Kamochi (Izumo Kaido)

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Postal Town Kamochi　金持 （かもち）

Town for the "Rich People"
KAMOCHI should not be read "Kanemochi" rich.




step by step
on the way to get rich ...
first spring sweat





You have to fold one coin with a hole into this straw hanger
to make sure it will double and triple in time ...




Money Offerings





Dragon Carving at the gables of the shrine





The Handpainted Dragon Deity
by Mrs. Hamada Juhoo 濱田壽峰




When you climb up a step at the back of the shrine, a light goes on inside and you can marvel at the great painting.

Hamada san is a famous painter of Shinto deities, painting only with her fingers. She uses all fingers very delicately, sometimes only the nail to paint a sharp line. She was born in this village of Kamochi and made an offering of this Dragon Deity (which would fetch quite sum on the art market, as the Shrine maidens whispered to me in a low voice).


. . . My EMA Votive Tablets from Kamochi Shrine

Further down at the small shrine shop, they sell handmade votive tablets (ema) painted by handicapped people of the area. Each paints just a bit according to his abilities and more than 10 people work together to finish one.



Kamochi Shrine Information PHOTO

Shrines worshipping the Deity Ame not Tokotachi are very few in Japan. Here you pray for the prosperity of the Japanese land.
Legend knows, that when a second son of the head priest of Izumo Shrine on his way to a vitit in Ise Shrine passed this area, a talisman stone is his pocket started feeling very heavy. He felt this as a sign of the gods to have him build another shrine here is a place rich with minerals, especially iron.

Maybe the modern word "kanemochi" comes from this place name, "kamochi", which was already famous in the chronicles of the Azuma Kagami during the Kamakura Period.

The nobleman Kamochi Kagefuji 金持景藤 reigned this area here around 1333.

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Kamochi Shrine is located in Kamochi, Hino-cho, Hino-gun, Tottori Prefecture.
The enshrined deities are Ameno-Tokotachi no Mikoto, Yatsuka Mizu Omizunu no Mikoto, and Omizunu no Mikoto. It is said that in 810, when the second son of a shrine priest in Izumo province passed by this place on his way to Ise Shrine, the precious stone that he wore as a talisman suddenly got heavy and he received a divine order to build a shrine at this place.

The village of Kamochi was the production center of Japanese steel, which was thought to be more precious than gold in the ancient times. Also iron was called “kane” in ancient Japan, so the village was called Kamochi, which meant the village with many valleys where “kane (iron sand)” could be obtained.

It is the only one shrine that bears such a lucky name as “Kamochi (金持),” the kanji writing of which can also be read as “Kanemochi (a rich man).” Hoping to be a rich person, people from all over the country visit this shrine to offer a prayer.

In the precinct are the two of 100 Fine Trees of Tottori Prefecture, sawara (a natural tree in a cypress group) and Chinese cedar tree, both of which are said to be over 600 years old.
©　nippon-kichi.jp

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Ame no tokotachi no kami
Ame no tokotachi no mikoto,
天之常立尊（あめのとこたちのみこと）

One of the primeval kami appearing in the myth of the unfolding of heaven and earth. This kami is described as only an abstract being, without shape or other attributes. Most commentators view this kami as an offspring of Kunitokotachi.

According to Kojiki, the kami forming the lineage from the three deities of creation to Umashiashikabihikoji and Amenotokotachi are called the "five separate heavenly deities" (kotoamatsukami), while Kunitokotachi and others are produced thereafter as part of the "seven generations of the age of the kami" (kamiyo).
©　Kokugakuin University / Encyclopedia of Shinto

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Read his legend HERE

Omizunu no Mikoto
淤美豆奴命（おみずぬのみおと）

Part of the Izumo Fudo-Ki records of old.

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Yatsuka Mizu Omizunu no Mikoto
八束水臣津努命（やつかみずおみずぬのみこと）
omi-tsunu is another spelling.

Another creator god of the Land of Japan. He travelled in many places, especially to Silla in Korea and along the Noto peninsula of Japan. When he found a nice piece of land that he liked, he carried it all the way to the Izumo area and added it to the coastline there.


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More Japanese PHOTO reference !


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Kamochi Photo Album


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More detailed Izumo Entries to enjoy !


Izumo Kaido, The Old Road of Izumo 出雲街道
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