Why Does the Thunder God Take Children’s Navels? The Demon-Shaped Thunder Deity and the “Kuwabara” Charm

On a summer afternoon, the sky suddenly darkens and a low rumbling begins in the distance. Then the adults would always say: “Look, the Thunder God is coming. Hide your navel.” The children hurriedly hold down the hem of their shirts and dash from the veranda deep into the house. And each time lightning flashes, someone whispers, “Kuwabara, kuwabara.” In Showa summers, such scenes were seen everywhere.

Why does the Thunder God want the navel of all things? And what is being chanted in “kuwabara”? Uncanny tales of thunder have been told in various forms, such as the “raijū” (thunder beast) said to fall from the sky and the legend of a famous sword said to have cut thunder. Taking a different angle from those, this article follows two superstitions against thunder that Japanese people have spoken most familiarly, “having your navel taken” and “kuwabara,” and traces how the being called the Thunder God was formed.

Origins: When Did the Thunder God Take a Demon’s Form?

The thunder god appears in Japanese texts as far back as the Kojiki, compiled in the Nara period, in the scene where eight thunder gods are born from the parts of the body of the dead Izanami as it decays in the land of Yomi. Here thunder is inseparable from death, decay, and the terror of Yomi. On the other hand, in a myth handed down at the Kamo shrines in Kyoto, the thunder god turns into a red-painted arrow and comes to a maiden, siring a divine child. Thunder was at once an object of terror and a bountiful power that brings rain to ripen rice and grants divine children. The word “kaminari” itself is said to mean “kami-nari,” the sound sounded by a god, and in old poetry thunder was also called the “sounding god.” The sound itself was heard from the start as the voice of a god. The word “inazuma” (lightning) is said to mean the “tsuma” (spouse) of rice, expressing the old sense that linked thunder to the ripening of rice.

The Thunder God we picture today, with horns, a tiger-skin loincloth, and a ring of drums carried on the back that he strikes with sticks, took shape somewhat later. In Buddhist art, images of the thunder god paired with the wind god were made and gradually painted on temple gates and in paintings. The folding screen of the Wind and Thunder Gods painted by Tawaraya Sotatsu in the early Edo period is known as the work that made that image definitive.

There is a well-known explanation for why the Thunder God looks like a demon. The northeast direction in which demons are said to appear, the “demon gate” (kimon), lies between the Ox and the Tiger in the zodiac. From this, it is said, demons came to be drawn with ox horns and tiger skins. The reason the Thunder God wears the same horns and tiger skin is thought to be that thunder, as “a demon-like raging thing,” was represented by borrowing the demon’s iconography. Note, however, that this kimon theory is only one later interpretation and does not explain everything about how the thunder-god image came to be.

Then, in the Heian period, belief in thunder had a major turning point. After Sugawara no Michizane, exiled to Dazaifu on false charges, died there, strange events followed in the capital. Above all, in 930, when lightning struck the Seiryoden in the imperial palace and caused many deaths and injuries, it was feared as the work of Michizane’s vengeful spirit. Michizane’s spirit was linked with the thunder god and came to be enshrined as a god at Kitano. Thunder came to be read as both a fury of nature and an expression of the anger of a dead man with grievances.

Why “Navel Taken” and “Kuwabara”?

First, the “navel.” Several reasons have been given for the saying that the Thunder God takes navels. A commonly cited one is that it is a warning to keep the body from getting cold. In a summer thunderstorm, cold air from above comes down all at once and the temperature drops suddenly. To keep a child who had been playing with his belly out in the heat from getting chilled and upsetting his stomach, adults told him “Hide it, or the Thunder God will take your navel.” Even the Tokyo Fire Department’s explanation introduces this saying not merely as superstition but as containing practical wisdom.

Another often-told explanation concerns posture. When you try to hide your navel, you naturally round your back and crouch. Staying away from tall things and keeping a low posture while thunder sounds is a reasonable way to protect yourself from lightning. The words “protect your navel” end up making a child crouch low and small. This may be called a very clever way of protecting oneself from an age when scientific knowledge had not yet spread.

Next, “kuwabara.” It is written with the characters for “mulberry field.” A widely known origin concerns Kyoto and Sugawara no Michizane. When Michizane’s vengeful spirit attacked the capital as thunder, lightning is said never to have struck the place called Kuwabara, which was Michizane’s estate. So people, when thunder sounded, chanted “This is Kuwabara” to avoid it. In another region, a tale is told that when someone helped the child of the thunder who had fallen into a well, the thunder promised never to strike where mulberry trees stand. In either version, the core of the charm is the pairing of the plant “kuwa” (mulberry) with the declaration that “this is a place where the Thunder God must not strike.”

Besides the navel and kuwabara, there are many other superstitions against thunder. The saying that it is safe to get inside a mosquito net when thunder sounds was widely known, and in some regions mulberry branches stuck under the eaves were said to keep thunder from striking. There is also a custom of saving Setsubun beans and eating them on the day of the first thunder so as not to be struck. None of these has any sure effect, but they show well people’s desire to have something to “do” against a disaster that strikes suddenly from the sky. Rather than tremble helplessly at the thunder, one holds the navel, slips into the net, and chants the charm. Each of those small acts was a ritual to tame the fear just a little.

Present Day: The Thunder God Is Still in the Summer Sky

Even children now know that thunder is an electric discharge. In an age when lightning rods protect buildings and weather apps announce the approach of thunderclouds, probably no one seriously believes their navel will be taken. Even so, not a few adults jokingly say “I’d better hide my navel” at a summer shower, and the Thunder God in nursery rhymes and picture books still wears tiger-striped pants and beats his drums.

The Thunder God’s image is used repeatedly in souvenirs and advertisements at tourist spots and as a character in anime and manga. It is interesting that the stern thunder-god statue at a temple gate and the somewhat goofy Thunder God in a children’s picture book share the same horns, tiger skin, and drums. For hundreds of years the Thunder God has deftly used two faces: a fearsome god and a friendly character.

“Kuwabara, kuwabara” also survives less as a charm against thunder than as a phrase for “when you want to let a trouble you don’t want to get involved in pass.” When a difficult boss is in a bad mood or a troublesome commotion seems about to break out, one mutters “kuwabara, kuwabara” under one’s breath. That a word for avoiding disaster from the sky moved to a word for avoiding trouble in human relations is a very Japanese change.

On the other hand, the danger of lightning itself is no different from the past. Lightning accidents outdoors still occur nearly every year. When you hear thunder, you may already be within range of a strike, and it is recommended to take shelter inside a building or a car. The old teaching “when the Thunder God comes, go indoors” is still right in altered form.

KARASU CHANNEL’s Take: What Lay Hidden Within the Navel

The first thing to consider is why the Thunder God targets the “navel” of all places. The practical explanations of not getting cold and crouching down sound plausible, but in our view they do not fully explain the vividness of the word “take.” The navel is the mark of the umbilical cord that kept a child’s life connected inside the mother’s womb, that is, the first sign of having been born into this world. Just as the custom of keeping the umbilical cord in a paulownia box still remains in Japan, the navel has been deeply tied to the root of life. This is our own inference, but behind the saying that the Thunder God takes navels may lurk a basic fear of death by lightning: that “a blow from the sky takes the very root of life.”

Next, let us look at the link between thunder and children. It is always children whose navels are taken. The season of summer thunderstorms is also the season when children play in rivers and fields. In a sudden shower with poor visibility, a child is struck by lightning or swept away by a swollen river. Such tragic events cannot have been rare. This is our own inference, but the tale of the Thunder God taking navels may have been an earnest phrase produced by parents who feared above all losing a child, who entrusted that fear to the easily understood villain “Thunder God” and used it to call their children back indoors.

And “kuwabara.” We think there is deep meaning in this charm being tied to the legend of Michizane. If thunder is Michizane’s anger, then what people feared was not so much a natural phenomenon as the sin of the capital that drove an innocent man away. The tale that lightning struck everywhere but Kuwabara is a story that “Michizane’s anger does not turn against lands associated with Michizane.” So to chant “kuwabara” was also to protest one’s innocence to the sky: “I am on Michizane’s side; I am not like those who framed you.” This is our own inference, but in these words whispered amid the thunder there may have been mixed the guilt of commoners toward the injustice committed by those in power and the prayer that at least they themselves be kept out of it.

Finally, let us touch on how the Thunder God, though drawn as a demon, became a being with a not-unlovable charm. Fearsome things are gathered into easily understood signs, horns, tiger stripes, and drums, and are sometimes drawn in the comical figure of one who falls from the clouds and is at a loss. In our view, this was a long-developed device for living with a fear people could not control. By giving it a name, a form, and even a weakness, a fondness for navels, disaster from the sky becomes “someone you can talk to.” Hide your navel and chant kuwabara, and the Thunder God will pass by. In that set of conventions, people found a small measure of peace.

Engaging With This Legend

The thunder god and Sugawara no Michizane are still enshrined as gods in shrines across Japan and are objects of faith for many people. This article introduces superstitions about thunder from folkloric and historical viewpoints and does not intend to make light of any particular shrine or faith. When visiting Tenmangu shrines and the like, please respect them as places of worship.

Also, sayings such as “hide your navel” and “chant kuwabara” are interesting as the wisdom of people of old, but they are not ways to protect yourself from real lightning. When you hear thunder, take shelter at once in a sturdy building or a car, and do not stay under tall trees or in open areas. Superstitions are best enjoyed combined with correct safety knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why is it said that the Thunder God takes navels?

A. A well-known explanation is that in a summer thunderstorm the temperature drops suddenly, and the saying was a warning so that children with bare bellies would not get chilled. It is also said that trying to hide the navel makes one crouch, which helped protect against lightning.

Q. What does “kuwabara, kuwabara” mean?

A. It is written with the characters for “mulberry field.” It is said to derive from the tale that when Sugawara no Michizane’s vengeful spirit attacked the capital as thunder, lightning never struck Kuwabara, Michizane’s estate. There is also another origin story involving the child of thunder that fell into a well.

Q. Why does the Thunder God have horns and wear tiger skin?

A. There is a theory that because the northeast “demon gate,” from which demons were said to come and go, corresponds to the Ox and the Tiger, demons came to be drawn with ox horns and tiger skin. The thunder god, too, is thought to have been represented by borrowing this demon iconography as a raging being.

Q. What is the relationship between the word “inazuma” and thunder?

A. “Tsuma” anciently referred to a spouse, whether husband or wife. Because thunder was thought to make rice ripen, lightning was called “inazuma,” meaning the spouse of rice. Thunder was tied not only to terror but also to the blessing of a good harvest.

Q. How is this different from the raijū or Raikiri stories?

A. The raijū is a beast said to fall with thunder, and Raikiri is the legend of a sword said to have cut thunder. This article focuses on the form of the thunder god itself and on thunder-warding superstitions such as the navel and kuwabara.

This saying can also be looked up in KARASU CHANNEL’s Superstition and Omen Dictionary.

Q. Has KARASU CHANNEL researched or filmed the legend of the Thunder God on location?

A. No. We are not currently researching the legend of the Thunder God, though we are considering doing so. Videos of our research into other haunted spots and ghost stories can be viewed on KARASU CHANNEL (YouTube).