Kibitsu Shrine

Okayama · Japan · Monastery

In the shrine's steaming divination cauldron, a betrayed woman's fury is said to make the iron roar — or fall silent like a death sentence.

For centuries, Kibitsu Shrine outside Okayama has performed the narukama rite, in which the roar or silence of a boiling iron cauldron foretells good or ill fortune. Legend holds that the cauldron rests above the buried head of the subdued demon Ura, whose growling gives the rite its voice. The ritual was immortalised in 'The Cauldron of Kibitsu' in Ueda Akinari's 1776 ghost-story classic Ugetsu Monogatari: before a wedding the cauldron fell ominously silent, the warning was ignored, and the betrayed wife Isora returned after death as a vengeful spirit who destroyed her faithless husband piece by piece. The rite is still performed in the cauldron hall today, and visitors can let the iron pronounce on their own fate.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Kibitsu Shrine?

Kibitsu Shrine ligger i Okayama, Japan.