Romeo and Juliette and the Shinto Shrine

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I like visiting shrines and temples. They are often cool and quiet, and have beautiful art. Many are little visited except on feast days or holy days, and can be a great place to sit in quiet contemplation.

One of the shrines that stuck with me was the Tsuyu-no-Tenjinja Shrine, also known as Ohatsu Tenjin, located in a very busy area by the Osaka train station, dominated by office buildings. I had a hard time finding this place; I could see it on my paper map and on my ever-so-smart phone app, but I walked past it a couple of times. It wasn’t until I looked closely at the “Konban” (police station) that I notice the stylized concrete tori gate next to it, and thought this must be it.

This shrine has a couple of sad stories associated with it. The name “Tsuyu-no-Tenjinja” comes from a poem written in 901 by Suguwara Michizane. Due in large part to some political infighting at court, he was exiled from the Imperial Court in Kyoto, and in despair, he stopped at the shrine and wrote this poem:

dew falls
with tears my sleeve
is soaked
when I think back
on Kyoto

The word for “dew” is Tsuyu. Suguwara was deified after his death as the god of learning and given the title of Tenjin, literally “god of sky.”



The Story of the Star-Crossed Lovers

In the play Love Suicides at Sonezaki, Tokubei is a sales manager at a soy sauce factory and Ohatsu is a prostitute. Years after being romantically involved, they meet by chance at Ikutama Shrine, a real location in Osaka. Ohatsu is angry at Tokubei for not staying in touch, but the man explains he has been through a difficult period in his life. They rekindle their relationship, which must exist in secret due to Ohatsu’s occupation. Soon, Tokubei faces a dilemma. The factory he works for is owned by his uncle, who says Tokubei will inherit this business if he agrees to marry a niece of one of his associates. When Tokubei refuses, due to his love for Ohatsu, his uncle becomes livid and seeks revenge.

He fires Tokubei, kicks him out of his house, and demands he immediately repay a loan. Tokubei is then scammed by a close friend. This friend begs to borrow the money Tokubei intends to use to clear the debt with his uncle. The friend later denies Tokubei ever gave him this money and then beats Tokubei in front of a crowd, causing him immense shame. Humiliated, homeless, and unemployed, Tokubei decides he should take his own life, which in that era of Japan was seen as an honorable death, often performed by Samurai in what was called Seppuku or Hari-Kari. He tells Ohatsu that he wants to live by her side forever, and she agrees to join him in the afterlife. They enter a forest, tie themselves to a “magic” tree that has two species of trees intertwined, and look in each other’s eyes as Tokubei kills Ohatsu and then himself. (Why people think suicide is romantic is beyond me.)

Today lovers come to the temple gain protection for having a good and healthy marriage. And, presumably a better outcome than Tokubei and Ohatsu.



Fortune telling animatronics

It’s not unusual to come across fortune telling at a temple in Asia. Sometimes it takes the form of shaking numbered sticks out of a cup, sometimes it is throwing jiaobei, or moon blocks, sometimes it is with grains of rice. Here, there is something that looks like a vending machine or a gumball machine. In it is a tiny animatronic kannushi, or shrine servant that comes out from a tiny little shrine with your fortune on a little tray which is then dropped into a chute leading out of the machine.

My fortune did not tell me the meaning of life, or even where the stock market was headed. It was pretty generic, much like the horoscopes you read in the newspaper. The large characters on the right call me a Good Friend, and I’ll take that as a positive comment from a tiny animatronic shrine attendant.





Possibly useful information:


• · The shrine is close to the Osaka Umeda station, where the JR rail line, the Osaka city bus, the airport limousine, and Osaka subway lines all converge.
• · Opening hours are from 6:00 am to midnight.
• · There is a “love hotel” adjacent to the shrine in case the “Romeo and Juliette” vibe overcomes you.

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Photos

ema
people write prayers for a happy marriage on these small wooden plaques, and when the wind blows the prayers are carried to heaven

Inari - guardian
these fox-like creatures were guardian of the granary, and are sometimes depicted with a key in their moth

Shinto shrines
shrines often have white zigzag hangings representing lightening in addition to the rope of rice stalks

Comments

[Sharon]

Love this!
One of your best and funniest stories!

[D MJ Binkley]

Osaka
I'm glad you are exploring new cities on this trip. We will be in Japan in March so are reading with great interest.