Monkey God (Sarugami at Hie Jinja)

日枝神社の猿神像

When I first saw this statue I thought it was a legendary kappa. However, on closer inspection, I found it to be a monkey wearing a Shinto priest’s hat. A little research turned up the fact that sarugami, also known as masaru, is the patron god of the Hie shrines all over Japan. I took today’s photo at the one in Tokyo.

Posted on December 1st, 2011 under Japan • Tags: shinto, Tokyo. • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed

2 Responses to “Monkey God (Sarugami at Hie Jinja)”

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   Peter Ninnes:
   December 2nd, 2011 at 1:03 am

   Hi, thanks for that pic. I am going to look out for one of those Sarugami. I can’t recall seeing one in all the shrines I’ve visited, but it may have just been inattention! When you mentioned Kappa, I started to wonder. Where I live, we have one of the franchises for Kappa Sushi. The Kappa bit is always in hiragana, though, and I wondered if you know whether it is the same Kappa i.e. 河童. Cheers.

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   acase:
   December 2nd, 2011 at 8:49 am

   I think it is the same (i.e., かっぱ = 河童). I have even heard of 河童巻 which is a sushi with cucumber in it. There are supposedly 日枝神社 all over Japan. I’m guessing that most should have at least one of the Sarugami statues. Some may have Sarugami in place of the more typical Nio in the entrance gates. http://traveljapanblog.com/wordpress/2009/03/nio/