Sanzu River - Sanzu no Kawa

A river that is said to be crossed on the way to the Enma office in the underworld on the seventh day after death. There are three fords on this river, and the place where one crosses depends on the deeds done in life, so it is called the Sanzu River. It is also called the Mitsuse River, the Watari River, and the Souzuka River. There is a large tree called the Eryoju on the riverbank, and a Datsueba (an old woman strips off the clothes of the deceased), who then hangs them on the tree by a Ken'eou (old man who hangs clothes). The way the branches hang down varies depending on the severity of the deceased's sins in life, so the deceased is allowed to cross by dividing the rapids into three different speeds. This explanation is detailed in a false sutra called the Jizo Bosatsu Hosshin Innen Juokyo (Sutra of the Ten Kings and the Cause of the Bodhisattva Jizo), which is said to have been created in the Song Dynasty in China or the Heian Period in Japan, but it is not an original Buddhist theory. This belief spread in Japan from the Middle Ages onwards, and even today there are customs such as placing a coin inside the coffin.

[Matsumoto Shiro]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

死後7日目に冥土(めいど)の閻魔(えんま)庁へ行く途中で渡るとされる川。この川には三つの渡しがあり、生前の行いによって渡るところが異なることから、三途の川といわれる。三瀬(みつせ)川、わたり川、葬頭河(そうずか)ともいう。川岸には衣領樹(えりょうじゅ)という大木があり、脱衣婆(だつえば)がいて亡者の着衣をはぎ、それを懸衣翁(けんえおう)が大木にかける。生前の罪の軽重によって枝の垂れ方が違うので、それを見て、緩急三つの瀬に分けて亡者を渡らせるという。この説明は、中国宋(そう)代、または日本の平安時代につくられたといわれる『地蔵菩薩発心因縁十王経(じぞうぼさつほっしんいんねんじゅうおうきょう)』という偽経(ぎきょう)のなかで詳しく述べられるが、仏教本来の説ではない。日本では中世以降にこの俗信が広まり、今日でもなお棺の中に渡銭(わたしせん)を入れるなどの風習がみられる。

［松本史朗］

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