no cucumber town top

The cucumber is a magnificent vegetable. Apart from simply being eaten as part of a healthy diet, they can also be cute, made into art, brought to life, and even given as treats to helpful Shiba Inu. With so many uses, is there anyone out there who could possible hate cucumbers?

Apparently, yes. There’s one town in Japan where it is strictly forbidden to grow or eat cucumbers. Why do they hate the vegetable? And is their rule actually valid or are they all in a pickle over nothing?

The cucumber-hating town is Adose-cho in Fukui Prefecture. The reason cucumbers are so taboo there is because Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the deity of Fukui’s Yasaka Shrine, apparently has a vendetta against the vegetable.

▼ Rumor has it the real reason Susanoo is so mad in this picture is because his mother put cucumbers in the salad again.

Kuniteru_Gozu_dragonWikimedia Commons

Legend has it that the god was scared by a thunderstorm and took shelter underneath a shelf with cucumbers resting on top. The shelf broke while he was under it, and one of the cucumbers fell and hit him in the eye, partially blinding him and making him curse the cucumber forever.

After reading that, you might have a couple of questions. For example: isn’t Susasnoo supposed to be a powerful god? Isn’t he the sun-god Amaterasu’s brother? So why was he beaten by something you could pickle in a jar? And why was he scared of a storm in the first place? And wait a minute, isn’t he a storm god?! Something’s not quite right here….

Either way, those who live in Adose-cho are apparently pretty serious about their anti-cucumber rule. A representative from the Yasaka Shrine in Fukui claimed that one man in the area who tried planting cucumbers had his horse run away and die on him after doing so.

So is this actually a case of incredibly lame divine intervention? Or is it just a tiny town with a population of 60 (yes, 60 people), almost half of whom are senior-citizens, getting a little funny from its top-heaviness? Japanese netizens weighed in with their thoughts:

“I mean, none of this is actually the cucumber’s fault….”
“Yeah! Leave the cucumbers alone you meanies!”
“Wow, I never knew Susuanoo was such a wimp.”
“Well now we know what happens to people who never eat their cucumbers: they go crazy”

Agreed on all the above points. I think everyone in Adose-cho needs to get it together and stop worrying about the poor little cucumber. If they’re really that upset about it though, then maybe they can call and put in an order for a hot guy to come and wipe away their cucumber-tears for them.

Source: Fukui Shimbun via Kinisoku
Featured/top image: Flickr (Stacy Spensley)