Japanese Legend Collection

(II) The Legend of the Two-mountain Back Comparison

(A) Mt. Iida

Mt. Kinpo* lies to the west of Kumamoto City, Higo Province. To the east of Kumamoto City lies Mt. Iida**, 3 ~ 4 miles away.

Once upon a time, Mt. Kinpo and Mt. Iida quarreled over the height, and no matter how long they argued, they could not come to a conclusion, so Iida said to pass a gutter to the heads of both mountains and let the water flow. When Kinpo said, OK, they passed a long gutter to let the water flow, and the water flowed toward Iida. There, Iida was defeated in a fight and surrendered, so he is said to have said, "I will not say such a thing now.".

quarreled over......～を巡る論争

gutter（名）雨樋、排水路

surrender（動）降参する

Today, there is a pond at the top of Mt. Iida, which is the remains of the water collected at that time. (North of Honda Castle, Kumamoto, Higo Province)

(B) Mt. Nekodake

Mt. Aso*, a prestigious mountain in Higo, is called Gogaku (Five Mountains) and is made up of five mountains, but if you look at Mt. Nekodake**, the easternmost mountain, from a distance, you will see its peak split like the teeth of a saw, and below it is as white and bald as if swept by a broom. Locals also say it's a trail of Tengu urinating, but there's another interesting story.

prestigious（形）名声ある、名誉ある、名高い

easternmost（形）極東の、最も東の

bald（形）頭髪のない、はげの

broom（名）ほうき

urinate（動）排尿する

A long time ago, Mt. Aso and Mt. Nekodake compared their backs. Mt. Aso almost lost, so Mt. Aso got angry, raised a basara bamboo and hit Mt. Nekodake on the head. His head was broken when he was struck, and the marks are torn as they are now. Then, Mt. Nekodake became lower than Mt. Aso. Basara bamboo is withered bamboo with many branches. (Jiro Oyano, Aso, Higo Province)

wither（動）枯れる

(C) Mt. Misendake

There is a high mountain called Mt. Misendake* at Oyogi in Uesugi, Higashihatta Village, Ikaruga County, Tamba Province. A god called Misen-sama is enshrined on this mountain. Although Mt. Misendake is high, it is, unfortunately, a little low compared to Mt. Matsuo, which is high on the other side, so Misen-sama is concerned about this and asks everyone who visits here to take stones as many as their age, and anyone who visits here picks up stones as many as their age and discards them on the top of the mountain. Old people and children carry stones the size of a grain of sand because they have no power, but religious people carry big things. （Toru Takagi）

grain（名）一粒

(D) Remains of a pulling heads rope

A statue of Fudo Myoo is enshrined in Mitama Village, Kamoto District, Higo Province, and a few miles to the west is a mountain. Then Gongen* is enshrined in Turu Village, a few miles to the west of it again.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, Fudo Myoo and Gongen pulled heads** for a power match. Gongen always ate soybeans, so it was only natural that he was stronger than Fudo Myoo, who only ate red beans. Unfortunately, Fudo Myoo's head was pulled out and fell several hundred meters to the west from where he had been enshrined. Because of this competition, the mountain between Fudo Myoo and Gongen still bears the scuff marks of two lines. The name of the mountain is Mt. Yurgi (swaying) because it was among them and swayed.

red bean......小豆

scuff（名）擦れた傷

sway（動）揺れる、揺らぐ

Around that time, Hachiman*** was on a levee a few hundred meters west of where Fudo Myoo was. As the heavens and the earth became noisy due to the head-pulling of Gongen and Fudo Myoo, he was surprised and wondered what had happened, and when he came out, he hit his face against the head-pulling rope, and his one eye was crushed. He is still called One-eyed Hachiman because he became one-eyed.

The head of Fudo Myoo still lies there. It's what the locals call Kubiishi (head stone). It is said that Fudo Myoo was defeated because he had been eating red beans, so the color of the soil is still red around there. （Toru Takagi）

(E)Mt. Ifuri

To the east and south of Ono Town, Ono County, Echizen Province, lie mountains facing each other. To the east is Mt. Arashima*, and to the south is Mt. Ifuri**. Mt. Ifuri is half a horse's shoe lower than Mt. Arashima, and god worships it on both peaks.

The god of Mt. Ifuri was very sorry that his mountain was lower than Mt. Arashima, and he said that those who visited the Tango festival*** in May would bring a handful of soil or a piece of stone, and if his mountain was higher than Mt. Arashima, he would grant any wish. This is why even today, on the occasion of the Tango Festival, many devotees carry a handful of earth and sweat their way through the three miles of mountain roads until night. The top never gets higher, but as it has always been, young people crowd in front of the shrine on the eve of the festival. （Koka Miyake, Ono Town, Fukui Prefecture）

handful（名）一握り

grant（動）叶える

(F) Mt. Iwaki

There is a headless mountain called Mt. Azumadake* east of Aomori City. To the west of Hirosaki City is Mt. Iwaki**, and between these two mountains is Mt. Hakkoda***.

For some reason, however, Mt. Hakkoda and Mt. Azumadake have not always been on good terms. At one point, Mt. Hakkoda suddenly became furious and suddenly decapitated Mt. Azumadake. His head, covered in blood and flying, fell about the shoulder of Mt. Iwaki and stuck to it. Just like Mt. Fuji viewed from the Yoshiwara**** area, the bump on the shoulder of Mt. Iwaki is the head of the attached Mt. Azumadake.

term（名）関係、仲

at one point......あるとき

furious（形）激怒する

decapitate（動）首を刎ねる

bump（名）瘤

It is said that the fertility of the land between Mt. Azumadake and Mt. Iwaki is due to his blood dripping from it.

Note: There are two legends about the Senjogahara Plateau***** (It is also written as Shimejigahara, which is a corruption of Senjogahara?) in the Nikko Mountain range******. The first is historical, and it is said that there were battles between the Uesugi clan and Yamada Nyudo on May 27, 1389, and November 1388, but this seems totally unfounded. The second is the site of a battle between the gods of Futara******* and Akagi********, and Aka Swamp********* on the plateau is said to have been formed by their blood. Hayashi Razan********** wrote about the war situation in detail in his writings. From a distance until a few decades ago, the marsh contained patches of grass that looked a bit like bunched seedlings, and according to local lore, this is what remains of attempts to plant rice seedlings for the food rice of the time. Another legend is Aka Swamp. It is said that the name derives from the fact that Shodo***********, the founder monk of Mt. Nikko, drew water from this swamp. （Umekichi Tanaka）

plateu（名）高原

corruption（名）転訛

unfounded（形）事実無根の

marsh（名）沼地

seedling（名）苗

lore（名）言い伝え、伝承

Note: It is also a story of the mountain, but this is not a story of the mountain itself fighting, but of an emissary of the mountain god fighting. The highest peaks of the Nikko Mountain range in Shimotsuke are Mt. Kurokami and Mt. Nantai, with Mt. Akanagi in the same mountain range. The emissary of the former god is a serpent, and the latter is a centipede. When the two mountains had a falling out and the emissaries of both gods fought on the plateau at the foot of the mountain, Mt. Kurokami finally won, but the serpent lost an eye because of it. The field where they fought seems to be the Senjogahara Plateau, a mile and a half from north to south, in the middle of the route from Chuzenji Temple to Yumoto in the back. In August, many plants and flowers bloom at once, which is wonderful. (Ryohei Handa)

emissary（名）使者

centipede（名）ムカデ

(A)

*Mt. Kinpo: A 665 meter volcano in Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture.

**Mt. Iida: A 431 meter mountain in Mashiki Town, Kumamoto Prefecture.

(B)

*Mt. Aso: A 1592 meter active volcano in the Aso region of Kumamoto Prefecture. Part of it has been designated a national park or geopark, and the caldera's flatlands are suitable for farming and people living there.

**Mt. Nekodake: A 1433 meter volcano in Takamori Town, Kumamoto Prefecture. The shape of the top resembles a cat (neko), and it is said that old cats go to this mountain.

(C)

*Mt. Misendake: Mt. Misen. A 664 meter mountain in Ayabe City, Kyoto Prefecture.

**Mt. Matsuo: A 315 meter mountain on the border between Yamatokoriyama City and Ikarugacho in Nara Prefecture.

(D)

*Gongen: One of the titles of Japanese gods. The appearance of a Buddha or Bodhisattva in the form of a god.

**pilled heads: A game in which a looped string is hung around the necks of two people sitting facing each other, and the person who is pulled toward each other is defeated.

（https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A6%96%E5%BC%95%E3%83%BB%E9%A0%B8%E5%BC%95-2032281）

**Hachiman: He is the god of war and the spirit of Emperor Ojin. The most widely worshipped deity in Japan.

(E)

*Mt. Arashima: A 1523 meter mountain in Ono, Fukui Prefecture.

**Mt. Ifuri: A 884 meter mountain on the border between Fukui City and Ono City in Fukui Prefecture. In the sense of rice falling, it is said that rice fell from the sky when a monk named Taicho was on this mountain. In addition, it is said that when three nuns practiced asceticism on this mountain in the past, rice began to fall every day, but one day they thought of eating this rice alone, and when they pushed the other two nuns one after another into a deep valley, the rice stopped falling.

***Tango Festival: A traditional Chinese holiday which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar. It is a holiday called Children's Day in Japan, and people celebrate it to wish for the health and growth of their children. It is also the day of confinement at the end of rice planting, when people stab the sweet flag on the roof or put it in a bath to ward off plague and evil spirits. On this day, carp streamers are erected, and rice cakes wrapped in daimyo oak leaves are eaten.

(F)

*Mt. Azumadake: A 684 meter mountain in Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture.

**Mt. Iwaki: A 1625 meter volcano in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture. Also called Tsugaru Fuji, it is designated as a national park. It has long been the object of mountain worship, and there is Iwakiyama Shrine on the top of the mountain. Festivals are held on August 1 of the lunar calendar and people climb the mountain.

***Mt. Hakkoda: A 1584 meter volcano located between Aomori City in Aomori Prefecture and Towada in Akita. The area around the mountain is designated as a national park.

****Yoshiwara: A former post-station town in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture. It is known as a scenic spot where you can see Mt. Fuji on the left.

*****Senjogahara Plateau: A wetland in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture.

******Nikko Mountain range: A group of mountains in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture.

*******Futara: Shimotsuke no kami is enshrined in Futaarayama Shrine in Utsunomiya City and Futarasan Shrine in Nikko City.

********Akagi: A 1827 meter mountain in the central part of Gunma Prefecture. At the foot of the mountain is Akagi Shrine.

*********Aka: Derived from the Sanskrit word argha, it means water to offer to the Buddha.

**********Hayashi Razan: （1583 - 1657） A Neo-Confucian scholar. After training at a Buddhist temple, he taught himself the thought of Chu His and became a pupil of the Confucian scholar, Fujiwara Seika. In 1605, he met the first general of the Edo shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and became the brains behind him, taking part in laying the foundation for the Edo shogunate. In 1632, he built the Confucius's Mausoleum and a private school in Edo and produced many disciples. The Hayashi family provided education and instruction in Confucianism in the shogunate for generations.

***********Shodo: (735 - 817) A monk who climbed Mt. Nikko and founded Chuzenji Temple.