Hi! I should have clarified that those aren't my pics. I plucked them from Japanese-language travel sites without properly crediting them.
I've never been to this festival but would love to see it sometime, as well as to soak in the springs!
There's actually some interesting history behind it and the town's "hanzaki" shrine. I have a book that goes into quite some detail about it and will try to post that info later!
"Hanzaki" is just one of several names that have been used in certain places and at certain times for the giant salamander, but it's not the commonly used one, which is "oo-sanshou-uo", "oo" meaning giant and "sanshou-uo" meaning salamander.
"Imori" is used for both Japanese Cynops species and for Echinotriton andersoni (as well as for foreign newts)
C.pyrrhogaster = akahara imori ("red-bellied newt")
C.ensicauda = shiriken imori (not sure what "shiriken" means)
E.andersoni = ibo imori ("warty newt")
Yes, Nate, "sanshou-uo" covers all the hynobiids, not only Hynobius but also sals of other genus in the Hynobiidae family that are found here like Onychodactylus japonicus and Salamandrella keyserlingii. It also applies to non-newt sals of any sort, anywhere.
"Sansyou-uo" is just another (and older) form of romanization. The pronunciation of "sho" (or "syo") is EXACTLY the same as the English word "show" but some people stick to "syo". Adding the "u" after "sho" just lengthens the vowel as in "shooow me the money!"
As for the meaning of the word, now there's a topic unto itself! A book I have goes into excruciating detail about the evolution of this word but haven't gotten around to reading it carefully yet and would need some serious inspiration to wade through it!
I've never heard the "loach of the mountain" theory before! But I'll look into it.
The way it's written is this:
The first of the 3 characters is indeed mountain, as you may have guessed, but the first 2 characters combined constitute the word "sanshou": Japanese pepper tree (Xanthoxylum piperitum), Japanese pepper, prickly ash.
And then the last character is that for "fish"... so what we wind up with is "peppered fish"!
I've read that for hundreds of years, sals were pretty much regarded here as a kind of fish, while newts were lumped together with geckos (sort of like an aquatic gecko, I guess). Indeed, even today, I'd say 90% of Japanese confuse the two words "imori" (newt) and "yamori (gecko). I'm constantly having to explain the difference!
Anyway, here's some enlightening info taken from Sumio Okada's giant salamander site at:
http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~herpsgh/theandras.html
"The Japanese name of this species are "Osanshouuo", " Hanzaki", "Hajikamiio". These are named for their produce mucus from the skin that smell like a Japanese pepper (= sansho, hajikami). "Honzowamyo(918A.D.)" is the oldest book that involved a "Hajikamiio" story. Japanese giant salamanders were important a source of food for mountain people until several years ago. It is said that the taste is like a ray or a shark. Now this species is a Japanese special tresure and be prohibited even touch by law."
Before reading this, my guess had been that they're called "peppered fish" because some have the appearance of having been sprinkled with pepper! For example:
Ralf, I'll try to post some info someday on "hanzaki" in Japanese mythology. As for their use as food, well, I read some interesting info about how they were years ago imported in large numbers from China for use in restaurants, but no longer. I heard they're still served in Macao and probably elsewhere in China (regardless of their "protected" status there!)
Anyway, sorry for being so long-winded!
