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The is a mythological river in
The is a mythological river in Japanese Buddhist
Buddhism has been practiced in Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while exten ...
tradition similar to the Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
concept of the Vaitarna
The Vaitarna River ( IAST: ''Vaitarṇā'', pronunciation: əit̪əɾɳaː is a river in Nashik and Palghar district of Maharashtra. The Tansa is its left bank tributary and the Pinjal, Dehraja, and Surya are its right bank tributaries. ...
and Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
concept of the Styx
In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...
.
Before reaching the afterlife, the souls of the deceased must cross the river by one of three crossing points: a bridge, a ford, or a stretch of deep, snake-infested waters. The weight of one's offenses while alive determines which path an individual must take. It is believed that a toll of six mon must be paid before a soul can cross the river, a belief reflected in Japanese funeral
The majority of funerals (, ''sōgi'' or , ''sōshiki'') in Japan include a wake, the cremation of the deceased, a burial in a family grave, and a periodic memorial service. According to 2007 statistics, 99.81% of deceased Japanese are cremated ...
s when the necessary fee is placed in the casket with the dead.
The ''Sanzu River'' is popularly believed to be in Mount Osore
is the name of a Buddhist temple and folk religion pilgrimage destination in the center of remote Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan. The temple is located in the caldera of an active volca ...
, a suitably desolate and remote part of Aomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...
in northern Japan.
Similarly to the ''Sanzu-no-Kawa'', there is also the , a boundary by which the souls of children who died too early cross over to the realm of the Dead, with the help of '' Jizō'', a ''Kami''/''Bodhisattva'' who helps the souls of children who died too early to avoid the attentions of the ''Oni'' and of ''Shozuka-no-Baba'' and ''Datsueba''.
Real Sanzu Rivers in Japan
* inKanra, Gunma
250px, Old town of Obata in Kanra
is a town located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 21,749 in 8311 households, and a population density of 220 persons per km². The total area of the town is .
Geography
Kanr ...
(confluence with Shirakura River)
* in Chōnan, Chiba (confluence with Ichinomiya River)
* in Zaō, Miyagi
is a town located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 11,790, and a population density of 77 persons per km² in 4,493 households. The total area of the town is .
Geography
Zaō is located in the Tōhoku regi ...
(confluence with Nigori River)
* in Mutsu, Aomori
is a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 56,244, and a population density of 65 persons per km2, in 28,778 households. The total area of the city is , making it the largest municipality in Aomori P ...
(drains from Usori Lake)
See also
*Yomotsu Hirasaka
In Japanese mythology, Yomotsu Hirasaka is a slope or boundary between this world, where the living live, and the other world, where the dead live (Yomi).
Overview
The myth, which holds that there is a boundary place between the realms where t ...
* Yomi
is the Japanese word for the land of the dead (World of Darkness). According to Shinto mythology as related in '' Kojiki'', this is where the dead go in the afterlife. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is (mostly) impossible to retur ...
** Yama
Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...
** Yama (Buddhism)
In East Asian and Buddhist mythology, Yama () or King Yan-lo/Yan-lo Wang (), also known as King Yan/Yan Wang (), Grandfatherly King Yan (), Lord Yan (), and Yan-lo, Son of Heaven (), is the King of Hell and a dharmapala (wrathful god) sai ...
** Naraka
Naraka ( sa, नरक) is the realm of hell in Indian religions. According to some schools of Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, ''Naraka'' is a place of torment. The word ''Neraka'' (modification of ''Naraka'') in Indonesian and Malaysia ...
** Ne-no-kuni or in the '' Nihon Shoki'', also called or in the '' Kojiki'', refers to a netherworld in Japanese mythology. It is sometimes considered to be identical to Yomi, another netherworld in the myths as well as . There is no clear consensus on the r ...
** Meido
* - The other side of the ''Sanzu River'', opposite the Living World's side.
* Bardo
In some schools of Buddhism, ''bardo'' ( xct, བར་དོ་ Wylie: ''bar do'') or ''antarābhava'' (Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese: 中有, romanized in Chinese as ''zhōng yǒu'' and in Japanese as ''chū'u'') is an intermediate, transitio ...
- Buddhist mythology
* Gjöll
Gjöll (Old Norse: ''Gjǫll'' ) is the river that separates the living from the dead in Norse mythology. It is one of the eleven rivers traditionally associated with the Élivágar, rivers that existed in Ginnungagap at the beginning of the world ...
– Norse mythology
* Hitpun
In Mandaean cosmology, Hiṭpun (Hiṭfun) or Hiṭpon (Hiṭfon) ( myz, ࡄࡉࡈࡐࡅࡍ) is a great dividing river separating the World of Darkness from the World of Light. It is mentioned in Hymn 25 of the third book of the ''Left Ginza''. T ...
- Mandaeism
* Hubur
Hubur () is a Sumerian term meaning "river", "watercourse" or "netherworld", written ideographically with the cuneiform signs . It is usually the "river of the netherworld".
Usage and meaning
A connection to Tiamat has been suggested with par ...
– Mesopotamian mythology
* Styx
In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...
– Greek mythology
* Vaitarna River (mythological)
Vaitarna or Vaitarani (Vaitaraṇî) river, as mentioned in the Garuda Purana and various other Hindu religious texts, lies between the earth and the infernal Naraka, the realm of Yama, Hindu god of death, and is believed to purify one's sins. ...
– Hinduism and Buddhism
* Naihe Bridge
Naihe (died 1831) was the chief orator and councilor during the founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii. A champion athlete in his youth, he negotiated for peace at several critical times and helped preserve the remains of several ancient leaders.
Ea ...
- the entrance and exit to the underworld in Taoism and Chinese folk beliefs; the ghosts must pass over this bridge before they can be reincarnated.
References
Locations in Buddhist mythology Locations in Japanese mythology Mythological rivers Rivers of Gunma Prefecture Rivers of Chiba Prefecture Rivers of Miyagi Prefecture Rivers of Aomori Prefecture Rivers in Buddhism Rivers of Japan Asia in mythology Afterlife places Mythological places {{Japan-river-stub