Yurahime Jinja

Yurahime Jinja.

On the western Oki island of Nishinoshima, on a small white-sand beach, sits a shrine that is famous, year after year, for an event that, by all rights, should not happen.

Each year, between November and December, squid arrive on the beach in front of this shrine. Not in normal numbers — in extraordinary, almost impossible quantities. They come ashore, sometimes by the thousands, sometimes by the tens of thousands, on the same beach, at the same time of year, every year.

Local people have a name for this. They call it "Ika-Yose," the squid arriving.

The folklore explanation is that, long ago, the deity of this shrine was bitten by a squid as she crossed the sea on a basket-shaped boat. As an apology, the squid have been delivering themselves to her front door, every year since, ever since.

The marine biology explanation is that the underwater terrain in front of this shrine creates a particular current pattern that draws squid into shallow water during their spawning season.

Both explanations are likely true at once. The folklore captures, in story form, what the biology now describes in numbers.

Whatever the reason, the squid still arrive. They have done so for hundreds of years. The locals still gather, in winter, to collect them. The deity is still honored.

Stand on the beach. The waves are quiet. In the right season, you can see the squid in the shallows.

Some places hold a connection between human story and animal behavior, kept alive long enough that, by now, no one can quite tell them apart.