S P O T ／ SPOT-070

Hanakake Ebisu (Nose-Chipped Ebisu)

鼻かけえびすはなかけえびす

In the ama-diver village of Ōsatsu, on the Toba coast, a small stone statue of Ebisu — the laughing fisherman-god of fortune and the sea — sits at the edge of the harbor with most of its nose missing. The damage, possibly the result of centuries of sea-salt erosion or an old accident no one can confirm, has been incorporated into the deity's identity rather than repaired: the locals call the figure Hanakake Ebisu, 'Nose-Chipped Ebisu,' and credit him with watching over the safety of the divers and the bounty of the catch. Ōsatsu is one of the densest concentrations of practicing ama divers in Japan, and the local circuit also includes Shinmei Shrine ('Ishigami-san'), famous for granting one wish per visiting woman, and the Ama Cultural Museum. Hanakake Ebisu's small altar is set into a daily-life space rather than a tourist precinct; visitors should arrive on foot, take their photographs without disrupting the harbor's working rhythm, and remember that this is a god embedded in a village rather than a village arranged around a god.