(A)Mt. Tsukuba*

Once upon a time, when the heavens and the earth began, Amaterasu-Omikami** alighted on Mt. Tsukuba in Hitachi Province and played the koto***, waves from the eastern sea responded to the sound and surged to the foot of the mountain.

What remained of the wave in a depression in the ground later became Lake Kasumigaura****. Locals said it was named Mt. Tsukuba, meaning a mountain with waves. (Umekichi Kimura)

depression（名）くぼみ、低地

(B) The God's Pond and the Hoyama Field*

In Wakamatsu Village, Kashima County, Ibaraki Prefecture, there is a sand field several miles long named Hoyama. In the neighboring village of Karuno, there is a pond about three miles wide called God's Pond. Hoyama Field was originally a good forest, but during the construction of Kashima Shrine**, it refused to donate lumber, so God was angry with it, and it sank to the ground in one night and became a pond. It is said that a pond was formed where the soil was taken from the ground. (Kiyoshi Takagi, Yatabe Village, Kashima County, Ibaraki Prefecture)

donate（動）寄付する

(C)Mt. Iwate*

In Iwate County, Rikuchu Province, Mt. Iwate and Mt. Himekami** face each other from east to west. Mt. Iwate （Rock Hands）, as the name suggests, is a rugged, masculine mountain, but Mt. Himekami （Princess God）, with its gentle location, is somehow feminine.

In the middle of them is a mountain called Okurise. Locals call it Okurisen***. It is a weirdly shaped mountain with a flat top and no typical peaks. The countless small hills near it are all made of red gravel. They vary in shape but have no trees and are covered with grass. This place is called Iomori （Five Hundred Forests）. Mori means a raised hill. There is a river with red pebbles called the Aka River （Red River）.

Once upon a time, Iwate was the ruler of all the region, and all the mountains and rivers, not to mention birds and beasts and vegetation, were his men. Himekami was his wife, but she was too unbeautiful for him to like. Unwilling to live with Himekami, the heartless Iwate told her to move out of his sight. Neither Himekami's lamentation nor the remonstrance of his men felt the cold heart of Mt. Iwate, made of the rock himself. Iwate orders Okurisen to play an important role in sending her off, and then adds, "Here are two promises. The first is to deliver Himekami to a place out of sight in Iwate, and the second is to give her whatever reward you want when you deliver her. If he doesn't do his job well, expect his head to be cut off, "Iwate told him sternly.

Okurisen thought he had been ordered to do a hell of a job, but he couldn't disobey because it was an order from the swaggering Iwate. If he said no, his head would be decapitated as soon as possible, so he agreed to everything and set off aimlessly to accompany Himekami that evening.

When Himekami thought this would be the last time she would say goodbye to Iwate in her life, she felt sorry for him and struggled to make progress. As she trudged eastward, looking behind her, she at least scattered the makigos she held in her hand as a memory for posterity, and that became Iomori**** today. In the same way, it was in the present Aka River that she poured kanemizu water she had brought to a nearby river as a memorial, and the red color of the pebbles was because they were dyed with kanemizu water*****.

The next morning, when Iwate woke up and looked to the east, he was surprised to find that Mt. Himekami, which he had been troubled by, was rising in front of him. Iwate was naturally angry because Himekami, who was supposed to have delivered him to a place far beyond his sight, was not only nearby but also standing directly in front of him, bathed in the full rays of the morning sun. His anger was unusual. He gushed fire out of his mouth so fast that he burned all the grass and trees, and everything was burned, and the cry echoed and vibrated in the mountains and valleys, and it was so terrible.

This didn't quell Iwate's anger. He summoned Okurisen, drew a sword from his waist, and quickly snapped him on the neck. But when he saw the dead Okurisen, the cruel Iwate felt sorry for him, and he picked up his neck and put it to his right, with the intention of at least keeping it close to him. A bump on Iwate's shoulder is his neck.

Since that time, Mt. Iwate has gone completely gentle and has never erupted or spewed lava.

masuculine（形）男らしい

gravel（名）小石、砂利

pebble（名）小石

ruler（名）統治者、支配者

vegetation（名）草木

lamentation（名）嘆き、悲嘆

remonstrance（名）抗議、諫め

man（名）部下

scatter（動）ばら撒く

posterity（名）後世の人々

dye（動）染める

gush（動）噴出させる

summon（動）召喚する

snap（動）切る

bump（名）瘤

spew（動）噴出する

lava（名）溶岩

Note: Makigo is spun yarn wound into a ball and is still customarily taken [by brides to their brides-to-be] as a wedding gift. Kanemizu water itself is not black, but reddish brown. First, the teeth are dipped in fushi powder, and then the liquid is applied several times to finally darken the color of the teeth. The custom of using it as a marker for married women still remains in the lower classes of society. (X, Hiradate Village, Iwate County)

spin（動）紡ぐ

yarn（名）糸

brides-to-be（名）結婚を控えている女性

reddish（形）赤みがかった

dip（動）染める

(D) Mt. Shimoda Fuji*

At a corner of Shimoda Town, Izu Province, corresponding to the exit on the north side, there is a small mountain shaped like a spire, and it is named Shimoda Fuji.

Long ago, this mountain and Mt. Fuji in Suruga were sisters. While her elder sister, Mt. Fuji of Suruga, was extremely unattractive, her younger sister, Mt. Fuji of Shimoda was superior, beautiful, and gentle in appearance, so her elder sister, Mt. Fuji, became jealous of her and swore that she would never see her for the rest of her life, which led to the creation of the Amagi** screen.

So, if you go to the back of Izu, you can't see Mt. Fuji in Suruga anywhere. Not only that, but because of the wrath of Mt. Fuji, beautiful women are still not born in the depths of Izu. (Shunren Kurumatani, Shimoda, Izu)

correspond（動）相当する

unattractive（形）美しくない、魅力のない

wrath（名）激怒、憤怒

(E) Anakiri Shrine and Kesaki Myojin Shrine

Kofu, Kai Province used to be covered with a lake, and the top of Mt. Fuji reflected upside down on the cold water. When Ksitigarbha* saw the state of the land, he asked the two gods if he could do something about it if he could make land without the water, even though humans would live there, fields would be created. When the gods heard it, they thought it was right and agreed, and one god kicked down the edge of the mountain, and the other god cut a hole in the mountain and opened a channel there to drain the water from the big lake into the Fuji River**. When Acala*** saw it, he thought that he too could not withdraw, so he made shallows. Thanks to these two Buddhas and two gods, the land of Kofu was created.

The god who cut and pierced the mountain is now enshrined in Anakiri Shrine （Cutting Hole Shrine）, west of Kofu City, and the god who kicked and smashed the mountain is known as Kesaki Myojin Shrine （Kicking down Myojin Shrine）. Sedachi Fudo Myoo （Standing on Shoals Acala） created the shallows, and the Inazumi Ksitigarbha, currently in the Toko-ji Temple in Kofu, was the first to mention it. It was originally in Horyu-ji Temple but was later moved to Toko-ji Temple. As proof, the two letters of "hojo" are read as leaving water to form soil. (Kyoko Yamanaka****)

upside down......さかさまに

Bodhisattva（名）菩薩

kick down......蹴飛ばす

channel（名）水路、運河

drain（動）排水する

withdraw（動）引きこもる

shallow（名）浅瀬

（A）

*Mt. Tsukuba: A mountain in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, with 2 peaks, one at 871 meters and the other at 877 meters. It is known that people have been climbing this mountain since ancient times to socialize and love each other, and it has been the subject of many waka poems.

**Amaterasu-Omikami: The sun god appears in Japanese mythology and is said to be the ancestor of the Imperial Family. She was born when Izanagi, the founder of Japan, washed her left eye. She ruled the high heavens where the gods lived. Her grandson Ninigi descended to earth and later his descendants became emperors. In Japanese mythology, Amaterasu did not descend to earth.

***koto: a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrument, and the national instrument of Japan. It is derived from the Chinese zheng. Koto strings are generally plucked using three fingerpicks (tsume), worn on the first three fingers of the right hand. In ancient Japan, it was used to summon gods and spirits during shamanism and magic.

****Lake Kasumigaura: The second largest lake in Japan, located in the southeastern part of Ibaraki Prefecture.

（B）

*Hoyama Field: Currently, there is Hoyama Park in Sunayama, Kamisu City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Sunayama means sand mountain.

**Kashima Shrine: A Shinto shrine located in Kashima City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Takemikazuchi, the god of thunder, is enshrined here. It is said that the Kaname stone buried in the precinct holds down catfish that live in the ground and cause earthquakes.

（C）

*Mt. Iwate: A 2038-meter volcano in northwestern Iwate Prefecture and the highest peak in the prefecture.

**Mt. Himekami: A mountain in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, with an elevation of 1123 meters.

***Okurisen: Mt. Okurisen. A mountain 472 meters high on the border between Morioka City and Iwate Town in Iwate Prefecture.

****Iomori: Iomori is thought to be a lahar (volcanic mudflow). Red pebbles are also volcanic ejecta.

*****kanemizu water: Iron (II) acetate used in cosmetics. Apply this water to the teeth, then apply fushiko powder, which is high in tannins, and the teeth will turn black. Fushiko is a black powder made from a bump made by a nutgall tree （Rhus javanica） in a protective reaction against leaf infestation aphids.

（D）

*Mt. Shimoda Fuji: A mountain in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, with an elevation of 187 meters.

**Amagi: A mountain range stretching east to west in the central part of the Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture.

（E）

*Ksitigarbha: The Bodhisattva was asked by Buddha to help people in the period between the time of Buddha's death and the time when Maitreya Bodhisattva became Buddha. In Japan, it is called Jizo and is depicted as having shaved his head and wearing a Buddhist stole. In folk religion, it is regarded as a guardian god of roads and children.

**Fuji River: A river that originates from Mt. Nokogiri on the border between Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures and joins the Usui River in Shizuoka Prefecture.

***Acala: A Wisdom King, who is considered to be an avatar of Vairocana in Esoteric Buddhism. He has a look of fury to rescue those with worldly desires, a sword and a hunting trap, and a fierce flame behind him. It is called Fudo Myoo in Japan.

****Kyoko Yamanaka: (1850 - 1928) Pastor, folklorist. He was born in a samurai family but learned English during the Meiji period and converted to Protestantism in 1874. In 1881, he became one of the first pastors of the Japanese Methodist Church. He also conducted research on folklore, and in 1926 published "Kai no Ochiba", a collection of folklore from Yamanashi Prefecture.