Wooden horse

This wooden horse is a replica of the one that was dedicated to Awashima Shrine, Aomori City.
In Aomori, there was a saying about the goddess of mountains:
“A goddess lives in the mountains. She helps with child birth. When a woman is about to have a baby, her husband should go to the mountain with a horse. When it stops or neighs, the goddess is already on the horseback, so he should pray for safe delivery there. Then, the baby will be born safely”.

Therefore, people dedicated a wooden horse to Awashima Shrine and asked the horse to bring the goddess along when the time of delivery was approaching. When they visited the shrine, they put grass and carrots (which horses love) in the manger hung from the wooden horse and offered straw horse sandals.

Wooden horse

Awashima Shrine