Looked Up at Ebessan’s Red Gate and Locked Eyes. Who Are You?

When you pass through Ebessan’s Red Gate,

you totally end up looking down, right? ↓

Because you might trip (^_^;)

I realized I hadn’t really looked at the Red Gate properly since it was renovated and made all beautiful, so I looked up and…

Whoa～ something’s looking this way!

We’re making eye contact!! It’s looking down at mewell, of course it is, since it’s up high(^^ゞ

It’s even looking this way from the gap on the other side～💦

Even when you move to a spot where you can see the whole face, it still makes eye contact. That’s kind of amazing.

Who on earth is it?

All I could tell was the face,

and there were no clues anywhere, so I contacted Nishinomiya Shrine(^^)/

Excuse me, there’s something painted by the Red Gate that looks kind of like a green dragon. What exactly is that?

It’s a baku.

A baku, as in the one people say eats dreams?

That’s right.

Why a baku?

It’s a charm against evil.

I see. Thank you very much.

And that was the end of our very brief exchange!Phone interviews always make me ridiculously nervous!

So then I looked into why a baku is considered a charm against evil(^^)/

The baku is apparently an imaginary animal from China.Maybe kind of like a kirin or a dragon～(^_^;)

It’s said to have the nose of an elephant, the eyes of a rhinoceros, the tail of an ox, the legs of a tiger, and a body shape like a bear!That’s kind of scary to imagine(-_-;)

Sure enough, the nose is long like an elephant’s, and the tusks are very rhino-like～I can’t remember what a rhino’s eyes look like, so I’ll go observe one at the zoo next time

Here’s the important part!!

The baku eats people’s nightmaresand apparently if you chant, “I give this dream to the baku,” after having a nightmare, you won’t have the same nightmare again(^^)/

If you sleep on its hide, you can avoid epidemics hmm, getting the hide of an imaginary animal sounds pretty difficult! Baku-patterned bedding might go viral these days!

If you draw its form, it wards off evil spirits Yes, this is it! The baku painted on the Red Gate has this meaning as a charm to ward off evil spirits!

That’s the story(^^)/

By the way, the tapirs you see at the zoo were apparently named baku in Japanese because they look similar to the imaginary baku(^^)/

Finally

You probably don’t often look up at the Red Gate, but please bring this up during next year’s first shrine visit or Toka Ebisu～

And please, do watch your step(^^)/