Kinasa Folk Museum and the Demon Woman Momiji

What is there

Kinasa is a village of steep valleys an hour west of Nagano by bus, and its name is read as “no demons”. The folk museum in the centre of the village keeps the great carved festival floats that are pulled through the streets in autumn, the tools of the hemp and paper trades the valley lived by, and the story of Momiji, told in the village’s own version. Her grave is at the temple of Shōganji a short walk away, and the spring under the hill and the cave in the woods carry her name. The museum closes for the winter.

Why here

In the tenth century a beautiful woman from the capital settled in this valley, taught the villagers to read and healed their sick, and was accused of sorcery; the court sent the warrior Koremochi to kill her, and in the Noh play of the maple-viewing she is the demon woman who nearly kills him first. The village remembers her as a benefactor and her killer’s story as the capital’s. The demon woman stands between the oni and the mountain woman of the articles, and belongs to both.

Yokai you will meet

• Oni 鬼 — The demon woman of the Noh play, slain by the warrior sent from the capital; the village keeps her as its benefactor.
• Yamauba 山姥 — The woman who lived in the mountain valley and was called a demon, between the two traditions.

Getting there

Nagano Station (JR Hokuriku Shinkansen). Bus about 60 minutes to the Kinasa Furusato Shiryōkan-mae stop.

• Open in Google Maps (external link)
• Open in OpenStreetMap (external link)
• Official site (external link)