Dingaling!

When you visit your friend’s house, how do you inform your arrival? Knock on the door? No. A bell, instead, especially for a god living in a shire.

If you have a chance to visit a shrine, please, look up along a rope in front of the main shrine building. You can see some bells sometimes and if you are lucky to find “WANI GUCHI” at the other times. “WANI GUCHI” looks like a UFO or a Japanese yummy pancake “DORAYAKI” hung the side to the rope.

There is an old “WANI GUCHI” preserved at “UONUMA JINJYA”. The inscription tells that the “WANI GUCHI” was dedicated by “NISHIKATA YASABUROU MITSUYUKI” in 1437. He would have been the head of a powerful clan around some part of Ojiya area.

“UONUMA JINJYA WANI GUCHI” is designated as one of cultural properties by Ojiya city.

参考：小千谷市ホームページ

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