Southern Kyushu Myth Journey #9: Japan's Only Small Shrine for Umisachihiko

After leaving Udo Jingu, I headed to Ushiodake Shrine, the last place I wanted to see in Miyazaki.

This is the only shrine in Japan that enshrines Umisachihiko as the main deity, but compared to the magnificent Aoshima Shrine and Udo Jingu, which are associated with Yamasachihiko, it is far too small and modest.

The myth of Umisachihiko and Yamasachihiko goes like this.

Umisachihiko (the elder brother) made his living by catching fish and shellfish, while Yamasachihiko (the younger brother) lived by gathering mountain bounty like wild boar.

One day, Yamasachihiko suggested to his brother, 'Let's swap our tools for a change.' The elder brother was reluctant, but he accepted his younger brother's proposal. However, Yamasachihiko lost the precious fishhook he had borrowed from his brother in the sea. Yamasachihiko returned a substitute, but Umisachihiko rejected it, saying, 'Give me back what I lent you.'

At a loss on the seashore, Yamasachihiko followed the advice of a messenger from the sea god and headed to a palace on the ocean floor. There, he married Toyotama-hime, the daughter of the sea god, and after living happily, he found the fishhook on the seabed. He returned to the surface and gave the hook back to his brother, but he did so with a curse. Furthermore, he tried to drown his brother in the sea before saving him.

Ultimately, Umisachihiko pledged allegiance to Yamasachihiko, drifted to the village of Ushiodake in a stone boat, ruled over this land, and is said to have become the ancestor of the Hayato people. The Hayato are said to have performed dog-barking rituals at the Imperial Court, and the moss-covered guardian dogs at Ushiodake Shrine are not lions, but dogs.

In the first place, Yamasachihiko made an unreasonable demand to swap tools with a reluctant Umisachihiko, and then committed the outrageous blunder of losing the fishhook his brother cherished. Yet, he just handed over a substitute and acted as if that should be enough. There is no way a one-of-a-kind treasure could have a replacement.

While leaving Umisachihiko in a state where he couldn't even catch fish without the hook, he himself got intimate with the sea god's daughter and lived happily ever after.

To top it all off, he committed the outrageous act of cursing his brother when returning the fishhook.

Umisachihiko could no longer live by the sea and spent the rest of his life quietly in the mountain village.

If I were Umisachihiko, I wouldn't be able to accept such unreasonable treatment. It makes no sense to hurt someone, not understand the gravity of what you've done, live comfortably with the help of a third party, and in the end, curse the person you hurt instead of apologizing to them.

After visiting the magnificent shrine of Yamasachihiko, coming to this overly modest shrine of Umisachihiko made the unreasonableness of that myth weigh even more heavily on my heart, leaving me feeling unsettled. Yamasachihiko is the ancestor of the Emperor, isn't he?

This small shrine, still cherished by the locals who adore Umisachihiko, left a deeper and more intense impression on me than anywhere else, and I purchased a charm of Umisachihiko at the adjacent shrine office, which also serves as the priest's home.

I hope to one day visit the mystical Ushiodake Kagura, which keeps the myth of Umisachihiko alive to this day.