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Zashiki-warashi
If you really want to meet a Zashiki-warashi, we recommend traveling to the Tohoku region. There are inns where you can meet a Zashiki-warashi, but if you’re wearing normal clothes instead of kimono, it’s just the ghost of a child. Zashiki-warashi is a child-like deity that has been passed down in the Tohoku region of Japan, where Aomori, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, and Fukushima prefectures are located, centering on Iwate Prefecture. It is said to live in a Zashiki (the rooms with tatami mats) or a storehouse, and is said to play tricks on householders and guests, bringing good luck to those who see it and wealth to the family. In […]
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Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, model location for Kenji Miyazawa’s “Night on the Galactic Railroad”
Welcome to the world of Kenji Miyazawa! I will introduce the spots that were the model of “Night on the Galactic Railroad”! From Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture. Kenji Miyazawa is a writer of children’s story who represents Japan. He is from Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture and in Hanamaki City, there are many spots related to one of his representative work “Night on the Galactic Railroad”. It is said that the model of Galactic Railroad was a “Iwate Light Railway” which is a railroad company used to be in Iwate Prefecture. Iwate Light Railway traveled the line corresponds to the later Kamiishi Line of JR East. The elementary school that Giovanni […]
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Kappabuchi Pool, the most famous Kappa tradition site in Japan
If you have Iwate Prefecture’s official “Kappa Capture License”, everyone can capture Kappa! Even fishing tackles can be borrowed for free, so you can go Kappabuchi Pool with empty hand! The story of Kappa was written in “Tono Monogatari (Story of Tono)” published in 1910 that gathered mysterious folk tales transmitted to Tono district of Iwate Prefecture. According to “Tono Monogatari”, there are many Kappa lived in the pool of river flowing in the back of Jokenji temple in Tono City, Iwate Prefecture. Those Kappa surprise people and play a prank on people and this place is called as Kappabuchi Pool from the old days. Kappa is a fictional animal […]