Last year at Hirota Shrine, we received an “Amabie” talisman believed to help ward off epidemics. This time, we heard that Amabie had changed into a “Mambo” sunfish, so we went to check it out!
This article is brought to you by “GenkiStyle,” a foot treatment clinic that supports Nishitsu.
It was the first day of Golden Week, but since it was pouring rain and already evening, there was no one around 😅
The Mambo sunfish talismans were at the “Juyosho”, the shrine office where charms are given out!
There are two kinds!
I thought Mambo might be a play on words for “Man-en Boshi-to Juten Sochi” (Priority Preventive Measures), but apparently, like “Amabie,” it was believed in the Edo period to ward off epidemics.
*Screenshot from “Diagram of an Epidemic-Warding Mambo Sunfish,” Cultural Heritage Online
↑This woodblock print is the original!
Is the other one an original design?
It’s kind of cute… 😊
It seems the gates close at 4 p.m. during the state of emergency. (They were already closed on this day…)
*If you visit, please avoid crowds and go when there are fewer people around!
Here is the location of Hirota Shrine ↓
The address is 7-7 Taishacho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo.
Finally
The current “Priority Preventive Measures” have now become the more serious “State of Emergency,” but hopefully if we all stay patient through Golden Week, the number of infections will somehow start to go down.
Mambo-sama! Please help us 🙏
