Moreya or Moriya (洩矢神, ''Moriya- / Moreya-no-Kami'') is a Japanese

god In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

who appears in various myths and legends of the Suwa region in Nagano Prefecture (historical Shinano Province). The most famous of such stories is that of his battle against

Takeminakata Takeminakata (タケミナカタ), also known as Minakatatomi or Takeminakatatomi, is a ''kami'' in Japanese mythology. Also known as or after Suwa Grand Shrine (Suwa Taisha) in Nagano Prefecture (former Shinano Province) in which he is ensh ...

, the god of the Grand Shrine of Suwa (''Suwa Taisha''). Moriya is regarded as the mythical ancestor of the Moriya clan (守矢氏), a priestly family that formerly served in the Upper Suwa Shrine (上社, ''Kamisha''), one of the two sub-shrines that make up Suwa Taisha. In addition, he is venerated as a local tutelary deity (''

ubusunagami in Shinto are tutelary kami of one's birthplace. Overview In Shinto, a guardian deity of the land of one's birth. It is believed to be a deity that protects you from before you are born until after you die, and that it will protect you throug ...

'') in a shrine in Okaya City near the

Tenryū River The is a river in central Honshū, Japan. With a length of , it is Japan's ninth longest river. Its source is Lake Suwa in the Kiso Mountains near Okaya in Nagano Prefecture. It then flows through Aichi Prefecture and western Shizuoka Prefect ...

, which in later variants of the aforementioned myth is identified as the place where Takeminakata and Moriya fought each other. Local historians have long interpreted the story of the conflict between the two deities as the mythicization of a historical event in which a powerful local clan that ruled the

Lake Suwa is a lake in the Kiso Mountains, in the central region of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Geography The lake is the source of the Tenryū River. It ranks 24th in lake water surface area in Japan. The cities of Suwa and Okaya and the town of Shi ...

region and its vicinity (identified with the Moriya) was defeated by invaders who wrested control of the area (identified in turn with the Suwa clan, the high priestly lineage of the Upper Suwa Shrine that claimed to be Takeminakata's descendants), although a number of scholars have recently argued that it may actually be of later origin, heavily influenced by or outright based on medieval legends concerning

the conflict ''The Conflict'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Lucille Lee Stewart, Huntley Gordon and Wilfred Lytell.Connelly p.51 Cast * Lucille Lee Stewart as Madeleine Turner * Jessie Miller as Jeanette Harcour ...

between

Prince Shōtoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Hashihito, who was also Yōmei's younger half- ...

and the anti-Buddhist '' ōmuraji''

Mononobe no Moriya was an '' Ō-muraji'', a high-ranking clan head position of the ancient Japanese Yamato state, having inherited the position from his father Mononobe no Okoshi. Like his father, he was a devoted opponent of Buddhism, which had recently been int ...

, who may have been the inspiration for the god's name.

Name

What is currently the most commonly used rendering of Moriya's name in

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

, 洩矢, appear in sources such as the '' Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba'' (1356) and the genealogical record of the Moriya family compiled during the early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

(late 19th century) known as the ''Jinchō Moriya-shi Keifu'' (神長守矢氏系譜, "Genealogy of the ''Jinchō'' Moriya Clan"). It is also the rendering adopted by Moriya Shrine ( 洩矢神社) in Okaya City in Nagano, where the deity is enshrined. A number of other texts (see below) meanwhile refer to the god as ''Moriya Daijin'' (守屋大臣), an epithet more often used for the historical Mononobe no Moriya in medieval and later sources.

Background

Suwa Shrine and its priesthood

The Grand Shrine of Suwa (''Suwa Taisha'') in Nagano Prefecture consists of four shrines grouped into two sites: the Upper Shrine (上社, ''Kamisha''), located southeast of

, in the cities of Chino and Suwa, and the Lower Shrine (下社, ''Shimosha''), located in the town of

Shimosuwa is a town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,055 in 8864 households, and a population density of 300 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Shimosuwa is located in central Na ...

in the northern side of the lake. Historically, the Upper and Lower Suwa Shrines essentially functioned as two separate entities, each with its own set of shrines, religious ceremonies, and priests. Before the rise of State Shinto in the

, the position of head priest or ''Ōhōri'' (大祝) in the Upper Shrine was occupied by members of the Suwa clan (諏訪氏, ''Suwa-shi''), also known as the Miwa or Jin (神氏, ''Jinshi'' / ''Miwa-shi''). The Suwa traditionally traced its lineage back to the shrine's deity

, who is also known as Suwa Daimyōjin (諏訪大明神), the "Great Deity of Suwa." For a long time, the occupant of the high priestly office was revered as a god in the flesh ('' arahitogami''), the living incarnation or "body" ('' shintai'') of Suwa Daimyōjin. The second-highest office was that of the ''Kan-no-Osa'' or ''Jinchō'' (神長), later known as the ''Jinchōkan'' (神長官). This priest officiated the Upper Shrine's ceremonies, including the ''Ōhōri'''s investiture ceremony, which accorded him a preeminent status in the hierarchy. He also had the prerogative of summoning and inhering the

Mishaguji , also known as Misakuji(n), Mis(h)aguchi or Mishakuji among other variants (see below), is a deity or spirit, or several, that featured in certain religious rites formerly practiced in the Upper Shrine of Suwa, one of the two shrines that compri ...

, divine spirits who figure in some of the shrine's religious rites, onto objects who will serve as their vessels (''

yorishiro A in Shinto terminology is an object capable of attracting spirits called , thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies. are used during ceremonies to call the for worship. The word itself literally means "approach ...

'') for the duration of these rituals and then dismissing them at their conclusion. The hereditary occupants of this office were members of a clan called Moriya (守矢氏, ''Moriya-shi''), who claimed to have descended from a certain local god named Moriya or Moreya, who had been subjugated by Takeminakata.

Mythology

Moriya and Suwa Daimyōjin

The most famous story involving Moriya is that of his battle against Takeminakata / Suwa Daimyōjin, who is said to have come to the Suwa region seeking to dwell there or to conquer it. One version of this myth involves the Suwa deity or his subordinate defeating Moriya, described as armed with a certain kind of iron weapon or implement, using only a

wisteria ''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north ...

(藤, ''fuji'') branch or vine. Another variant has Suwa Daimyōjin facing and defeating Moriya on the battlefield.

"Moriya the evil outlaw" in the ''Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba''

What is perhaps the most well-known version of the story is found in the 1356 text '' Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba'', where it is recorded as the

origin myth An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have st ...

of Fujishima Shrine (藤島社, ''Fujishima-sha'') in Suwa City, one of the Upper Shrine's auxiliary shrines where its yearly rice-planting ceremony is traditionally held. The myth is also found in a Shinto-Buddhist liturgical eulogy (講式, ''kōshiki'') to the Suwa deity, the ''Suwa Daimyōjin Kōshiki'' (諏方大明神講式), thought to have been composed by the ''Ekotobas author, Suwa (Kosaka) Enchū (1295-1364), around the same time as the former text. The story is here integrated into a medieval legend that claims Suwa Daimyōjin to have originally been a king from India who, after performing heroic feats, attained enlightenment and traveled to Japan, where he manifested himself as a local ''kami''. Moriya is identified in this text as an incarnation of the demon king (魔王, ''Maō'') who first antagonized the future Suwa Daimyōjin back in India in the form of a traitorous vassal who fomented a rebellion against the king and then reappeared in Japan as "Moriya the evil outlaw" (洩矢惡賊), where he battled the Suwa deity. After being defeated, Moriya ran away and hid in a mountain behind the Upper Shrine called Moriyagatake (洩矢ヶ嶽, lit. "Moriya's peak"), known today as

Mount Moriya Mount Moriya ( bg, връх Мория, vrah Moriya, ) is the rounded, ice-covered peak rising to 1634 m

"Moriya Daijin" in the ''Suwa Nobushige Gejō''

A document supposedly submitted to the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no ...

in 1249 ( Hōji 3) by Suwa Nobushige, then ''Ōhōri'' of the Upper Shrine (now considered to be a forgery composed a century later at the earliest), known as the ''Suwa Nobushige Gejō'' (諏訪信重解状, "The Petition (''Gejō'') of Suwa Nobushige"), features a slightly different version of the myth.''Suwa Nobushige Gejō'' (諏訪信重解状), in In the petition, Nobushige claimed that "a careful inspection of the ancient customs" revealed that the Upper Shrine stands on what was once land owned by 'Moriya Daijin' (守屋大臣). He then relates a story about how Suwa Daimyōjin came down from heaven to take possession of Moriya Daijin's territory, but the latter would not let him. The dispute between the two eventually escalated into armed conflict, but as no winner could be declared, they competed in a kind of

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...

using hooks (''kagi'') made out of

(藤鎰) and iron (鐵鎰), in which the Suwa deity emerged the victor. The triumphant Suwa Daimyōjin then banished Moriya and planted the wisteria ''kagi'' in front of his newly-built dwelling, the future Upper Shrine. The wisteria miraculously turned into a grove known as the "Forest of Fujisuwa" (藤諏訪之森, ''Fujisuwa no mori''), which in turn gave its name to the region.

In other late medieval texts

The preface of a genealogical record of the Suwa clan thought to date from the 16th century titled the ''Jinshi / Miwa-shi Keizu'' (神氏系図, "Genealogy of the Miwa / Jin Clan") states that many conflicting stories concerning the origins of Suwa Daimyōjin exist: the ''

Sendai Kuji Hongi , or , is a historical Japanese text. It was generally believed to have been one of the earliest Japanese histories until the middle of the Edo period, when scholars such as Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Tada Yoshitoshi successfully contended that it wa ...

'' for instance identifies him as Takeminakata, the son of the god

Ōkuninushi Ōkuninushi ( historical orthography: ''Ohokuninushi''), also known as Ō(a)namuchi (''Oho(a)namuchi'') or Ō(a)namochi (''Oho(a)namochi'') among other variants, is a ''kami'' in Japanese mythology. He is one of the central deities in the cycle ...

, but another legend claims that the Suwa deity first appeared during the time of

Emperor Yōmei was the 31st Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 用明天皇 (31)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Yōmei's reign spanned the years from 585 until his death in 587. Traditional narrative He was cal ...

(reigned 585-587). According to this story, Suwa Daimyōjin, accompanied by an eight-year-old boy named Arikazu (有員), came to Suwa and fought a battle against a certain 'Moriya' (守屋) at Mount Moriya. Moriya was eventually defeated by "divine soldiers" (神兵) led by Arikazu, after which Arikazu established a sanctuary (the Upper Suwa Shrine) on the slopes of the mountain. Suwa Daimyōjin, clothing the boy with his own garments, declared him to be his visible "

body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...

" and then disappeared. Suwa Daimyōjin is identified by the story as

the manifestation ''The Manifestation'' is the seventh album release from experimental indie rock band, Six Organs of Admittance, released in 2004. It contains the lengthy single release of "Manifestation Manifestation is the act of becoming manifest, to become ...

of the

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

Samantabhadra (Fugen), while Arikazu, who became the founding ancestor of the Suwa clan, is identified with Manjushri (Monju). The same legend is found in another genealogical text titled the'' Miwa-ke / Jinke Keizu'' (神家系図, "Genealogy of the House of Miwa / Jin") or the ''Ōhōri-ke Keizu'' (大祝家系図, "Genealogy of the ''Ōhōri'' House"),神家系図 (''Jinke Keizu''), in and the ''Ten'in Goroku'' (天陰語録), a

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

work authored by the

Rinzai The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan ...

monk Ten'in Ryūtaku (天隠龍沢, 1422-1500). These two works name Suwa Daimyōjin's opponent 'Moriya Daijin' (守屋大臣) or 'Daijin Moriya' (大臣守屋), in agreement with the ''Nobushige Gejō''.

In Edo period texts

Lake Suwa 20131231 - panoramio (cropped)

A ''kōshiki'' from Suwa Shrine surviving in three late 17th century manuscripts titled ''Suwa Kō-no-shiki'' (諏方講之式 / 諏訪講之式) describes Moriya Daijin (守屋大臣) as the tutelary god (地主, '' jinushi'' / 地主之靈祇, ''jinushi no reigi'') of Suwa, which was originally named Yamabe (山家郡, ''Yamabe-

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

'' / ''Yamabe no kōri''). In order to decide who would gain ownership of the land, Suwa Daimyōjin and Moriya Daijin fought each other using wisteria (藤鑰 / 藤鎰) and iron ''kagi'' (鐵鑰 / 鐵鎰). Suwa Daimyōjin won and planted the wisteria, which eventually became known as Fujishima Myōjin (藤島明神). The name 'Suwa' is claimed here to have originated from Suwa Daimyōjin's exclamation: "Ah (''suwa''), I have won" (須和吾勝ヌ, ''Suwa ware kachinu''). A version of the myth is recounted in a mid-19th century work by merchant and ''

kokugaku ''Kokugaku'' ( ja, 國學, label= Kyūjitai, ja, 国学, label=Shinjitai; literally "national study") was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Tokugawa period. Kokugaku scholars worked to r ...

'' scholar Matsuzawa Yoshiakira (1791-1861), the ''Ken'yū Hongi'' (顕幽本記, "Fundamental Records of the Visible and Invisible ealms). Here, the god Moriya (守屋神, ''Moriya-no-Kami'') is portrayed as the original ruler of Suwa who prevented the "great god" (大御神, ''Ōmikami''; i.e. Suwa Daimyōjin) from entering his domain. In response, the Suwa deity ordered his emissary, Fujishima Daimyōjin (藤島大明神), to subjugate Moriya. Moriya, who was no match for Fujishima Daimyōjin, finally surrendered and went away, allowing Suwa Daimyōjin to take over his land.

In the ''Jinchō Moriya-shi Keifu''

In the late 19th century, Moriya Saneyoshi (守矢実久), the 76th Moriya clan head and the last person to serve at the Upper Shrine as ''Jinchōkan'' (hereditary priesthood having been abolished by the government in 1871), compiled a genealogy titled the ''Jinchō Moriya-shi Keifu'' (神長守矢氏系譜, "Genealogy of the ''Jinchō'' Moriya Clan"), which traces the family and their priestly office back to the mythic past.''Jinchō Moriya-shi Keifu'' (神長守矢氏系図), in This text is notable for grafting the ''

kuni-yuzuri The was a mythological event in Japanese prehistory, related in sources such as the ''Kojiki'' and the '' Nihon Shoki''. It relates the story of how the rulership of Japan passed from the earthly ''kami'' ('' kunitsukami'') to the ''kami'' of Hea ...

'' myth cycle found in the '' Kojiki'' and the ''Sendai Kuji Hongi'' into the Moriya legend, so that the Suwa deity (Takeminakata) is now portrayed as coming to Suwa after fleeing from the land of Izumo.

Other myths

Moriya and Yatsukao / Ganigawara

A story found in a late source claims that Takeminakata and/or Moriya (Moreya) fought another local deity named Yatsukao-no-Mikoto (矢塚男命), who died during the conflict. A folk version of the story portrays Yatsukao, alias 'Ganigawara no Chōja' (蟹河原の長者), as a chieftain and horse breeder whose might and influence rivaled that of Moreya, one of the powerful chiefs of the region. After Moreya swore fealty to Takeminakata after his defeat, Ganigawara held Moreya in contempt for surrendering to the foreign invader and had servants publicly revile him as a coward. Although their insults went unheeded at first, Ganigawara's men eventually resorted to violence, shooting arrows at the palace Moreya and other deities were erecting for Takeminakata. In retaliation, Takeminakata raised up an army and launched an all-out attack against Ganigawara with Moreya at his side. Ganigawara, mortally wounded by an arrow in the ensuing skirmish, repents in his deathbed and entrusts his youngest daughter to Takeminakata. Takeminakata gives her hand in marriage to a god who was injured by Ganigawara's messengers while guarding his palace.

The rain god of Mount Moriya

Behind the Upper Shrine, straddling the border between the cities of Suwa and Ina, stands the 1,650 metre-high Mount Moriya. On its eastern peak stands a miniature shrine or ''

hokora is a miniature Shinto shrine either found on the precincts of a larger shrine and dedicated to folk ''kami'', or on a street side, enshrining ''kami'' not under the jurisdiction of any large shrine.Encyclopedia of ShintoHokora Accessed on Dec ...

'' enshrining a deity referred to in old documents as 'Moriya Daijin' (守矢大臣 or 守矢大神). This god is identified with either the Moriya of Suwa legend or the deified Mononobe no Moriya, who is worshiped in a shrine on the opposite (southern) side of the mountain, in the town of Takatō (part of Ina City). Indeed, the ''hokora'' is considered to be this shrine's ''oku (no) miya'' (奥宮, lit. "inner shrine" or "rear shrine"). Moriya Daijin is considered to be a weather deity who causes rain to fall when angered. Local rainmaking rituals once involved provoking the god into sending rain by vandalizing the ''hokora'' or throwing it down the mountain side. Popular belief holds that rain falls whenever clouds gather around the mountain top. A local folk song advises people to prepare to mow the fields whenever the following signs of incoming rain are observed:

Offspring

One local tradition identifies Moriya as the father of the god Chikatō ( 千鹿頭神, also 'Chikato'), an obscure deity worshiped in a handful of shrines in the Suwa basin (specifically the cities of Chino and Suwa) and the neighboring municipalities of Tatsuno and

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

. The ''Jinchō Moriya-shi Keifu'' meanwhile claims him to have had two children, a daughter named Tamaruhime (多満留姫) and a son named Moriya ( 守宅神). Tamaruhime married Izuhayao ( 出速雄神), one of Takeminakata's sons, while the younger Moriya fathered Chikatō, who married Urakohime (宇良古比売命), the goddess of Mount Urako (宇良古山; identified with Chikatō Shrine (千鹿頭神社) in Kanda / Satoyamabe, Matsumoto). Curiously, the genealogy portrays Moriya's biological bloodline to have ended with Chikatō. Subsequent generations instead trace themselves to Kodamahiko (児玉彦命), Takeminakata's grandson via Katakurabe ( 片倉辺命), who became the successor to the Moriya legacy as per the will of Takeminakata himself.

Analysis

Setting

As noted above, the story of Moriya being defeated by a wisteria branch / vine or an implement made from the plant is presented in some earlier texts such as the ''Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba'' as the origin myth of Fujishima (lit. "Wisteria Island") Shrine, one of the auxiliary shrines (''sessha'') of the Upper Suwa Shrine, located a short distance away from the Upper Shrine's main shrine (''Kamisha Honmiya'') in Nakasu, Suwa City. ()

The Moriya myth and the Upper Shrine's origins

The myth of Takeminakata's defeat of Moriya has long fascinated researchers due to its perceived connection with the enigma of the origin of the Upper Suwa Shrine and the relationship between the Suwa ''Ōhōri'' and the Moriya ''Jinchōkan''. The story has been interpreted either as a mythicization of a conflict between indigenous Jōmon

hunter-gatherers A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

of the Suwa region and agrarian Yayoi peoples who began to settle in the area, or between the local clans of Suwa and the expanding

Yamato state The was a tribal alliance centered on the Yamato region (Nara Prefecture) from the 4th century to the 7th century, and ruled over the alliance of noble families in the central and western parts of the Japanese archipelago. The age is from th ...

somewhere during the 6th to 7th centuries CE (

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after ...

). Accordingly, Moreya is believed by some to be a deified indigenous priest-chieftain or clan leader who once held political and religious authority over the Suwa region. The author Iwao Ōwa (1990) meanwhile theorizes Moreya to be a personification of the guardian nature spirit or

worshipped by the Moriya clan. He further proposes that Moreya/Moriya and Moriya/Morita - Moreya's son in the ''Jinchō Moriya-shi Keifu'' - were originally a single figure later split into two, with the elder Moriya (Moreya) being connected with hunting and the younger Moriya (Morita) being mostly associated with sedentary agriculture.

Jinchoukan-Moriya-shiryoukan Jinchoukan-ura-kofun

Moreya, the Moriya clan and Mononobe no Moriya

The similarity between the names of both Moreya/Moriya and the 6th century ''

Ōmuraji (from Old Japanese: ''muraⁿzi'' < *''mura-nusi'' "village master") was an ancient

Japan

ese hereditary title denoting rank and ...

, who opposed the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, had led to a long-standing conflation of the two figures (cf. Moreya being called ''Moriya Daijin'' in medieval texts). A certain legend claims that a son of Mononobe no Moriya, named either Takemaro (武麿) or Otogimi (弟君), survived the defeat of the Mononobe in the Battle of Mount Shigi in 587 and fled to Suwa, where he married into the ''Jinchō'' Moriya clan; Takemaro is thus reckoned as a clan ancestor in the ''Jinchō Moriya-shi Keifu''. A small

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...

in the Moriya clan's historical estate in Chino dated to the 7th century is claimed in family lore to be Takemaro's tomb. Ōwa (1990) believes this story to be modelled after the biography of Mononobe no Masara (物部麻佐良), who according to the ''Sendai Kuji Hongi'' married Imoko (妹古), the daughter of an unidentified 'Suwa-no- Atai' (須羽直) during the reign of

Emperor Buretsu (489 — 7 January 507) was the 25th legendary Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 武烈天皇 (25)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this Emperor's life or reign, but ...

in the late 5th century, yet sees it as at least being inspired by a real-life connection between the Mononobe clan and Shinano Province.Ōwa (1990). pp. 110-111. Moriya Shrine in Okaya City where Moreya is worshipped currently denies any connection between the god and the Mononobe chancellor.

Descendants

Moreya is held to be the ancestor of the Moriya clan (守矢氏), which traditionally served as priests of the Suwa ''Kamisha''. The chief priest of the ''Kamisha'' was the '' ōhōri'' or ''ōhafuri'' (大祝 'great priest'), who was considered to be a living deity and the embodiment of Suwa Myōjin, the god of the shrine. Assisting the ''ōhōri'' (who by tradition was a member of the Suwa clan, Suwa Myōjin's supposed descendants) were five priests, at the head of which was the ''kan-no-osa'' (神長, also ''jinchō'') or ''jinchōkan'' (神長官), an office occupied by members of the Moriya clan. The ''jinchōkan'' oversaw the ''Kamishas rites and ceremonies in general and summoned

- a god or gods thought to inhabit rocks or trees worshipped in the region since ancient timesMoriya (1991), p. 4. and regarded by the Moriya as their patron deity - to possess individuals or inanimate objects during ceremonies, being the only one considered to be able to do so.Miyasaka (1987). p. 22. Jinchokan Moriya Museum

It has been observed that the religious climate of Suwa is a syncretism of ancient indigenous beliefs and practices (e.g. the worship of Mishaguji) reorganized under a Yamato framework (e.g. Suwa Myōjin/Takeminakata, the cult of the ''ōhōri''), but with the local element still predominant. Despite (or perhaps because of) his officially being a living god and the ''Kamishas chief priest, the Suwa ''ōhōri'' - who assumed the office during childhood - had little, if any, real power or influence in the shrine's affairs, which firmly rested in the hands of the Moriya ''jinchōkan'', with his unique ability to hear Mishaguji and call upon the god(s) to descend upon someone or something and his knowledge of special rituals, which were closely guarded secrets traditionally passed down via word of mouth only to a single individual, the heir to the office of ''jinchōkan''.Moriya (1991), p. 5. The establishment of State Shinto in the

abolished the tradition of hereditary succession among Shinto priests and private ownership of shrines. Accordingly, the shrine at Suwa passed under the control of the state, with government appointees replacing the clans who had historically served as its priests, the Suwa and the Moriya among them. As the ancient priestly offices of the shrine became defunct, most of the unwritten tradition once guarded by the Moriya ''jinchōkan'' died with the last occupant of the position. A museum dedicated to preserving information about the Moriya and documents owned by the family, the Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum (神長官守矢史料館 ''Jinchōkan Moriya Shiryōkan''), currently stands on the clan estate in Chino City, Nagano.

Shrine

A single shrine to Moreya
Moriya Shrine
(洩矢神社 ''Moriya-jinja''), stands in Okaya City,

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

, near the Tenryū River. On the opposite bank stand
Fujishima Shrine
(藤島神社 ''Fujishima-jinja''), where legend says Suwa Myōjin stood or encamped during the battle.
The other Fujishima Shrine
(藤島社 ''Fujishima-sha''), where the wisteria Suwa Myōjin used during the battle was supposedly planted and sprouted, is in Nakasu, Suwa City.Miyachi (1992), pp. 91-93.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Official website of Moriya Shrine (洩矢神社公式HP)

Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum
on Chino City's official website {{jmyth navbox long Hunting gods Japanese deities Japanese mythology Nature gods Shinto Shinto kami Suwa faith