The story of the couple (Meoto) Inari

Folktale "The Story of the couple"

There is a small red shrine (hokora) Inari in Tsurugaminehoncho. A long time ago, a person called Matsugoro lived here.

This is the story of Matsugoro when he was a young man. The young people at that time had no TV and no cars as they are now. After finishing field work in the daytime, waiting for the night to come, gathering friends with a finger flute as a signal, and to play around the neighborhood.

One day, Matsugoro went out to night play as usual. And it was on the way home from my friends.

When I came close to the house, I heard the sound of "Bochan!" Apparently, in the old days it was a sound like something fell on the well of a house called "Rokutsuzuka". But I was able to play, and it was troublesome, and I fell asleep that night.

When I woke up in the morning, I was worried about the noise of last night, so I looked into the well And there seemed to be some whites floating in the well. When I scooped up with a long stick, it was the corpse of a white fox. Matsugoro says, "It's Naan." Was it a fox? "I didn't care and forgot this.

And since then, strange events began to occur in this village. For those near here were to lose their young wife. So the number of men and fumes increased one after another.

So the villagers said, "Oh, I'm sure it's different from something." As a result of the consultation, the villagers decided to ask the prayer teacher to see it.

When the prayer priest began to pray, the spirit came out there. The spirit said sadly, "I am the guard of Inari in Tsurugamine. Until now, I have been working hard for this village, but it was one time. Our couple were on a very beautiful evening, so we were floating on the moon. And a man jumped into it. Who was surprised to have fallen into the well and died. No one noticed me, who had been lonely dead, leaving my beloved husband. So I did a lot of bad things to tell my sadness to the people of the village. It was really bad to take away the young women in this village one after another. Still, the villagers still don't know my heart. I am, I am…I envy the people of this village.…"," he said, "heartedly."

After hearing this, Matsugoro noticed that it was a grouper. "Yes, was that the white fox at that time? I've done a poor thing. "She mourned my heart, buried the spirit of a female fox, and prayed for the adult Buddha.

Since then, the sinful event of this village was that it has stopped with pattta.

Well, there is Katabira River across this Tsurugamine mountain. In the thick forest opposite, there was a village called Shimo-Imajuku. Today, it is called Imagawa-cho.

This Futamatagawa Murashita Imajuku also has a small Inari shrine. It is said that this Inari's guardian fox is the husband fox who lost his wife.

Once upon a time, at night, a female fox in Tsurugamine and a male fox in Shimo-Imajuku heard a lonely voice saying "Katabira River, corn." Stand on the bridge beside the ward office and listen to it well. In that mountain and this mountain, you may hear the sad voice of the foxes squealing each other.