Sontaku - A Town Where You Can't Have a Dog in Japan 忖度に関する考察 No.4 奈良御霊神社周辺は犬を飼えない？

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Are you considering moving to Japan? And do you have or want to have a dog? If so, you should avoid Yakushido town, i.e., the area around Goryo Jinja shrine, in Nara.

The Nara prefecture is next to Kyoto and has many temples and shrines, such as Todaiji temple and Kasuga Taisha shrine, but Goryo Jinja shrine is different, i.e., it doesn't have something which temples and shrines usually have at their entrances, i.e., komainu or a pair of guardian statues of lion-dogs. The shrine doesn't have such guardian lion dogs for a reason. About 1,400 years ago, Emperor Tenmu (? - 686), the 40th emperor of Japan, fled to the shrine from his nephew Emperor Kobun (626 - 672), the 39th emperor, but dogs found him, so people in the village killed the dogs with stones to protect Emperor Tenmu and since then, nobody in the village has had a dog.

 

I saw a man related to the shrine saying that in a TV show. He also said that the villagers weren't prohibited from having dogs but just wouldn't do so, and do you know why? This is because of sontaku, i.e., a unique habit among Japanese people or their preemptive act to ingratiate themselves to superiors and peers. 

I love Nara so much that I want to move to the prefecture after retirement, but not around the shrine. (I'm half joking but also half serious😁!) If you're interested in sontaku, read this post, too! 

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いつか移住したいくらい奈良を愛しているのですが、テレビでちょっと残念な情報を聞いてしまいました｡｡｡

御霊神社、ご存じですか。近鉄・JR奈良駅から徒歩で15～20分の所にある小さな神社です。ただその神社には狛犬がないんです。というのもその昔、大海人皇子が逃げ込んできた際、犬が吠え立ててきたので、皇子の命を守るために村人が石で殺してしまい、それ以来、村人は犬を飼わなくなってしまったからとか。番組では「（犬を飼わないのは）強制ではなく村人がそれぞれの意志で飼わないだけ」と言ってました。でもこれって忖度？犬を飼っている方、飼いたい方は御霊神社の近くには住まないほうがよさそうです。（半分冗談、半分本気です😁！）

忖度に興味ある方はこちらの記事もどうぞ！

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