S P O T ／ SPOT-259

Nakiri Shrine Whale Stone (Kujira-ishi)

波切神社 鯨石なきりじんじゃ くじらいし

Nakiri Shrine stands in the fishing town of Nakiri at Daiosaki, the tip of the Shima Peninsula, in Shima City, Mie Prefecture, and in a corner of its grounds is enshrined an egg-shaped round stone called the "whale stone" (kujira-ishi). According to tradition, in the early Edo period—when whaling was still carried out at Nakiri—fishermen butchering a captured whale were astonished when a large egg-shaped stone emerged from inside the whale's body. Fearing divine retribution, they enshrined it at Nakiri Shrine as the whale stone and prayed for safe whaling and an abundant catch. Its very origin—said to have come from a whale's belly—speaks to the awe and faith of people who lived by the sea. The shrine is also known for its Waraji Festival ("Nakiri no Waraji-biki," a Mie Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property), derived from a legend of driving off the giant Dandara Hoshi of Daio Island with a giant straw sandal; together with the whale stone, it carries into the present the religious world of a fishing town that has faced both the threats and the bounty of the sea.