(A) Ane Swamp, Imouto Swamp, and Ogawara Swamps

There are large lakes in Kamikita County, Mutsu Province. It is also collectively called Ogawara Swamps*, but the swamps named Ane (elder sister) Swamp and Imouto (younger sister) Swamp must have some origin. There are some interesting legends surrounding these.

collectively（副）集合的に

A long time ago, a nobleman was punished by the Emperor and exiled to the distant Mutsu Province. He left his wife and children in his hometown, and several years passed as he alone gazed at the moon in the penal colony. His remaining wife and children took the occasional letter from him for comfort and lived patiently waiting for the day when he would be forgiven. For a while, they heard little from him, but before long there was no word from him, and no matter how long they waited, there were no letters from him. When it became painful and his wife fell ill, her two daughters' worries became unusual. After much thought, they finally took the plunge and left the capital for Mutsu Province to look for their father's whereabouts, leaving their mother behind.

penal colony......流刑地

occasional（形）時折の

patiently（副）根気よく、気長に

take the plunge......思い切ってする

whereabouts（名）行方、居場所

Yamanaka Hyobu and Komazawa Ukyo accompanied the two princesses to Mutsu Province, where they visited various places, but they could not find the person they were looking for. After visiting various places, they came to what is now Misawa Village, Kamikita County, and when they asked, they said that they had seen him on this land until a few years ago, but they didn't know if he had gone anywhere after that, or if he had died suddenly after being killed by bandits. On hearing this, the two princesses were despondent and wept day and night, but they finally recovered their minds and headed to the right and left sides, each with an entourage, thinking of splitting into two groups to find out the whereabouts of their father. The elder sister left one step ahead of the others, but I don't know what kind of curse of the god of death she encountered, but she threw herself into a stream and passed away as algae on the bottom of the river. When the younger sister heard of her death on the news of her companion's death, she thought it would be meaningless for her to be alive alone if she lost her sister, and she also drowned herself.

bandit（名）強盗、山賊

despondent（形）落胆した

entourage（名）側近

algae（名）藻

meaningless（形）目的がない、むなしい

The stream that had seen them to their end had mysteriously since gradually expanded into a great swamp. Even after it became a swamp, there was a clear boundary between where the elder sister sank and where the younger sister sank, and one became a large swamp and the other a small one, which still retains their memories.

Note: Legend has it that Yamanaka and Komazawa both became priests and mourned the princesses to pray for their well-being in the afterworld. It is said that the Numazaki Kannon in Numazaki Village enshrined a Kannon statue that was the amulet of the sisters, and the hall is still in Numazaki, Uranodate Village, Kamikita County, where religious services are held every year. It was located southeast of the present Numazaki Station. It is said that the above-mentioned two men lived in this area, and their descendants are still living in present-day Yamanaka and Komazawa, Misawa Village. It is said that until the period of domain duties, they inherited the names of their ancestors and were exempted from all taxes, and even today, there is no one who doesn't know about Ukyo and Hyobu. Of the above-mentioned large lakes, Ogawara Swamp, the larger one is called Ane Swamp and the smaller one is called Imouto Swamp, and the land between them is called Aneto-no-Watari, with a circumference of 12-13 miles, making it the fifth largest lake in Japan. (Shinpachiro in Noheji Village, Mutsu County)

mourn（動）喪に服す、追悼する

afterworld（名）あの世

domain duties......藩政

exempt（動）免除する

(B) Lake Towada

Once upon a time, there was a lumberjack in Okuse Village near Lake Towada*. His name was Hachiro. One day, while Hachiro was working in the mountains, he became thirsty, and when he came to the bank of a stream to drink water, he found a beautiful small fish swimming in it. He couldn't stand wanting it, so he caught the fish and ate it. It was very salty and made him thirsty. He has drunk water many times, but no amount of it can quench his thirst. As he drank unnecessarily, his body mysteriously grew longer and longer until it became a serpent. There was one mother in his house. He couldn't bear to show his body to his mother. It was a shame for him to be seen. He dared to dive to the bottom of the water, and in an instant, the stream expanded and became a lake in sight. That is the origin of Lake Towada.

lumberjack（名）木こり

quench（動）欲望を抑える

dare（動）思い切ってする

While Hachiro's mother was alive, nothing happened, but when she died, Hachiro began to act violently in the neighborhood. When the neighboring villages were causing him great annoyance, a few years later, a Buddhist monk named Anjubo, who was very firm and strong in his devotion to Buddhism, came from Narasaki, near what is now Hachinohe, San'nohe County, and finally made him become a Buddha by the force of the dharma. When Anjubo returned to visit more than 60 provinces, he hurried to the vicinity of Lake Towada for training because people were annoyed by Hachiro. In the shape of a serpent, Hachiro attacked him night and day with rainstorms and lightning. Having decided that he would live here for the rest of his life, he never made a fuss about such matters, so Hachiro finally gave in. However, Hachiro was ashamed to live in the same place as him, so he fled there and went to the Oga Peninsula in Ugo Province, where he built a large lake to live again. This is what is now Lake Hachirougata**. The Towada Gongen Shrine in Ho'okusawa Village, Kamikita County, is said to have been built by locals for Hachiro, but now it is a village shrine that attracts many visitors. (Shinpachiro in Noheji Village, Aomori Prefecture)

dharma（名）仏法

make a fuss about......大騒ぎする

(A)

*Ogawara Swamps: It is a lake in Tohoku Town, Kamikita County, Aomori Prefecture, and is the 11th largest lake in Japan.

(B)

*Lake Towada: It is a lake on the border of Aomori and Akita prefectures and is the 12th largest lake in Japan.

**Lake Hachirougata: A lake in Akita Prefecture that was once the second largest in Japan. It was reclaimed after World War II and the center became farming villages.