I recently visited Nara Park. The deer there are wild and untrained, but they bow to get treats, which is so cute.
They don’t attack people. They spend their days eating grass, receiving deer crackers from tourists, and living peacefully alongside humans.People respect them, too. They even call the water the deer drink Sacred Deer Water and always let them cross the street first. Places like Nara Park, where you can see so many wild deer living freely in a city, are very rare.
However, it is interesting that there are about 700 shrines and places named Kashima (Deer Island) across Japan.Why are there so many? First, they preserve the memory of sacred shrines dedicated to an ancient and powerful god of war. Second, many of them were once coastal ports where people prayed for safe voyages across dangerous seas.Even if there are no real deer there today, the prayers and journeys of people from more than 1,000 years ago still live on in these everyday place names.
Starting with the deer in Nara, we can trace the dynamic stories of ancient Japanese people crossing seas and mountains. It makes the familiar scenery around us feel a little more special.
「鹿島」と名付けられた神社や地名が全国に約700か所も残っていると知り、とても興味深く感じました。
それらは、古代の武神を祀る神聖な場所の記憶であり、また、命がけで海を渡る人々が航海の安全を祈った港でもありました。
奈良公園のように、野生のシカがたとえ今そこにいなくても、1000年以上前の人々の祈りや旅の記憶は、私たちの身近な地名の中に今も息づいている、
奈良のシカをきっかけに、はるか昔の人々が海を渡り、山を越えて交流していたダイナミックな物語が見えてきました。そう思うと、いつもの景色が少し特別に感じられます。