Mitsuishi shrine [三ツ石神社]
Mitsuishi shrine
Rocks with Oni-no-Tegata
DSC_0418 by Marufish
Mitsuishi shrine ("Mitsuishi Jinja" in Japanese) is an small Shinto shrine.
It is located about 1 km north of Iwate Park.
The area of the shrine is surrounded with temple and houses and is narrow.
And there are only a small shrine and three big rocks in the area.
"Mitsuishi" means "three stones", so the name of the shrine is derived from the three big rocks.
Long, long ago, when Mount Iwate volcano to the northwest of Morioka erupted, three big rocks were shot out from the volcano.
The people in this area believed that the Gods lived in the rocks as "God Mitsuishi".
On one occasion, a demon appeared and bullied the people.
So, the people asked God Mitsuishi for help.
The God fought off the demon and tied him to the big rocks of the God.
The demon promised never to do that again, and the God made him seal his hand print on the rock as a certificate.
Then the demon returned back to far mountain...
It is said that the rock with demon's hand print is in Mitsuishi shrine.
In Japanese, the demon's hand print is called as Oni-no-Tegata (鬼の手形).
You may be able to find the hand print on the surface of the rocks.
By the way, "rock" is "iwa" (岩) and "hand" is "te" (手) in Japanese.
The prefecture name "Iwate" derives from these words of this shrine.
How to get here
By loop bus "Denden Mushi", get off at "Honcho-dori Icchome" stop.
about 11 minutes from Morioka station.
The about 600 meters walk.
