Description

About 15 min on foot from Aoto Station. The last name on the list of enshrined kami, Aoto Fujitsuna, is strictly speaking, probably not a kami at all. He was a political advisor to the Kamakura Shōgunate and I have not been able to find any other shrines at which he is worshipped. He is the subject of an anecdote. Shown in the above ema. and in this picture, which is taken from the shrine's home page, he is using the torch which he is holding in an attempt to see to the bottom of the Nameri River (滑川) and find a few coins, ten mon to be precise, which he accidentally dropped into the river while on Shōgunate business. The coins were recovered. However, the torch he was using cost him fifty mon, presumably of his own money, as he was mocked by bystanders for spending 50 mon to recover ten mon but responded by saying that the fifty mon he spent on the torch went into a merchant's hands, thus increasing the town's prosperity, so what had been lost? Most commendable in a public servant, and he is now regarded as a symbol of rectitude and honesty.