(A) The Otter's Deed

In Nishikawazu Village, Yatsuka District, Izumo Province, there is a shrine dedicated to an otter* deed.

otter（名）カワウソ

deed（名）証文

Once upon a time, an otter tried to pull a grazing horse on the riverbank here into the water with the reins wrapped around its waist. The horse jumped up in surprise, ran hard, and dashed into a cotton field about 200-300 meters away. The otter was also shaken, and while it was being dragged around by horses in a cotton field, the villagers who were working spotted it and made a noise: "Hey, there's a kawako (otter), there's a kawako." The otter was unable to escape because it tied the reins to its own waist and was finally captured by the villagers. When the villagers tried to beat the otter to death in revenge for what they had done so far, the otter cowered and joined hands in prayer. When they took pity on the otter and helped it, it served and worked the fields in the village. The otter, however, is naturally fond of extracting a fresh liver from a human. Even though it was doing volunteer work in the village, this habit was hard to resist, so when it slipped its mind, it tried to touch the area around the villager's hip. At first, they too were wary of putting pieces of roof tiles against their hips, but it happened so often that they became creepy, and after much discussion, they decided to dismiss the otter by having it produce a deed. The otter was so pleased that it returned to the river, swearing that it would never take the life of anyone who drowned in the future if only he could chant "Nishikawazu Village, Izumo Province" three times.

graze（動）草を食べる

wrap（動）巻き付ける

make a noise......騒ぐ

rein（名）手綱

cower（動）萎縮する

dismiss（動）解雇する、解任する

swear（動）誓う

Enshrined in a shrine is a deed from this time. Even today, locals chant 'Nishikawazu, Izumo Province' when swimming. This is a charm against otters. (Hyozo Shimizu)

(B) Kappa Extermination

Once upon a time, there was a feudal lord named Ishihara Kanunosuke in Ishihara Village, Houtaku County, Higo Province, and his grave is still in the residence of an old family named Kudo in that village. The locals call him Tono-san. The bottom near the banks of the Shira River, which runs north of Ishihara Village, is called Ishidatami (stone pavement) and is a natural paving stone. This stone pavement is said to have been the lord's house at that time, and it has a hole in the center about the size of a bathtub. This hole is a Tono-san's bath, and in the summer the water in it warms up, so local children say they take a bath and jump into this hole to play. The stone pavement is lined with horse-hoof-shaped tracks that look just like the tracks of a horse walking. It is said to be the hoof tracks of Tono-san's horse.

pavement（名）舗装、舗装道路

hoof（名）ひづめ

Long ago, a village child was killed by a kappa. When the lord heard this, he got very angry and immediately went into the water of the Shira River, wrestled with the kappa, and at last, came back with one of its arms drawn. When he returned and saw it, he was surprised to find that what he thought was a kappa's arm was a single straw. Then that night, a kappa whose arm had been taken away came to the lord to apologize and get its arm back. If a promise was made that the kappa would never do anything that would take the lives of people in this village in the future, he would forgive it for once, and it made a firm promise and got its arm back. Since then, no one in Ishihara has been threatened by kappa, even though kappa has taken their lives in other villages.

wrestle（動）戦う、格闘する

Here, on the third day of the Doyo period* in summer, kappa is worshipped by offering sake, cucumbers, and udon noodles. This is what is called kappa. (Sekikyo Ishihara in Houtaku County, Higo Province)

(A)

*otter: Kappa is identified with otters in some areas. Kappa is a Japanese yokai that lives in water and is said to kill people and horses by dragging them into the water. They like cucumbers and dislike metal. They also like to wrestle. They have webbing, shell, and head plates. Throughout Japan, there were water yokai with various names, such as kawataro, kawako, suiko, and hyosube, which were later integrated as kappa and became recognized.

(B)

*the Doyo period: A period of the calendar derived from the Chinese Yin and Yang theory of the five elements, which runs for 18 days immediately before the start of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The weather during the first three days, especially on a summer Doyo day, divined the year's harvest. It is also said to be the hottest period of the year when books and plums are dried.