The tengu house was pretty hidden from public sight and i only got to know when i chanced upon it after getting totally bored out at the mini Otaru Ski Museum.
For those interested in the legendary long-nosed goblin, i bet you would be like this open-in-1981 exhibition area that showcased about 700 artefacts.
Many masks depicting the different faces and expressions of Tengu - its history and legends were complicated and aside from being called a goblin, some have classified Tengu as ghosts, supernatural beings or even gods!
I am curious about the relationship between Tengu and Mt. Tengu; was the mountain named because of regular sightings of the long nosed creature? Again, there are a few theories although a popular one pointed to immigrants from Honshu who named the mountain after their resident Mount Tengu back home.
It was an impressive display although for a person who doesn't understand the native language, there's only so much i can derive from.
One of the many big-sized masks housed in glass enclosures.
Sarutahiko is the saint i mentioned before that was housed at Tenguyama Shrine outside the Mt Tengu Observatory. What i didn't know was that both Sarutahiko and Tengu are related; on the panel, it was indicated that "tengu was derived from Sarutahiko"!
Explanation left me hanging as there wasn't further information on what it means by derived. Anyway, this is the longest nose i have ever seen; since i can't even see the end of it!
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Location
Within Mt. Tengu Observatory,
Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan
Website
Pricing
Free Admission
p.s. ropeway pricing still applies.
