Japanese Legend Collection

(ii) The Spider Legend

(A) Kashiko Pool

There is a pool on the side of Yodomi Bridge in Sendai.

Once upon a time, a local man would go fishing here as usual and not catch a single fish on this particular day. Just as he was wondering, a little spider came out of the pool with something black in its mouth and put it on his toe. As he looked at it, finding it amusing, the spider went straight into the pool and eventually came out again, also holding a black object, which he again put on his leg. Thinking the black thing was dirty, he took it and rubbed it against a large willow tree beside him. The spider still went in and out of the pool, bringing black objects to wear. Each time he moved it to the willow. After a while, there was a loud noise, and the big willow tree was pulled down and pulled into the pool. He was surprised when a voice called out from within the pool, "You're wise, wise." Since then, the pool has been named the Kashiko (wise) Pool.

Note: The genius of this Kashiko Pool is a spider. The genius of the nearby Genbee Pool was an eel, and it is said that the spider and the eel fought a war. (Kikumatsu Sugano in Terakoji, Sendai)

(B) The Seikaeshi Fall

There is Seikaeshi Falls deep in Ryumon Village, Kikuchi County, Higo Province. Once upon a time, when a village man was fishing in the pool here, a spider came out of the water, attached a thread to the man's kneecap, and sank back into the water. The man was so strangely creepy that he took the thread from his kneecap and rubbed it against a nearby willow tree. Soon after, a loud noise pulled the willow into the pool with its roots. (From Ryumon, Kikuchi, Higo)

kneecap（名）膝がしら

(C) Otoroshi-ga-Fuchi

The Shira River flows through the center of the valley on the south side of Mt. Aso in Higo Province. Otoroshi-ga-fuchi Pool is in a mountain stream that descends from the mountains on the south side of the valley to the Shira River. It is a very spider-infested place, and it is often the case that locals go fishing in the pool and come back weak after their fishing rods and lines are ruined by the spider web. It doesn't seem unreasonable to say that pool's genius is a spider. Once upon a time, a man was fishing in this pool when a spider swam by, circled around his feet 4 ~ 5 times, and swam toward the rocks on the opposite shore. He looked at it and became a little creepy, wondering what the spider would do, and after watching the situation for a while, a thread about the size of a pinkie finger connected from his sandal to the rock on the opposite bank when the spider made a round trip of 14-15 degrees.

After a while, there was a somewhat frightening sound from the rock beyond, and his sandal flew into the air and was carried across the pool to the shore beyond. Fortunately, he survived without being hobbled. When he later told this to the villagers, they said it was the genius of the pool, who would have killed him if he had worn sandals or been barefoot, but he was lucky because he wore straw sandals with a square knot. Even now, people who go to the pool always wear sandals with a square knot. (Jiro Ooyano at the foot of Mt. Aso in Higo Province)

infested（形）出没する、はびこった

rod（名）釣り竿

line（名）釣り糸

unreasonable（形）不合理な