Oshira-sama

In Japanese folk religion, a kami or deity of the home

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Oshirasama (Japanese: おしら様, おしらさま, お白様, オシラ様, or オシラサマ, Hepburn: oshira-sama) is a tutelary deity of the home in Japanese folklore.^[1] It is believed that when oshirasama is in a person's home, one cannot eat meat and only women are allowed to touch it.^[2]

The festival day for Oshirasama is called meinichi (命日, or a death anniversary). It is held on the 16th day of the first, third, and ninth Japanese lunar calendar.^[1]

Legend

According legend Oshirasama was born from the love between a woman and horse.^[3]

In popular culture

The deity is also a character for the film Spirited Away.^[4] In the American version of the film the character is called Radish Spirit.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b "Encyclopedia of Shinto 詳細". 國學院大學デジタルミュージアム (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ Estok, S.; Kim, W. (2013-03-26). East Asian Ecocriticisms: A Critical Reader. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-34536-3.
^ Ivy, Marilyn (2010-02-15). Discourses of the Vanishing: Modernity, Phantasm, Japan. University of Chicago Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-226-38834-2.
^ MacWilliams, Mark W. (2014-12-18). Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-46699-4.
^ Phillips, Alastair; Stringer, Julian (2007-12-18). Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts. Routledge. pp. 316–318. ISBN 978-1-134-33422-3.