-Osaka City
1. (religion) Japan Whale Cults (鯨崇拝)
Site: Zuiko-ji Temple (瑞光寺)
Nearest Station: (Hankyu Line) Kami-Shinjo Stn. (上新庄駅) or (Subway) Zuiko Yonchome Stn. (瑞光四丁目駅)
Google Map Search: "Zuiko-ji Temple Higashiyodogawa" - then to check you have the right location, "Zuikoji Park" should bring up the lot immediately next to the temple.
Notes: The temple belongs to the Myoshinji school of Buddhism but historically has a connection with a whaling village in the south. The legacy of that interaction can still be found on the temple grounds. Besides the whalebone entrance, one can also find the Setsugeikyo (雪鯨橋), better known as the Kujirabashi (くじら橋), or whale bridge. It was once made entirely of whale bones, but is now a combination of stone and bone. It is said to be the only whalebone bridge in all of Japan.
Entry: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2016/08/xxiv-intermission-setsugeikyo-or-whale.html
2. (historical) "Human Pillar" Human Sacrifice (人柱 or "Hitobashira")
Site: Daigan-ji Temple (大願寺)
Nearest Station: (JR Line) Higashi-Yodogawa Stn. (東淀川駅)
Google Map Search: "Daigan-ji Temple Yodogawa" or "Daigan-ji Temple Osaka" - There are several temples named "Daigan-ji" in Japan, so perhaps cross reference the location with Higashi-Yodogawa Stn.
Notes: This temple is the successor to the Hashimoto Temple, which was built in 615 and dedicated to Iwa-uji, the man who was said to have sacrificed his life for the construction of the Nagarabashi Bridge. The temple contains several items connected to the sacrifice, such as a memorial tablet, his "grave," and part of the original bridge that Iwa-uji was tied to.
Entry (Part 1): http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2015/09/iv-nagarabashi-bridge-and-daigan-ji.html
Entry (Part 2): http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2015/09/iv-nagarabashi-bridge-and-daigan-ji_17.html
3. (yokai/historical) Hashihime (橋姫), local variant; "Human Pillar" Human Sacrifice (人柱 or "Hitobashira")
Site: Nagarabashi Bridge (長柄橋)
Nearest Station: (Subway) Tenjinbashisujirokuchome Stn. (天神橋筋六丁目駅) coming from the south; or (Hankyu Line) Sozenji Stn. (崇禅寺駅) coming from the north. Kunijima Stn. (柴島駅), on a different Hankyu Line, lies more-or-less next to Sozenji Stn., but you will probably find it less convenient if you plan to travel back to Umeda or onward into Kyoto.
Google Map Search: Try "Eneos Nagarabashi SS," which is a service station south of the bridge. If you follow the road the service station is situated on (Tenjinbashisuji), the river you come to is the Yodogawa River and the bridge is the Nagarabashi Bridge.
Notes: This bridge in Osaka is said to have a Hashihime legend attached to it. This Hashihime was a woman in connection with the human sacrifice for the bridge's successful construction. Unless you have a serious Hashihime itch and can't get to Uji, for all intents and purposes, it's just a bridge (and is thought to now lie south of its original location).
Entry (Part 1): http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2015/09/iv-nagarabashi-bridge-and-daigan-ji.html
Entry (Part 2): http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2015/09/iv-nagarabashi-bridge-and-daigan-ji_17.html
4. (yokai) Nue (鵺)
Site: Grave of the Nue, or Nuezuka (鵺塚) in Osaka
Nearest Station: Subway Miyakojima Stn. (都島駅)
Google Map Search: NA
Notes: The nue, also known as the Japanese chimera, is part monkey, part tiger, part snake and possibly part tanuki too. It made a famous appearance in the summer of 1153 by terrorizing Kyoto from the sky. Master archer Minamoto no Yorimasa and his retainer killed the beast, then set adrift its accursed body down the river where it eventually washed ashore. This site here in Miyakojima, Osaka contains a "nue mound," marking one possible location where the nue was retrieved and buried.
Entry: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2016/02/xiv-grave-of-nue-in-osaka-or-dead-nue.html
5. (yokai) Danjiri Kichibei (地車吉兵衛)
Site: Horikawa Ebisu Shrine (堀川戎神社)
Nearest Station: (Subway Line) Minami-morimachi Stn. (南森町駅)
Google Map Search: "Horikawaebisu Shrine"
Notes: On the grounds of Horikawa Ebisu Shrine is a smaller shrine called Enoki Shrine, also known as "Danjiri Inari". It's connected with a tanuki or raccoon spirit known as Danjiri Kichibei, who was said to have tricked neighborhood residents by mimicking the sound of danjiri music thusly: kon-chiki-chin! Kichibei-san was thought to have been an incarnation of the shrine's spirit. It was said that one's prayers would be answered if you hear Kichibei's music coming out of the shrine, but the music has not been heard since the 1930s. Kon-chiki-chin!
6. (ghost) Grudge-Bearing Spirits, or Onryo (怨霊)
Site: Goryo Jinja (御霊神社)
Nearest Station: (Subway) Yodoyabashi Stn. (淀屋橋駅)
Google Map Search: "Goryo Shrine Osaka"
Notes: "Goryo" is a system of Shinto that enshrines the wrathful or vengeful dead, transforming them into protective entities. This is one of several that enshrines the warrior Kamakura Gongoro Kagemasa.
7. (yokai) Kappa (河童)
Site: Hommachi Bend, or Hommachi no Magari (本町のまがり)
Nearest Station: (Subway) Sakaisuji-Hommachi Stn. (堺筋本町駅)
Google Map Search: NA
Notes: This dinky little site was once a known kappa haunt. It's marked by a bend in the river and a Jizo statue. Entry: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2016/01/xii-intermission-hommachi-bend.html
8. (phenomenon) "Bone Buddhas" or Okotsu Butsu (お骨佛)
Site: Isshin-ji (一心寺)
Nearest Station: (JR or Subway Line) Tennoji Stn. (天王寺駅)
Google Map Search: "Isshin-ji" <-- The hyphen may be important to distinguish it from a similarly named temple.
Notes: This entry very quickly exhausts my basic understanding of Buddhism, but in line with the beliefs of Pure Land Buddhism, there is a practice, not universal, of mixing the crushed bones and ashes of devotees with clay and sculpting them into holy images. As of 2015, there are seven such sculptures of Amida Buddha at Isshin-ji. They are numbered seven to thirteen as the first six were destroyed in the war.
9. (historical) Abe no Seimei (安倍の晴明)
Site: Abe Seimei Shrine, sometimes appears in searches as Abeno Seimei Jinja or Shrine (安倍晴明神社)
Nearest Station: (Hankai Tramway) Higashi-Tengachaya Stn. (東天下茶屋駅); it's also only about a 10 min. walk from (Subway) Showacho Stn. (昭和町駅), a trip via the subway network being the more convenient
Google Map Search: "Abeseimei Shrine Osaka"
Notes: Abe no Seimei (lit. Seimei of clan Abe) was a famous Heian era practitioner of onmyodo - a discipline combining cosmology, natural sciences and the occult. He is sometimes referred to as the Merlin of Japan, and though Seimei was a historical figure, the legends that have sprung up around him make this a valid comparison. He was said to have been able to control demons, and his long life was credited to his Yokai ancestry: his mother, Kuzunoha, was a fox spirit. Abe Seimei Shrine in Osaka reportedly marks the site where Seimei was born. The other location often listed as his birthplace is Abe Monju-in in Nara, with Seimei Shrine in Kyoto being his former residence. Abe Seimei Shrine on the surface appears to be the less regarded as an actual historical site, but it's still absolutely the case that Abe no Seimei has been enshrined at this location. The shrine features a stone monument indicating his birthplace, the well where he apparently took his first bath, and an interesting Inari shrine for his mother Kuzunoha Gitsune. There is also a heavy stone, once an old anchor, that people visit to pray for safe childbirth.
10. (yokai) "One-Inch Boy" or Issun-boshi (一寸法師)
Site: Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine or Sumiyoshi Taisha (住吉大社)
Nearest Station: Though I wouldn't call it a "hub," quite a few lines intersect around Sumiyoshi Taisha; (Nankai, Main Line) Sumiyoshitaisha Stn. (住吉大社駅), (Nankai, Koya Line) Sumiyoshihigashi Stn. (住吉東駅), and (Tramway, Hankai Line) Sumiyoshi-toriimae Stn. (住吉鳥居前駅).
Google Map Search: "Sumiyoshi Taisha"
Notes: Issun-boshi is not really what comes to mind when we think of yokai, but the story involves kami, oni and magic. In the modernized version of Issun-boshi, his elderly parents pray for a child at Sumiyoshi Taisha, "no matter how small," and the prayers were answered by Empress Jingu, who is enshrined at Sumiyoshi Taisha along with the Sumiyoshi Sanjin (住吉三神).
-Outside Osaka City
1. (yokai) Ibarakidoji (茨木童子)
Site: Ibarakidoji-Sugatami Bridge or 茨木童子貌見橋 (いばらきどうじすがたみばし)
Nearest Station: (Hankyu Line) Ibaraki-shi Stn. (茨木市駅); (JR Line) Ibaraki Stn. (茨木駅) is also reasonably close
Google Map Search: NA, see entry below
Notes: Ibarakidoji was an oni, or demon, and the most well-known underling (or lover if you follow the Ibarakidoji-as-female-oni theory) of the demon leader Shutendoji (酒呑童子). Ibarakidoji appears in quite a few tales, and interestingly the sites associated with these tales do not come up on map searches: perfect candidates for this site. Sugatami Bridge appears in one tale set during Ibarakidoji's upbringing.
Entry: http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2015/08/ii-ibarakidoji-sugatami-bridge-or.html
2. (legendary objects) A sword or tsurugi (剣) and arrow or ya (矢) that are able to cut/penetrate stone
Site: Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine (石切劔箭神社)
Nearest Station: Shin-Ishikiri Stn., Kintetsu Higashi-Osaka Line (新石切駅), or Ishikiri Stn., Kintetsu Nara Line (石切駅)
Google Map Search: "Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine" - Do not search for "Ishikiritsurugiya" (one word), as it will bring up a similarly named location to the east! So that you know you have the right location, Ishikiri Elementary School is just to the northwest of the shrine.
Notes: This shrine was established in 658, and its deities, the grandson and great-grandson of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, are enshrined in an arrow (the grandson?) and a sword (the great-grandson?) that are said to be able to cut and penetrate rock. Most people who come here to pray are not doing so in the hopes that their rocks will be cut in half or penetrated, rather they would be satisfied that their prayers help in the slicing or removal of a tumor or boil.
3. (historical) The Siege of Osaka, 1615 Summer Campaign (大坂夏の陣); and Bloody Ceiling (血天井)
Site: Jokoji Temple (常光寺)
Nearest Station: (Kintetsu Line) Kintetsu-Yao Stn. (近鉄八尾駅)
Google Map Search: "Jokoji Yao"
Notes: During the 1615 summer campaign of the Siege of Osaka, the daimyo Todo Takatora of the Tokugawa Army encamped here at Jokoji. The heads of fallen enemies were lined up along the outdoor corridor for his viewing, staining the floorboards in the process. The bloodied planks were later preserved as part of the temple's ceiling. Takatora's sons, who died in the Battle of Yao that June, are also buried at the temple.
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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