Atago Forest and Green Protection Association

Free Life Pond (Kamiike)

On Meiji-dori in Fukuoka City, just west of the Atago intersection on the side of the Muromi River, there is Onnazaka heading to Washio Atago Shrine, and at the corner of the entrance there is a small toll parking lot named "Turtle Park". Actually, the location of this parking lot is where there used to be a small pond. Many turtles lived in this pond, and it was called Free Life Pond, Kamike Pond, or Gozu Pond. There was an island in the middle of the pond, which was crowded with turtle shells, and the pond was surrounded by stone fences made by donations. It's unclear why this sacred Atago Shrine pond was crushed for some reason, or because it was an economic priority, but now it's just the old stone fence and parking lot name. Is just a remnant. I would like to know what happened to the fate of many turtles. The small shrine of Hakuryu Shrine across the road is also gone.

"Free life pond" was originally used to release captured creatures based on the Buddhist idea (killing precepts) that prohibits useless killing, but in the history of Shinto and Buddhism, even at shrines, "free life pond" It has come to be positioned as a sacred place called "Kamiike".

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