The backgrounds of the folklores of “Saino-kawara” and “Hasami-iwa” on the “Kanno-mine”

Utilization of historical cultural resources and administrative issues

Abstract

This research, a part of the COC Programs of Institute of Technology Hiroshima, investigates the background of the local folklores related to such toponyims as “Saino-kawara (shores of the Styx)” and “Hasami-iwa (pincer rocks)” in Mount “Kannno-mine (divine peak).” These folkloric tales are archived in the collections of Osaki-cho Local Museum of History and Culture. At the same time, the research takes a look at some administrative issues for activating our town. “Saino-kawara” and “Hasami-iwa”, located around the peak, seem to have played a role of boundary between our ordinary world and sacred area of spirits living on even after death. And it is possible that, through this tautonymy “Saino-kawara,” insulars regarded “Kannno-mine” itself as a kind of sanctuary where the dead’s souls would remain. By the way, in my opinion, these names can be relatively new, and don’t have a long history ; they appeared only in the middle of the Edo era or later. Historical-cultural resources like them should serve to promote our local town. So the administration should think of the preservation and wider announcement of these resources for the future of our town.