The sacred Jingu-ji water is poured into this river at the end of the Water-sending ritual. Then, it is sucked into the depths beneath the shimenawa rope. It will be carried along an underground waterway all the way to Nara, or so they say.
Cormorants used to inhabit Unose. Yamasachihiko and Toyotama-hime’s son was named Ugayafukiaezu, meaning “Roof Thatched With Cormorant Feathers,” and as a result, the cormorant became a sacred bird. Cormorants gulp down fish, then spit them out alive. People who saw them fishing would pray for reincarnation or immortality. A cormorant also appears in the myth when Onyu Myojin promised to send water. It follows, then, that people entrust their prayers for immortality to the waters of Wakasa.
Why did people seek immortality from the waters of Wakasa? Because Wakasa was rich in salt and fish and was a key provider of food for the Emperor’s larders, even before the arrival of Buddhism. Another reason is in Onyu’s name. His kanji name includes the character for “red earth,” or in other words, mercury. It sounds unbelievable now, but back in those days, mercury was believed to be the elixir of immortality. As a liquid, mercury behaves like water without decomposing. When you heat it, it becomes blood red, which must have seemed magical to the people of that time. Onyu was a land that birthed red earth, where mercury was produced. These things may have contributed to why Wakasa’s water was sought out as a symbol of immortality. The proof is in the red clay-licking rite that happens during the Water-sending Ceremony, where the red clay symbolizes mercury. What’s more, the great Buddha statue at Todai-ji Temple used to shine with gold, but it’s said they needed a lot of mercury from Wakasa to create the gold plating. But most of all, you might say it’s in the region’s name “Wakasa,” which can mean “youth” in Japanese.
Travel further along this road overnight and you’ll reach Kyoto and the Imperial Palace at Nara. Actually, while this road is known as the oldest mackerel trade route in Japan, it started out as the road through which Buddhism was brought into Japan. It could be said that it was the capital’s road to immortality.
