The who lives in the deepest of the castle._後編

「Dusho, Dusho, what’s wrong? Pull yourself together!」

A familiar voice… Dusho slowly wakes up in the dim light.　He looks over to see the samurai librarians surrounding him, peering anxiously at him.

I looked around and saw that it was on the second floor, where I should have left not long ago to go up to Hattendo (the top floor of castle tower).

「What happened? Are you hurt?　I heard a loud noise and came over to see and found you lying here …」

Finally, Dusho is feeling better. His legs and back ache a little, but he seems uninjured. In his hand, he is clutching the Shikoro (part of a helmet) given to him by Osakabe-hime（Princess Osakabe）.

Dusho told the samurai about the mysterious experience he had tonight.　And the next day, he went before the lord of the castle and told him what had happened.

The castle lord wondered when he heard Dusho’s story.　 However, when he saw the Shikoro presented to him, he was astonished and immediately unlocked the treasure room deep within the castle to look inside.

It is said that the shikoro had been removed from a helmet that had been a family heirloom.

The castle lord, who was in awe of the identity of the “Osakabe-hime”, who is said to live on the castle mountain and to protect the castle, worshipped her as the guardian deity of the castle from then on…

 

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The identity of the “Osakabe-hime” living in Himeji Castle is often said to be a haunted fox or spirit that inhabited the castle mountain.

However, there are three “Osakabe shrines” in Himeji Castle and its neighbourhood.　This may be proof that the story of Princess “Osakabe-hime” is more than just a ghost story.

To begin with, the story we have told you appears in a book written in the mid-Edo period, around the 1700s.　For the sake of clarity, I have written “Osakabe-hime” in this article, but at the time the book only written to a “female ghost”.

Nearly 100 years have passed since the Warring States period and the usefulness of castles has changed. The Hattendo (castle top) had already become useless and, due to its poor convenience, it had become a secret room that was rarely used.

It may be that the darkened room, which no one visits, is superimposed on a small amount of ancient folklore and made into a ghost story that could easily gain popularity….

So what are these few ancient folklore like?

 

At the end of the Warring States period, Ikeda Terumasa became the new lord of Himeji.
Terumasa undertook major renovations to Himeji Castle, which had previously been a three-storey building, including building a five-storey structure.

However, when the family started to live in the castle after the construction was finished, strange things started to happen one after another.

It was rumoured that the small shrine originally located here had been moved out of the castle during the construction work, and that this was a curse.

At first Terumasa paid no attention to such rumours, but eventually he himself contracted an unexplained illness, and a high priest was summoned from Mount Hiei to perform an exorcism.

However, a female ghost appeared and interfered with the prayer.
She then said「I am the god of Osakabe. Build a shrine on the grounds of this castle and worship me」.

Terumasa was horrified by this, and built a splendid shrine in the castle grounds, where he worshipped the Osakabe deity as his guardian deity from then on…

 

Now, this story is also from the end of the Warring States period and, similar to the ‘Osakabe hime of Hattendo’, it is no more than a ghost story.　The renovation by Ikeda Terumasa was completed in 1608. Four years later, Terumasa fell suddenly ill, which is probably why these stories were rumoured.

However, if we look further back in time, mainly at the three Osakabe shrines inside and outside the castle, we find that unexpected figures were involved in the Himeji area.

 

The deity enshrined at the Osakabe shrine is believed to be ‘Prince Osakabe’ and his daughter, ‘Tomi hime（Princess Tomi ※）’.　（※ Osakabe is a surname and therefore Osakabe Tomi.）

‘Prince Osakabe’, also known as ‘Prince Osabe’, was the son of the 49th ‘Emperor Kohnin’.　The period was the second half of the 9th century. 　He was to be as the 50th emperor.

One day, however, her mother Inoe was suddenly suspected of rebellion and both mother and son were stripped of their imperial regalia.　They are was sentenced to exile and died far from the capital.

This was known as the ‘Inoe Curse Incident’ and was a major incident that shook the imperial family at the time, but the reality is that it was a sham involving the issue of imperial succession, and ‘Inoe’ and ‘Prince Osabe’ are believed to have been innocent victims.

It is said that the Fujiwara family, who had enormous influence at the Imperial Court at the time, were the masterminds behind this…

 

After the untimely deaths of ‘Inoe’ and ‘Prince Osabe’, the country suddenly experienced a series of natural disasters.　Rumours circulated that ‘Inoe’ had turned into an angry dragon and soared into the sky.

People rumoured that it was a curse by ‘Inoe’ and ‘Prince Osabe’.　The Imperial Court was fearful and panicked, and built shrines and temples to appease the spirits of the two men and performed rituals.

In other words, their two spirits became gods …

Ancient Japanese beliefs were nature worship, so the influence of nature was a major backbone of the faith.　The pleasing aspect of blessings to people’s lives and the suffering aspect of disasters were seen as the two-sided nature of the gods.

Even grudge spirits, which were thought to bring misfortune, were thought to become deities that would watch over society and keep suffering away if they were appeased and enshrined.

One of Japan’s best-known ancient deities, ‘Tenjin = Sugawara Michizane’, like ‘Inoe’ and ‘Prince Osabe’, met a sad end due to a plot. He became a vengeful spirit, was appeased and enshrined, and became a well-known deity.

 

There is no official record of ‘Prince Osakabe / Prince Osabe’ having a daughter or sister called ‘Princess Tomi’.　Perhaps the model for ‘Osakabe-hime’ was her mother ‘Inoe’ herself.

The Hyogo Prefectural Shinto Shrines Authority’s guide to Nagakabe Shrine states.
[ ‘Princess Tomi’ was an imperial princess. She lived in the Himeji mountain area since childhood and died here. Afterwards, they were enshrined here as the guardian deities of the Himeji mountain area. They received great protection from generations of lords and great respect from the general public.” ]

In modern research it is difficult to imagine that ‘Prince Osabe’ had a daughter.
However, if ‘Prince Osabe’ had a sister princess living away from him, the tragedies that happened to his brother and mother would have had a significant impact on ‘Princess Tomi’s’ life.

Beyond the hatred of having lost his immediate family, did she live her life in Himeji, where she spent her time, wishing for lifelong peace and peace in the region?

It would not be far-fetched to assume that this feeling, combined with the belief in local guardian spirits, eventually became the source of the legend ‘Osakabe hime / Princess Osakabe’…

The tragedy that occurred 1,200 years ago has become nebulous over time, but it continues to live on in a different form and in secret…