Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 586, The All Seeing Eye, Part

3. In the first lunar month of 1827, a samurai and yoriori, a type of beat investigator for the

city magistrate's office of Osaka, whose name was Osho Heachiro, uncovered a conspiracy. Initially, he had been contacted by a local

landlord by the name of Yohei, who had led out housing to a pair of women by the name of

Yae and Sano, who claimed to be working as spirit mediums. This in and of itself, not unusual, though more established religious institutions tended

to frown on the practice.

Spirit mediums and spirit channeling have a long history as a part of Japan's religious

tradition, and the deity the two women associated themselves with, Inari, whose most

prominent temple, Fushimi Inari Grand Shrine, was just a few miles away from Osaka,

was particularly famous for being associated with divination, the spirit world, all that stuff.

No, Yohei's issue was not that the two women were spirit mediums as such, but that he was pretty sure these two mediums were engaged in fraud.

With the help of Sano's son, Sinske, and a pair of unrelated workers, a man named Kanzo and a woman

named Toki, the group had started to spread a rumor that Sano was actually a prestigious

noblewoman from the nearby ancient capital of Kyoto,

who'd been blessed by Anari and could perform miracles,

most notably helping those in need find wealth and prosperity in life.

Of course, divine intervention is not free,

and said noblewoman needed supplies and a lifestyle in keeping with her divine powers,

and would, of course, reward those who supported her.

And again, this is not unusual, as these things went.

The idea of paying for a blessing is common to many religions around the world,

and in Japan in particular, donating to shrines and temples in exchange for a blessing is still common today.

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