What is narukama?
Narukama is a ritual in which fortunes are told by the sound a cauldron of boiling water makes, and the supernatural tales associated with it. Especially famous is the “Narukama Shinji” of Kibitsu Shrine in Okayama Prefecture: a fire is lit under the cauldron, rice is placed in a steamer and shaken, and the cauldron makes a loud booming sound. If the sound is loud and long, the omen is good; if it is faint or there is no sound, it is bad.
The legend of Ura and the singing cauldron
According to the shrine’s legend, long ago an oni named Ura who ravaged the province of Kibi was defeated by the god Kibitsuhiko no Mikoto. Ura’s head kept roaring long after it was cut off, so it was buried beneath the cauldron. Ura then appeared in Kibitsuhiko’s dream and promised that if his wife cooked offerings in the cauldron, he would make it sing to tell fortunes. The legend of Ura is also said to be one of the origins of the folktale “Momotaro.”
“The Cauldron of Kibitsu” in Ugetsu Monogatari
Ugetsu Monogatari by the Edo-period writer Ueda Akinari includes “The Cauldron of Kibitsu,” a ghost story based on this ritual. A couple marries even though the cauldron did not sing at their pre-wedding ritual, and the husband’s betrayal leads to a terrifying end; it is considered a masterpiece of Japanese ghost stories. Toriyama Sekien drew “narukama” as a cauldron yokai.
