Quote:
Originally Posted by Magen
I will be traveling to Japan in late October and originally I wanted to go to Matsue (for Lafcadio Hearn) and then Sakaiminato (for Gegege of course!) to pay homage to what first got me interested in Japanese culture: yokai
However I wont be able to fit those two in my itinerary like I hoped and I will just be traveling to Tokyo and Kyoto. I've heard that Mt. Takao has a great shrine with statues dedicated to Tengu and I'd love to hit that up.
Is there any other sites or exhibits between, or in, Tokyo or Kyoto that are dedicated to Japanese mythology?
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The shrine you mentioned is probably Tengu-sha (天狗社) at Takaosan Yakuouin (
高尾山薬王院). That's what I learned from the Japanese
Wikipedia article about Yakuouin. Sorry, I have never been there. There's a statue of Tengu on the platform No. 3 and 4 of JR Takao Station.
Another Tengu-related place I know is a temple named Kuramadera (鞍馬寺) at Kurama, Kyoto. NHK aired a drama featuring Kurama Tengu who taught swordsmanship to Minamoto no Yoshitsune.
I don't have enough time to do a Wikipedia search now, but I know there are many places associated with animal yokai, such as Tanuki, Kitsune, Bakeneko, Inugami, Okami, etc. These creatures are everywhere.
There's a town named
Shigaraki (信楽) in Shiga Prefecture. It is known for pottery statue of Tanuki, such as this one.
