Culture of Kurama

Kurama is a small village nestled in the mountains. Yet, this land holds a history of time accumulated as a place connecting the capital and the mountains.

A Port Without Ships

From the beginning of the Edo period, Kurama was known as a famous producer of charcoal, known as Kurama charcoal.

Early in the morning, people from remote villages such as Hanase, Hirogawara, Moi, and Omi would come to Kurama's charcoal wholesalers, carrying charcoal bags on the backs of oxen and horses, and charcoal on their own backs. After unloading their cargo, they would then load salt, miso, soy sauce, and daily necessities to return to their respective villages. From Kurama, the charcoal was transported to the capital, Kyoto, by ox-drawn and horse-drawn carts.

There were always fifteen or sixteen oxen and horses kept for transportation. They were tied at the entrances of houses and huts, and children were reportedly scared to pass by them.

People called the bustling activity of people and oxen and horses coming and going a "port without ships."

As told by a local elder.

Ninose and Hosendo

Ninose, a village along the Kurama River, became a fief of the Hayashi family, a line of Confucian scholars founded by Hayashi Razan, during the Edo period. After Razan's death, Hosendo, the Hayashi family mausoleum, was completed in 1674 through the efforts of village head Imae Kiyonaga.

Records state that Hosendo housed Razan's personal effects and writings, and that offerings were made on the death anniversaries of successive members of the Hayashi family. The building was lost after the Meiji Restoration, but documents preserving the history of Ninose and the Hayashi family remain.

According to Imae, the Imae family preserves a genealogy tracing its ancestry to Ki no Natora, and he is said to be the forty-fourth generation in that line.

Kurama-dera Temple and Faith

It is said that Kurama-dera Temple began in 770 (Hoki 1) when the monk Gantei-shonin, guided by a dream oracle and a white horse, ascended Mount Kurama and built a hermitage to enshrine Bishamonten. In 796 (Enryaku 15), Fujiwara no Iseto established the temple complex and also enshrined Senju Kannon.

In the middle of the Heian period, people from the capital came to climb this mountain. Sei Shonagon wrote about "Kurama no Tsudzura-ori" in her "Makura no Soshi," and Sugawara no Takasue no Musume recorded her pilgrimage in her "Sarashina Nikki." The "temple in Kitayama" depicted by Murasaki Shikibu in the "Wakamurasaki" chapter of "The Tale of Genji" is also believed to be Kurama-dera Temple.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune entered this mountain as a seven-year-old boy known as Ushiwakamaru and left Kurama at the age of sixteen to go down to Hiraizumi in Oshu. It is said that he practiced Buddhist teachings during the day and was taught military tactics by a Tengu in Sojoga-tani at night. The ema (votive tablets) offered at the temple depict Ushiwakamaru, Karasu Tengu (crow-billed Tengu), and Hanataka Tengu (long-nosed Tengu).

When a fire broke out in 1814 (Bunka 11), it was the local villagers who carried the revered statues and temple treasures out of the flames.

Even today, on June 20th, the Takekiri-e-shiki (Bamboo Cutting Ceremony) is held at Kurama-dera Temple. It is a registered intangible folk cultural property of Kyoto City.

Kurama Fire Festival

Every year on the evening of October 22nd, the Kurama Fire Festival is held as the annual festival of Yuki-jinja Shrine. This festival reenacts the procession when Yuki-jinja Shrine was relocated to this area.

As dusk falls, torches are lit along the streets. The people who live in this town carry them.