(A) Oike, Koike, Maoi Pond

According to the old place name, it was on the border of Echigo and Aizu, and now there is a place called Yoshigahira in Minami-kanbara County, Niigata Prefecture. In the village, there are three swamps called Oike, Koike, and Maoi. Maoi Pond is not very big, but it is somehow amazing at first glance. Villagers never guide strangers there. That should be the case, and in times of drought, local people pray to the dragon god in this pond for rainfall. It is an important pond where speculators throw metal into the pond to produce unexpected rain. The pond is known as far away as 30 ~ 40 miles, let alone 10 ~ 20 miles.

somehow（副）どういうわけか

speculator（名）相場師、山師

A long time ago, an old rokubu*, who had trudged from Echigo toward Aizu, came to Yoshigahira just as the sun had set, so he was put up in a house in the village. But inside his shelf was a mysterious golden chicken that told him the time every morning. The host took it in his hand and stole it gently to hide it. When rokubu woke up the next morning, his precious chicken was gone. He looked everywhere but couldn't find it anywhere, so he finally plunged into Maoi Pond. The serpent, the lord of the pond, is his incarnation.

trudge（動）重い足取りでとぼとぼ歩く

gently（副）そっと

plunge（動）飛び込む

incarnation（名）化身

Hundreds of years later, Muramatsu**, the feudal lord, said, "There is no way such a monstrous thing can happen in my own territory," and one day he came to the pond by himself without his retainers and dived with a short sword in his mouth, only to find an old woman spinning thread. "I heard there's a monster in my territory, but is that you? "he asked, and she said," That's right, "and showed him around the rooms. He was so interested that he went deeper and deeper until she changed her complexion and said, "Up to this point, it was your territory, but beyond this point, it's Aizu's territory, so I can't show it." At that moment he was already floating above the pond. (Zenbei Watanabe at Sanjo, Echigo Province)

feudal（形）封土の

monstrous（形）怪物のような

spin（動）紡ぐ

complexion（名）顔色

(B) Murky Pool

A river about 27 meters wide flows through Kuwano Village, Naka County, Tokushima Prefecture. It is in the upper reaches of the Kuwano River*. On one occasion, a monk in the form of rokubu asked to stay overnight at a rich man's home in the village. He had a golden chicken and a mosquito net that could be stored in an inch-square box, but the host learned of this after much talking with him, and evil feelings arose. Early the next morning, after he had left, the host followed him, slashing him with a sword from behind just as he reached the river's edge and dropping him into the river. The golden chicken fluttered away, but the mosquito net, which could be stored in an inch-square box, was safely obtained by the master. The blood from when he was slashed still makes the water by this river edge red and murky. The name Nigorigafuchi (murky pool) Pool comes from that event, of course.

on one occasion......ある時

slash（動）切りつける

flutter（動）はばたく

murky（形）濁った

Even today, steamed rice cakes are not made in the house of the master who cut and killed rokubu. If they pound rice cakes, blood is always mixed in them, so hikimochi (grilled rice cakes) is used instead. The mosquito net is said to still be left in their house, but this time I will only keep the family's name secret. (Yoshikawa Yasuto)

(A)

*rokubu: Abbreviation of rokujuroku-bu (66 copies). A practitioner of austerities who copies 66 copies of the Lotus Sutra and travels all over Japan offering it to temples and shrines in 66 provinces.

**Muramatsu: The clan ruled Muramatsu, Shimoda, Nanatani and Mitsuke regions in Kanbara County, Echigo Province.

(B)

*Kuwano River: A tributary of the Naka River system that flows through Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture.