天神祭と「だんじり吉兵衛」狸

There is a well-established Japanese belief in an invisible spirit who lived in an old tree. A raccoon dog, which lived in the tree's hollow, often believed to be an incarnation of the spirit. On the other hand, folk story tells that people have long been frightened by the strange sound made of raccoon dogs beating their stomach muscles with their paws. Based on these, the following story of a spiritual raccoon dog, named Danjiri-kichibei was formed in Osaka.<br>In 1938, when the watercourse between Tenma canal and Yodo river was cut, beside the canal Enoki (hackberry) jinja shrine was established. After then, a raccoon dog lived there regarded as an incarnation of Enoki jinja shrine's spirit. One night when people completely neglected the spirit and the raccoon, an old man offered a lunch box to Enoki jinja shrine. Then, suddenly a strange sound sounded. This seemed to be similar to the sound of danjiri bayashi (the music used to accompany a float pulled in procession), although the festival season had finished. The people considered that this must have been the warning sound by the spiritual raccoon dog they ignored.<br>They named the spiritual raccoon dog Danjiri-kichibei after the character of his strange sound. Danjiri-kichibei was happy to produce the sound until the Meiji period (1868-1912), when many people visited the shrine. Although it has not been heard by the 1930s, a danjiri bayashi performance, which is sometimes accompanied a “raccoon dog dance”, is still offered to Danjiri-kichibei.<br>In this story, it is conspicuous that the strange sound was related to the sound of danjiri bayashi. In the 1930s, Danjiri-kichibei was regarded as a spiritual raccoon dog, which was good at imitating danjiri bayashi sound of the Tenjin-matsuri festival that had performed on the pulled floats during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Tenjin-matsuri festival is one of the three biggest festivals in Japan, and the danjiri bayashi performance is popular especially in Osaka. However, since the Meiji period the danjiri bayashi performances declined to the one performed on a fixed float in the Osaka Tenmangu shrine (the ritual center of the festival).<br>It is indeed only about 800m distance between the shrine and Danjiri-kichibei's small shrine, however, the strange sound was heard after the festival season. In addition, Osaka Tenmangu shrine keeps no material concerned with a raccoon dog. Noting relates the Danjiri-kichibei's and Tenjin-matsuri's danjiri bayashi.<br>Then, the sound recognition by the local people should be considered why Danjiri-kichibei's sound was related to the sound of Tenjin-matsuri festival's danjiri bayashi. The author hypothesized that a real strange sound was heard around Enoki jinja shrine. The expression of the Danjiri-kichibei's sound, that is “kon chiki chin”, indicates this was a metallic quality. It is possible to be a sound of the casting coins at the brick factory of the Mint Bureau established in 1870. At the factory where situated 1200m away from Danjiri-kichibei's small shrine, 16 hours a day working was done at the longest. The sound could be heard at night until the building was reconstructed in the 1930s.<br>The strange sound was accepted as a phenomenon caused by a spiritual raccoon dog, referring to the local belief. The sound became more familiar when it was related with the sound of danjiri bayashi. In the 1930s when both Danjiri-kichibei's and the pulled floats' danjiri bayashi performance had been lost, the nostalgia for the Meiji period relates these. As a result, Danjiri-kichibei's strange sound was involved in the local sound culture of Tenjin-matsuri festival. When danjiri bayashi was performed for the spiritual raccoon dog