Mishaguji, also known as Mishaguchi or Mishakuji among other variants, is a collective term for kami worshipped mainly in Nagano Prefecture since ancient times, with possible traces of their worship found elsewhere in east and central Japan. Believed to be spirits that inhabit natural objects like trees or rocks that could also be called upon to possess humans or objects during religious rituals, Mishaguji are also thought to be god of boundaries and protector of communities. Worship of the Mishaguji occupied a central place in the religious beliefs of the Suwa region in Nagano prior to the arrival of the Yamato state in the area. Even after the localbelief system was reorganized under the Yamato polity, Mishaguji worship was continued by a priest of the Moriya clan, the original politico-religious heads of Suwa. While the deity worshipped in the Grand Shrine of Suwa - most often called Suwa Myōjin - is nowadays usually identified with Takeminakata, portrayed in the Kojiki as a son of Ōkuninushi, the god of Izumo who initially resisted the transfer of sovereignty over the land of Japan from his father to Amaterasu, the peculiar character of many of the religious rites of Suwa Shrine - specifically, that of the Upper Shrine - seem to point to the cult of Suwa Myōjin as originally being a derivative of indigenous Mishaguji worship under Yamato rule. Takeminakata and/or his myth has been theorized by a number of modern scholars to be possibly based on this adaptation of local beliefs.
Names
A plethora of variant names and ateji are attested for Mishaguji, including Misakuchi-kami or Misaguji-gami,Mishaguji/Mishaguchi, Mishakuji, Saguji, Misaku-kami or Misaku-jin, Mishagujin, shagoji and Oshamoji among others. The name has been variously interpreted as deriving from shakujin/ishigami, due to Mishaguji's association with stones and rocks, or shakujin, due to another association with bamboo poles and measuring ropes used in land surveying and boundary marking. :ja:大和岩雄|Ōwa Iwao, considering the above explanations unsatisfactory, instead opines the name to be ultimately derived from sakuchi, a spirit that brings forth or opens up the latent life force present in the soil or the female womb.
Worship of Mishaguji is thought to have originated in the area surrounding Lake Suwa from beliefs centering around the Earth Mother during the Jōmon period. There are a total of 675 Mishaguji shrines within Nagano Prefecture, 109 of which are in the Suwa region, the heartland of the Mishaguji cult. In addition, traces of Mishaguji worship are found throughout the Kantō and Chūbu regions of Japan: shrines to the god exist in areas such as Shizuoka, Aichi, Yamanashi, Mie and Gifu. On the other hand, Mishaguji shrines are conspicuously absent in the two prefectures of Niigata and Toyama, located to the north of Nagano.
Function
Mishaguji are believed to be spirits that dwell in rocks, trees, or bamboo leaves, as well as various man-made objects such as phallic stone rods, grinding slabs or mortars. In addition to the above, Mishaguji are also thought to descend upon straw effigies as well as possess human beings, especially during religious rituals. This concept of Mishaguji as a possessing spirit are reflected in texts that describe Mishaguji being 'brought down' or 'lifted up' by the Moriya jinchōkan, the priest with the exclusive right to call upon Mishaguji in the religious rites of the Suwa Grand Shrine. Folk beliefs considered Mishaguji to be associated with fertility and the harvest, as well as healers of diseases like the common cold or pertussis. Mishaguji have been worshipped as tutelary deities of whole villages as well as specific kinship groups. Further reflecting this relationship between Mishaguji and local communities is their being believed to preside over the act of founding villages as well as their being associated with the broadly similar concept of saikami.
Mishaguji in Suwa
Within the Suwa region, syncretism with other myths has resulted in the representation of Mishaguji as snakes, as well as their connection with the story of Takeminakata-no-kami and Moreya-no-kami; Moreya-no-kami is said to represent the autochthonous worship of Mishaguji that syncretized with the worship of new gods represented by Takeminakata-no-kami. Ontōsai, sacred hunts of deer culminating in the sacrifice of the animal's head to the Mishaguji, were formerly carried out at shrines such as Misayama Shrine in Suwa. In the modern era, these hunts have generally been replaced by a ceremony incorporating an artificial stuffed deer head.
