Omiwa no Morime - Omiwa no Morime

Japanese: 大神杜女 - おおみわのもりめ

Year of birth: Year of birth and death unknown. Also written as Morime. A shrine maiden at Usa Hachiman Shrine in Buzen Province (Usa City, Oita Prefecture) during the Nara period. She started out as a priestess for Hachiman, but was later promoted to negi. In 748, due to a divine message from Hachiman to actively cooperate with Emperor Shomu's construction of the Great Buddha of Todaiji Temple, she was given the surname Ason along with her relative, Okami Tamaro, the chief priest of Usa Hachiman Shrine. Furthermore, due to a divine message that Hachiman would become the guardian deity of the Great Buddha, she traveled from Usa to Kyoto and was welcomed to the newly built shrine south of Heijo Palace. When she worshiped the Great Buddha in December of the same year, Morime was dressed as a negi nun, that is, a shrine maiden in nun style, and appeared in the same purple palanquin as Empress Koken. At this time, she was promoted to Jushi Shigo. However, in November of the same year, he was expelled from the group after being implicated in a case involving the curse and hex practiced by the Yakushiji monk Gyoshin and others, and was also dismissed from his position as the head priest of the Hachiman Shrine and exiled to Hyuga Province (Miyazaki Prefecture).

(Sugawara Seiko)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
毛理女とも書く。奈良時代の豊前国宇佐八幡宮(大分県宇佐市)の巫女。はじめは八幡神の祝部であったがのち禰宜に昇格。聖武天皇の東大寺大仏建立事業に際し積極的に協力しようという八幡神の託宣などによって,天平20(748)年に外従五位下に叙せられ,翌天平勝宝1(749)年11月には同族で宇佐八幡宮の主神司の大神田麻呂と共に朝臣姓を与えられる。さらに八幡神は大仏の鎮守神になるという託宣により宇佐から上京,平城宮南に新造の神宮に迎えられた。同年12月に大仏を拝したときの杜女は禰宜尼,つまり尼スタイルの巫女といういでたちで,しかも孝謙女帝と同じ紫輿に乗って現れた。このとき従四位下に昇叙。しかし同6年11月,薬師寺僧行信らの厭魅呪詛事件に連座して除名され,八幡宮の禰宜職も解任,日向国(宮崎県)に流された。

(菅原征子)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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