(578) Enma the king of hell

  It is said that when you die, you cross the Sanzuno-kawa river to the court of King Enma. When you are brought before King Enma by demons, he will question you with a very scary face to see if you did anything wrong before you died.

The questions are based on a document called "Enma-cho", which is a record of a person's conduct during his life, and is used as trial material. Even if there is something that the accused wants to hide from Enma, there is a mirror in which his actions during his life are reflected, so he cannot deceive himself in any way. The mirror is called Jyohari-mirror.

If there is a serious sin, he will be sent to hell without mercy.


According to the lunar calendar, some temples hold events on January 16th for New Year's Day and July 16 for Obon,
when the dead take a rest,

the cauldron of hell stops boiling,

and King Enma rests.

  Seigoji-temple holds the Enma Festival on January 16th of the lunar calendar.

Throwing rice cake at Enma Festival at Seigoji-temple in Uwajima city.
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(577) A liar's joke and Enma the king

The Enma Festival was held from Feb. 4th to 6th at Seigoji temple in Uwajima.

Enma is the great king of the Buddhist hades.

Here is an English joke.

What happens when a liar dies?

Some Japanese might answer to this question like this.
His tongue will be pulled out by Enma, the king of Hell.
But this English joke's answer is,

He lies still.

This answer has double meanings.

One is;
He is in a horizontal position, not moving.

The other is;
He continues telling lies after his death.
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