Kii route8-2 日高町 Kue and Shirohige Shrine in Ao
2021年 04月 10日
Wakayama Prefecture faces the Inland Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Most of the land is covered with mountains. Because of the geographical features, the prefecture is blessd with a variety of delicious foods such as fresh fish, meat,tangerines, plums and other fresh fruits.
日高町は昔からクエ漁で知られた町。毎年10月、町では「クエ祭り」が開催されます。産湯海岸近くの浜辺でクエ鍋や唐揚げなどが手頃な値段で提供されます。
One of the most well-known local cuisines is Kue, or a longtooth grouper. Kue is a fish which grows as heavy as 60 kilograms and as big as 1.5 meters. It usually lurks in the deep sea alone and lives on lobsters, squids and other fish.
This habit makes it difficult for fishermen to catch Kue and helps the fish earn a nickname of “a rare luxury fish.” There have been some attempts to raise Kue for mass production but they haven't really succeeded yet.
Hidaka Cho is one of the few towns that have traditionally engaged in Kue fishing. Every October, the town holds a “Kue Festival” on the seashore near Ubuyu Beach and provides Kue cuisine at reasonable prices.
この神輿を地元の若衆が担ぎ、神社の急峻な石段を駆け上って神前に供えます。しかしながら、この神事も近年は後継者不足のため執り行われていないそうです。
Shirohige Shrine near the beach used to hold a traditional religious ceremony also known as ”Kue Festival.“ In this festival, families in the community took turns to dedicate a big Kue to the shrine.
The shrine’s priest cut the fish belly with a knife and separated the meat, stomach, skin and bones. The skin and bones were salted for a month and then made into a mikoshi, or a portable shrine, by tying them in a Kue shape to a log. Young men in the community carried the mikoshi and climbed up steep stone stairs to the shrine on the top.
The ceremony hasn’t been conducted in recent years because of the aging and decreasing population. (Mayumi O)
江戸時代、浪速港から荷物を積んで出た船は、和歌山県の日之岬でいったん留まったという。外洋船ではなかったため、一度に航行できる距離の限界であったとのことだ。
ここに阿尾という漁港がある。
阿尾には白鬚神社がある。祭神は猿田彦で、総本社は琵琶湖にある。商品の物流を握っていた近江商人の影響で建てられたのであろう。行ってみると大坂の商人たちが奉納を納めていることがわかる。
今や想像も難しいことであるが、和歌山県日高町のこの場所はかっての物流の集積地の役目を果たしていたようだ。また、徳島から近く、肉眼でも間近に見える。四国から来るには最適な港だったろう。
東に隣接する比井港は熊野詣での参拝者たちが上陸した場所で、ここからいくつかの王子社が旧比井街道沿いにある。比井若一王子、志賀王子、小中王子であり、これらが海を通じた熊野古道の一部であることがわかる。
It used to be that ships loaded in Oosaka went south harbored by Cope Hino because they were so small shipping coast.
There is a port called Ao.
They have Shirahige Shrine which is subordinate to that in Shiga prefecture. Shiga is famous for the merchants. The shrine was built four hundred before maybe by them.
We found wholesaler’s names on the pedestal of Koma-inu statures, imaginary beasts.
Hii is by Ao also a port at where pilgrims for Kumano got off the ship. There are some Oji shurines along an old road, called Hii-Wakaihsi, Shiga, and Onaka.
It tells us that the road was a part of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes.
(M.Fukuoka)