Karitahiko and Karitahime

The following text is a slightly modified machine translation and may have some unnatural parts.

==Introduction==

The deities of the Karita Shrine in Kute town, Oda City are Karitahiko and Karitahime. Mow the rice fields. In other words, it is an agricultural god and a pair of gods. In addition, Uka-no-Mitama(Inari Daimyojin) is also enshrined.

Karita Shrine

There used to be Lake Hane in Kute town, but it was reclaimed in the Showa period and has become a rice field. The Karita Shrine originally had a shrine on Mt. Kanya on the south shore of Lake Hane, but the village moved closer to the coast and the old shrine was a wet land, so it was moved to the current location because it was inconvenient to visit. It is said that there was a large stone called Eboshibana on Mt. Kanya.

It is said that there are Karitahiko Shrine and Karitahime Shrine in Wakasa Province, but the relationship with Karita Shrine is not clear.

==Consideration of location==

According to "Consideration of location of Iwami country Shikinai Shrines" written by Muneo Fujii, a national scholar who was active in the Meiji era, Karitahiiko and Karitahime are interpreted as the ancestors of Karita Obito (Karita tribe chief). You can also see that there were two Karita Shrines in Hane Nishi village and Oda Minami village.

According to the "Shikinai Shrines Survey Report Vol. 21, San-in-Do 4", there are many shrines in the former Ano county that are closely related to development and agriculture, such as Karita, Sashika, Niikuso, and Nui.

==Oral tradition==

There is no story about Karitahiko and Karitahime, but the following oral traditions are mentioned in the "Shikinai Shrines Survey Report Vol. 21, San-in-Do 4".

• 1. It is said that the object of worship was carved by prime minister Sugawara no Michizane with a wooden statue.
• 2. As a custom of this region, the object of worship were actively stolen around the Edo period.
• 3. It was said that "Kanya Myojin is more scary than thunder", and when a person who was tainted boarded a boat passing under Haneura / Tategami Rock, he was faced down by Kanya Myojin's eyes and immediately capsized.
• 4. There is a village called Otsu to the east of Lake Hane (currently a reclaimed land). There was a chief named Otsu-ya here. At some point, for whatever reason, the family was cut off. However, a mysterious fire always appears over Otsu at around 2:00 am on August 20th, which is the old high holy day of Karita Shrine, and comes and goes to Mt. Kanya. It is said that this is because the ghost of Otsu-ya comes to apologize to Kanya Myojin, and it is called Otsu-ya Fire.

==Digression==

There is a natural monument petrified wood near the shrine, but when I visited, I couldn't visit because I didn't know where it was.

Karita Shrine

"神谷" couldn't decide what to read. Another name is Kanda Myojin, so I thought it might be "Kanya".

==References==

• * 『式内社調査報告 第二十一巻 山陰道４』（式内社研究会／編, 皇学館大学出版部, 1983）pp.795-799
• * 藤井宗雄「石見国式内神社在所考」『神祇全書 第５輯』（思文閣, 1971）pp.339-340