Pharyngeal shrine

According to legend, Ikosei Chuzaemon was a farmer from the Haji region, which is now the lake bed of the Haji Dam, and is said to have worked hard to build an irrigation canal in this area at the beginning of the Edo period. Although the Haji region is home to the Haji River, which has a large amount of water, the land is high and it was not possible to draw water from the river, so farming was carried out with the little water that came from the valley. Drought damage was severe every year, so Chuzaemon called on his fellow farmers to build a well at Yabitsu upstream and dig a canal. Construction began in 1662, but due to the difficulty of digging through the bedrock, it did not progress as expected, and eventually his fellow farmers gave up, and the village headman even ordered the work to be stopped, saying that it was not possible to do the work with the number of people in the village. However, Chuzaemon continued the work even though he was alone, and for refusing to follow the village headman's orders, he was made a criminal and had his hands, feet, and neck collar put on him. Nevertheless, Chuzaemon continued the construction, becoming emaciated with skin and bones, his neck was injured by flying stone powder, and he eventually lost his voice. The villagers began to call him "Okosei Chuzaemon," and when Goroemon, the headman of a neighboring village, heard his story, he offered to help with the construction costs and manpower, and three years later, in 1665, the eight-kilometer waterway was finally completed. Alongside Haji Dam, the grateful villagers built Okosei Shrine and a monument to Chuzaemon, which still commemorate his achievements.