildings.
6. (yokai) Giant Centipede, or 大百足 (おおむかで)
Site: Sumiyoshi Shrine (住吉神社)
Nearest Station: (JR Line) Moriyama Stn. (守山駅)
Google Map Search: "Sumiyoshi Shrine Moriyama" <-- The entrance to the shrine is on the southwest curve of the block the shrine is located on. Be sure to include "Moriyama" in the search.
Notes: As per the entry above, the Giant Centipede fell from the sky in pieces. The tail landed near the bridge, and the body landed on the grounds of Katsube Shrine. The head though landed on the grounds of Sumiyoshi Shrine. This story has become part of their fire festival, which is held on the same day as the fire festival at Katsube Shine (second Saturday in January). I've read that the ceremonies are pretty much timed the same, so you can only attend one or the other. If you'd like to get a view of Mt. Mikami, it's possible to glimpse it between buildings from the road running along the eastern border of Sumiyoshi Shrine. That might require a bit of circling around, but its striking conical shape gives you an idea of the impact it once may have had on the landscape.
7. (yokai) Giant Centipede, or 大百足 (おおむかで)
Site: Mii-dera (三井寺 or 御井寺)
Nearest Station: (Keihan Line) Miidera Stn. (三井寺駅) or Bessho Stn. (別所駅)
Google Map Search: "Miidera Otsu"
Notes: Mii-dera makes an appearance here in the "Lord Bag of Rice" series. To recap, the Giant Centipede had been destroyed and bits of it were raining down on local shrines. The Dragon Princess (or King) was grateful and bestowed Fujiwara no Hidesato (aka Tawara Toda) several magical gifts, including a bottomless bag of rice. He was also given a large temple bell, apparently lacking in magic. As it was "just a bell," he gave it to a temple, and that temple was... Mii-dera! As it turned out, the bell had some zing in it after all. The warrior monk Benkei, in what must be the 12th century equivalent of a fraternity prank, stole the thing and hauled it all the way to Enryaku-ji. When the monks there tried to ring it, it toned, "I want to go back!" Benkei apparently took it back part of the way before chucking it down a mountain and leaving it. The Mii-dera priests found it cracked but were able to get it back to the temple. As it was rehung, a small snake (dragon) appeared and used its tail to repair the damage.
8. (yokai) Tesso (鉄鼠) or, "The Iron Rat" aka "Raigo the Rat" (頼豪鼠)
Site: Mii-dera (三井寺 or 御井寺)
Nearest Station: (Keihan Line) Miidera Stn. (三井寺駅) or Bessho Stn. (別所駅)
Google Map Search: "Miidera Otsu"
Notes: Raigo, a real historical figure, was the abbot of Miidera Temple, who in a feud with Emperor Shirakawa went on a hunger strike and died. Raigo was reborn as a grudge-bearing yokai in the form of man-sized rat, with a "body of stone and claws and teeth of iron." There is a shrine (十八明神社) on the grounds of Mii-dera dedicated to Raigo known as the "Shrine of the Rat" (鼠の宮).
9. (yokai) Giant Centipede, or 大百足 (おおむかで)
Site: Seta-no-Karahashi (瀬田の唐橋), or the Seta Karahashi Bridge
Nearest Station: (Keihan Line) Karahashimae Stn. (唐橋前駅)
Google Map Search: "Karahashi-mae Station" <-- The bridge is just east of the station.
Notes: This is the bridge from the folktale Tawara Toda or "My Lord Bag of Rice." It was here that Fujiwara no Hidesato (early-to-mid 10th century) encountered a serpent or "serpent-dragon." The creature turned out to be the Dragon Princess (or Dragon King, depending on the version you read). His bravery tested, the Dragon entreated Hidesato to help deal with the dreaded Giant Centipede of Mt. Mikami (三上山). Mt. Mikami lies to the northeast of the bridge, but it's not possible to see it from the bridge itself.
Driver Gragma (yokaitourbus "at" mail "dot" com)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yokaitourbus/
The Master Lists
Osaka: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.com/2015/08/6-the-master-list-osaka.html
Hyogo: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.com/2015/08/6-b-master-list-hyogo.html
Kyoto: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.com/2015/08/6-c-master-list-kyoto.html
Shiga: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.com/2015/08/6-d-master-list-shiga.html
Nara: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.com/2015/08/6-e-master-list-nara.html
Mie: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.com/2015/08/6-f-master-list-mie.html
Wakayama: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.com/2015/08/6-g-master-list-wakayama.html
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