Iconography of the Palm. 9: The Tale of Shiroishi in Oshu

Ema (votive tablet) at Hachiman Shrine in Iwasaki, Yuzawa City

An ema that caught my eye when I visited Hachiman Shrine in Iwasaki, Yuzawa City. The scene of a two-on-one battle seemed to depict a vendetta, but the only thing that came to mind at the time was the phrase "The Vendetta of the Soga Brothers," which had no basis in fact. However, I happened to hear from a storyteller, Fumiko Nakagawa, about the existence of a tale called "The Tale of Shiroishi in Oshu," and that question was resolved. Let me introduce the contents of the story below.

The Tale of Shiroishi in Oshu

One day in the 13th year of Kan'ei (1636), sisters, daughters of a farmer in Shiroishi, Oshu, were weeding a rice field with their father, Yotaro. A blade of grass thrown by the younger sister happened to hit the hakama of a man passing by (a fencing instructor for Date Masamune's retainer, Katakura Kojuro). The man, Danshichi, was enraged and tried to kill the girl, but her father was slashed to death while protecting her. Hearing this, their mother, who was bedridden, died as if following him.
Afterward, the sisters, who had sworn revenge, went to Edo and became disciples of Yui Shosetsu, who was famous as the greatest martial artist of the time. The older sister was named Miyagino, and the younger sister was named Shinobu. After five years of rigorous training, the older sister mastered the naginata, and the younger sister mastered the kusarigama and shuriken. Having obtained permission for the vendetta from Katakura Kojuro, they successfully achieved their goal at the Ropponmatsu riverbed of the Shiroishi River, while Katakura family retainers and many spectators watched.
Although it was revenge for their parents, the sisters tried to commit suicide on the spot to atone for the crime of killing a samurai, but they were stopped by the people around them. They gave up the idea, became nuns, and spent the rest of their lives serving Buddha.


Looking closely at the ema in question again, I can see that the two people fighting the man in the center are women, and they are holding a naginata and a kusarigama, respectively. Therefore, this ema can be interpreted as depicting the vendetta scene from "The Tale of Shiroishi in Oshu," with Danshichi in the center, Miyagino on the right, and Shinobu on the left. It is said that there was an actual incident that served as the basis for this story, but the truth of that is unknown. However, in the local area of Shiroishi, the sisters Miyagino and Shinobu, who overcame hardships to achieve revenge for their parents, have long been passed down as models of filial daughters.
The story of farmer sisters avenging their father (a samurai) captured the hearts of the people. The Kabuki and Ningyo Joruri play "Go Taiheiki Shiroishi Banashi" gained a reputation, and various yomihon (reading books) were published, such as "Oshu Shiroishi Onna Katakiuchi," "Oshu Sendai-ryo Shiroishi Onna Katakiuchi," "Shiroishi Onna Katakiuchi," and "Keian Taiheiki."
In addition, a folk performing art called "Danshichi Odori," in which three people dance while reenacting the vendetta scene, has spread nationwide.
Although "Danshichi Odori" is not passed down in Akita Prefecture, the lyrics of the folk song Akita Ondo include the lines, "Kora, in the castle town of Shiroishi, Sendai, Oshu, a woman's vendetta; the older sister is Miyagino, the younger is Shinobu, and they cut off Danshichi's head." Furthermore, the Yashiki Bangaku repertoire in Yurihonjo City includes "Shiga Danshichi," and although it has not been performed in recent years, the Nonaka Puppet Theater repertoire in Ugo Town also includes "The Tale of Shiroishi in Oshu," which shows that it was once a well-known story in the prefecture.
Unfortunately, no local performing arts related to "The Tale of Shiroishi in Oshu" were passed down in Yuzawa, where I live. However, this very town of Yuzawa was actually a place deeply connected to this story.

Treasures of Yusenji Temple

The "Agonashi Jizo (Abohara Jizo)" enshrined at Yusenji Temple in Fukiwari-cho, Yuzawa City, is a wooden statue said to have been made by Kobo Daishi, and it was originally stored at Abohara Enpukuji Temple in Misawa Village, Shiroishi, Oshu. There is a tradition that the sisters Miyagino and Shinobu prayed to this statue for the success of their vendetta, and it had gathered faith as being beneficial for toothaches and mouth diseases.
Also, as treasures of this temple, there were items dedicated by the sisters Miyagino and Shinobu for their vendetta prayers and after its success, including a spider shell, iron sandals, and the naginata and kusarigama used for the vendetta. Among these, it was said that the spider shell would grow a horn once every hundred years, and it would take until that horn was fully grown. And the iron sandals showed their strong will to carry out the vendetta no matter how many long years it took until they wore out.
There were the following circumstances as to why the Jizo statue and treasures deeply related to the sisters Miyagino and Shinobu came to be housed in a temple in Yuzawa.
"When the Abohara Jizo-son came to Yuzawa for an 'idegicho' (traveling exhibition), the monk who accompanied it died of a sudden illness, and the two laypeople also disappeared. They managed to finish the aftermath, but in the house where the Jizo-son and treasures were left, the family members fell ill with a mysterious disease. According to an oracle, this was a curse from the Jizo-sama, and it should be housed in a temple to the east of that house, so it was housed at Yusenji Temple."
The above content is based on "Yuzawa" (Yuzawa Times Co., Ltd.) published in the 5th year of Showa (1930), but since there is a similar description in "Akita no Otera" (Akita Sakigake Shimpo Co., Ltd.) published in the 9th year of Heisei (1997), I visited Yusenji Temple thinking that the Jizo-son and treasures might still be there today.

Yusenji Temple is currently an unmanned temple managed by the parishioners. I had Shigeru Kodanagi, who is in charge of management, open the key, and I was allowed to view and photograph the inside of the temple. This was originally a Shingon sect temple and a prayer hall for the Satake Minami family, but it became Tendai sect after the Meiji era. The three statues of the principal image, Fudo Myoo, and others are said to have been made in the Momoyama period and are designated as tangible cultural properties by Yuzawa City. About half a century ago, when it was still a building with a thatched roof, I could often hear the sound of drums when passing in front of it, and thinking about it now, it must have been during a prayer.
There were many statues in the main hall besides the principal image, but I could not find any wooden Jizo-son or anything that looked like the treasures. A large Jizo-son was enshrined in the memorial tablet room, but it was a stone statue.

However, there was one wooden statue that caught my attention. Its left arm was missing, but from its form, it seemed to be a seated statue of Yakushi Nyorai. What is characteristic is that it has no eyes or ears, and when viewed from the side, it also looks like it has no chin, so it seemed to match the word "agonashi" (chinless). There are dotted scraped marks on the chin area. I suspect that believers suffering from toothaches and the like scraped it off, took it home, and drank it as a decoction, praying for healing. It is also possible that the eyes and ears wore away and disappeared over many long years because people suffering from those diseases rubbed the Yakushi statue while offering prayers. If so, could it be called a Buddha statue similar to the "Obinzuru-sama" often seen at temples throughout the country?
And another way to perceive it is to consider it a statue made that way from the beginning. The faint carving of the eyes or the construction without carving eyes at all is a style seen in "Reiboku Kegenbutsu" (divine wood manifestation Buddha), which expresses the hazy figure of a god or Buddha appearing from a sacred tree. The three ancient Buddha statues remaining in Yuzawa City—the Hakusan Goddess statue in Matsuoka, the Eleven-faced Kannon statue in Tazawa, and the Thousand-armed Kannon statue in Sugisawa—are also considered Reiboku Kegenbutsu, and if the eyes were not carved from the beginning, this Yakushi statue would also be added to those examples as a statue carved from sacred wood. Also, the style of not creating ear protrusions is common to the Hakusan Goddess statue and the Sugisawa Thousand-armed Kannon statue. However, the existence of this statue at Yusenji Temple, which was founded in the early Edo period, feels strange, so it is thought that it was brought from another temple for some reason.
As a result of my visit, I could not find the Agonashi Jizo or the treasures. At one point, I thought the wooden statue in question might be it, but it didn't look like a Jizo-son no matter how I looked at it, and I didn't think a Yakushi would be mistakenly passed down as a Jizo. With no resident priest, I could not obtain any more detailed information, and the investigation hit a dead end. Where on earth did the Jizo-son and the treasures go?

Miyagino Shinobu 300th Anniversary Festival

Here, an encounter with a book solves the mystery. "Zenkoku Judan Danshichi Odori" (published by Shin-yosha, 2002), which was widely researched and compiled about the folk performing art "Danshichi Odori" based on the aforementioned "The Tale of Shiroishi in Oshu," was stored in the Yuzawa Library, so when I casually picked it up and turned the pages, my hand stopped abruptly at a certain article. It was a record of the "Miyagino Shinobu 300th Anniversary Festival" held in Shiroishi Town, Miyagi Prefecture (now Shiroishi City) in the 14th year of Showa (1939) to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the year of the sisters Miyagino and Shinobu's vendetta.
According to an article in the local newspaper at the time (Fubo Shimbun), while various related events were held, the ceremony on May 7th included the unveiling of the Doi Bansui poem monument, the unveiling of the 300th Anniversary Festival commemorative monument, and the announcement of the posthumous Buddhist name of the sisters' father, "Ganjoin Shaku Ryoshun," alongside the "presentation of letters of appreciation to Mr. Heijiro Onuma and Mr. Konosuke Haga of Yuzawa Town, Akita Prefecture, who donated the naginata and kusarigama."
Also, a "Shiroishi Banashi" historical materials exhibition was held at Sennenji Temple, and it was introduced as the highlight of the exhibition: "The naginata and kusarigama used by both women, which had been kept at Yusenji Temple in Yuzawa Town, Akita Prefecture for 70 years, as well as the wooden Abohara Jizo-son statue and other rare items that are not usually shown to the public, are on display."
In conclusion, the treasures and Jizo-son that had been housed at Yusenji Temple were returned to the place of their connection about 80 years ago in conjunction with the holding of the "Miyagino Shinobu 300th Anniversary Festival." There is no description of the return of the Jizo-son in the article, but the following is written on the back of the lid of the box containing the treasures currently stored at Sennenji Temple.

May 1, 14th year of Showa, Yuzawa Town, Ogachi District, Akita Prefecture
Dedication: Heijiro Onuma, 67 years old
Same place: Konosuke Haga, 45 years old
Yuzawa Town, Akita Prefecture
Person in charge of returning the Jizo-son
Toyokichi Watanabe


Genpachiro Nitta
Ryoji Suzuki
Since the names of the people in charge of returning the Jizo-son are also written like this, it is certain that it was returned to a temple in Shiroishi Town at this time, although it is unclear whether it is Sennenji Temple.
The mysterious connection between Yuzawa and Shiroishi that I came to know because of one ema. And now, I am reminded once again that the power of a story that moves the hearts of the people transcends reality.