(A) Benkei Island

There is a small island called Benkei Island off the coast of Moriyama Village, Yatsuka County, Izumo Province.

Benkei's mother used to eat iron every day when she was pregnant with him, which is probably why he was so naturally strong that when his mother went out, she tied him to a millstone and dragged him around. He was so naughty that he annoyed his mother, who, disgusted with him, dressed him in a child's kimono and abandoned him on a small island off the coast of Moriyama Village. Then, every night, he repeatedly scooped up sand at the bottom of his kimono and carried it and dumped it in the sea, and although I don't know how many tens of millions of times, he did it, he finally built a bank in the sea and walked back along the bank. His mother was finally disgusted with him and left him at her uncle's. His uncle was a blacksmith. He saw his uncle forging a naginata* and asked, "Who can ask to make such a wonderful naginata?" His uncle smiled and said, "I'll make it at anyone's request if they give me money". Then Benkei suddenly took the naginata, killed his uncle, and ran away. It is said that he appeared on a bridge in Gojo with his feet and killed one thousand people. (Hyozo Shimizu)

millstone（名）石臼

naughty（形）わんぱくな

disgust（形）うんざりさせる

scoop（動）すくう

bottom（名）端

blacksmith（名）鍛冶屋

(B) Mt. Makuragi

Long ago, a princess in the capital was so tall that no one married her, and her flower-like beauty faded away in vain. She prayed to gods and Buddha from morning to night, and one night, a god appeared in her dream and told her to look for and ask for a man waiting for her on Mt. Makuragi in Izumo Province. She hurried in great haste toward Mt. Makuragi in Izumo Province, looking for the man's house, but she had no idea where it was. When she was walking along an unfamiliar mountain road, the sun went down and she couldn't move a step, so she sat down at the base of a pine tree and thought about it when suddenly she heard a strange noise and a gallant man appeared. The pleasant night with him ended like a dream, and at dawn, the man went into hiding and disappeared. She cursed the world and resented people so much that she decided not to enter human society again, and while she was spending time deep in the mountains, her body became heavy before she knew it, and after many months, a jewel-like boy was born. He later rose through the ranks and made a name for himself with the famous Kintoki.

in vain......無駄に

gallant（形）勇ましい、気高い

resent（動）不快に思う

It is said that Yamauba* is the reduced girl. Around Matsue, Izumo Province, it is said that the Yamauba does not eat food where people are looking but eats several days' worth of food in one gulp from her mouth on her head while people are not looking. (Hyozo Shimizu)

reduced（形）落ちぶれた

in one gulp......一飲みに、一口で

It is a complete falsehood that the place where the ogress lived was in Mt. Togakushi, and the grotto where she lived remains in Kama Rock in a village in Kamiminochi County, Shinano Province.

falsehood（名）虚偽

ogress（名）鬼女

grotto（名）洞窟

Once upon a time, after hearing that an ogress named Momiji lived in Mt. Togakushi in Shinano, General Yogo, aka Taira no Koremochi*, set out to exterminate her. First, he prayed to the Kannon of another place for three days and arrived at the mountain in what is now Shigarami Village in mid-autumn. He shot an arrow while praying to the Kannon and it flew northwest. He went down the valley to the banks of Susobana River, crossed a bridge made of wisteria vines wide enough for a monkey to pass through, reached Shigaki looking for arrow marks, then went to the grotto where the ogress was, and beheaded her without difficulty. But her head was too heavy to carry her very far. So he was forced to bury her head in the area where the arrow fell and return to the capital.

exterminate（動）絶滅させる、掃討する

wisteria（名）フジ

behead（動）斬首する

The mound where her head was buried was Gorin Mound and the slope where it is called Gorin Slope. There are shrines dedicated to Hachiman in Shigaki. One is Yamoto Hachiman Shrine and the other is Yasaki Hachiman Shrine. And where there used to be a bridge, there's a bridge. (Takayoshi Koike in Shigarami Village, Kamiminochi County, Nagano Prefecture)

(D) Hachimen Daio

A long time ago, a merciful elderly couple lived in Ariake Village, Minami-Azumi County, Shinano Province. One day, the old man, on his way to town to buy rice, felt sorry for a copper pheasant that had been caught in a trap and was about to be killed by a hunter, so he gave the hunter money to buy rice, bought the bird, released it in the mountains and came back. The next day, an unfamiliar girl came and begged him to take her in. She interrupted them when they said, "We have no children, so we would very much like to take you in, but we are as poor as you can see, and living so hard that it is difficult to get steam out of a small furnace for both husband and wife." and asked, "There is nothing for you to worry about. Let me make it possible for me to work and make a living." Since she didn't move, they reluctantly adopted her just as she told them to.

copper pheasant......ヤマドリ

interrupt（動）人の話を遮る

furnace（名）かまど

reluctantly（副）渋々、仕方なく

adopt（動）養子にする

The girl worked daily in weaving and as a side job to help the elderly couple make a living. At that time, there was an evil ogre called Hachimen Daio on Mt. Ariake, so famous that it was called Shinano Fuji, and he was tormenting the villagers. The Imperial Court could not afford to leave it ignorant, so it appointed Sakanoue no Tamuramaro as the general in charge of ogre extermination and dispatched him. The ogre knew the general was coming and darkened the sky or rained large stones like rain or hail at the foot, so they could not get any closer. Seeing the ogre's eyes shining like a mirror, General Tamura shot an arrow, but none hit him. General Tamura finally ran out of options and thought that if this happened, he would have no choice but to rely on the power of the gods and Buddha, so he prayed to Kiyomizu Kannon in Mizusawa, pledging that if he could get rid of the evil ogre, 1000 pilgrims would visit here in one day. Then, in his dream of the night when his wish was fulfilled, Kannon appeared and told him that if he shot with an arrow made of copper pheasant's tails with 13 knots, the darkness would be cleared, the second arrow would destroy the evil ogre, and the third arrow would expel their followers. General Tamura was pleased and issued a proclamation to the village saying that he would give a splendid reward to anyone who brought the 13-knotted copper pheasant tails. The girl at the elderly couple's house brought the copper pheasant tails with 13 knots from somewhere and said, "I am a copper pheasant that was saved by you before, but thanks for waiting for the opportunity to repay you, this proclamation has been issued. I have brought the copper pheasant tails to thank you, so please give it to General Tamura," and handed the bird tails to the elderly man and left somewhere.

torment（動）苦しめる

dispatch（動）派遣する

hail（名）あられ

pledge（動）誓う

pilgrim（名）巡礼者

proclamation（名）布告

splendid（形）優れた

reward（名）報酬

It is said that the elderly couple was able to live in peace for the rest of their lives because of the reward. When General Tamura made and shot an arrow with the bird's tail, the first arrow instantly cleared the sky, the second arrow took the life of the evil ogre, and the third arrow scattered his followers and escaped. He had fulfilled his great wish to exterminate the evil ogre, so he remembered the pledge of 1000 pilgrims, thought it would not be fulfilled in this mountainous village, and moved the shrine to the capital, which is now Kiyomizu Kannon* in Higashiyama.

It is said that the dead body of the ogre was cut into pieces and buried separately because burying it in one place brings back life and curses, Daio Shrine in Kamikawate, Higashi-Chikuma County was the place where the head of the ogre was buried, and Mimizuka (ear mound) in Ariake Village, Minami-Azumi County was the mound where the ears were buried. It is said that the large stones scattered all over Ariake Village and Nishi-Hotaka Village are the ones dropped by the ogre at that time. It rained stones as far as Kashiwabara in Nishi-Hotaka Village, but not in Furumaya in Ariake Village, and even now people there make a pun about it, saying, "Kashiwa bara-bara (Kashiwa sprinkles, this is Furumaya (there doesn't sprinkle)." The old man was given the name Yamura Yasuke by General Tamura, and the house lasted for a long time, his descendants still remain in Ariake Village. (Hozenta Maruyama in Shimauchi, Higashi-Chikuma County, Shinano Province)

bring back life......生き返る

curse（動）呪う

sprinkle（動）撒く、振りかける

(A)

*naginata: A pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades. Naginata were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by low-grade soldiers and warrior monks.

(B)

*Yamauba: Japanese yokai. An old woman who lives in the mountains and eats people. She is also said to be the mother of Sakata no Kintoki, who later became a vassal of Minamoto no Yorimitsu and was active.

(C)

*Taira no Koremochi: (? ～ 1022） He was a military commander in the Heian period. He is said to have exterminated a ogress living in Togakusan, and his performance became the subject of a Noh play.

(D)

*Kiyomizu Kannon: Kiyomizu Temple. A temple of the Kita Hosso sect in Shimizu, Higashiyama Word, Kyoto City. It is a World Heritage Site.