A Place Where Water and God Talk to Each Other: Landscapes of Water God Beliefs in the Japanese Archipelago, 1950s-1970s

A Place Where Water and God Talk to Each Other: Landscapes of Water God Beliefs in the Japanese Archipelago, 1950s-1970s
In the Japanese archipelago, the belief that a deity resides where fresh water springs has lived on for centuries. In Kakihana Higawa River in Nanjo City, located in the southern part of Okinawa's main island, whenever clear water overflowed from the rocks, people prayed to the water as the source of their life. On the 15th day of the 6th month of the lunar calendar, women bring offerings and kneel in front of the spring to pray for a bountiful and stable harvest. Although the role of the spring has changed with the spread of modern water systems after World War II, the villagers continue to protect the spring as a place where the gods dwell. This is proof of the unique Okinawan worldview that sees more spirituality in water than in mountains, a worldview that has continued to be passed down in daily life.

At Yoshinoyama in Nara, the shrine of mikumari symbolizes both the god of the mountains and the god of water. In ancient times, it was the place where the emperor's imperial envoys begged for rain, and the water flowing from the mountain was considered the power that sustained even the order of the nation. The notion of a mountain god distributing water is certainly alive in local prayers, even after the medieval period and its subsequent syncretism with Shintoism and Buddhism. The custom of offering flowers and the attitude of cherishing the place where the spring springs are located are rooted in the understanding that water is the language of the gods.

In southern Tanegashima, mountain gods, water gods, and ancestors are linked in space. A narrow river connects a small shrine upstream to a cemetery downstream, and its flow symbolizes the cycle of life and death of the people. Despite postwar settlements and changes in the infrastructure of daily life, the landscape of mountains, water, and people connected as one is still strongly etched in the memory of the land.

In Kashiyama, Hokuto City, Yamanashi, a windbreak pine tree was planted to calm strong winter winds, and the Kaze no Saburo shrine was enshrined there. Facing wind damage, people feared the muddying of water more than anything else and offered prayers to calm the wind at the shrine. The knowledge of life that combined windbreaks and rituals was the very culture of negotiating and living together with nature.

In this way, water god worship is not merely an act of worshipping water, but a structure that allows nature and people to continue to communicate with each other. The act of joining hands in front of a spring is more than a gesture toward a deity; it is an act of confirming the history of living with water, and even after the changes of the postwar period, it has become a spiritual water vein that sustains the community. The landscape of the Japanese archipelago, where water and gods talk to each other, is not a relic of the past, but a living wisdom that continues to quietly flow in the depths of our daily lives.