(A) Stone Taro

In the past, when Kobo Daishi came to Aizu, Iwaki Province on a pilgrimage, he requested taro boiled in a peasant's house. The house owner was stingy, and Daishi's clothes were poor, so he said this was a stone taro and didn't give it to Daishi. Then Daishi requested water. He said he had no water, so of course, he didn't give it to him. Daishi left without saying anything. Later, when he tried to eat the taro, he found that it was as hard as a stone and he couldn't eat it anymore, and besides, the whole area around his house was filled with water and the farmhouse became like an island. I also think I heard a story when I was a child that an old woman at a teahouse by the pass said to Daishi that this was a stone taro. (Ryohei Uchida)

stingy（形）けちな

(B) Stone Buns at Adaka

Adaka, Kuga Village, Tsukuba County, Ibaraki Prefecture is the gate for descending from a hill to a flat land which is said to have been a wetland in the past. It is a steep and long slope on a cliff-cleared road, but the stone buns of Adaka* emerge from the sand of the cliff to the south. It is round and hollow about the size of a normal monaka** and pale white-birchbark-colored. There is a small hole in the middle of the front. There is a hexagonal flower pattern around the hole. If you are not very careful when digging it out, it will break. However, when exposed to air, it becomes hard like ceramic, and when struck, it makes a sound like pottery.

wetland（名）湿地帯

cleared（形）除去した

emerge（動）表面に出て来る

birchbark（名）カバノキの樹皮

hexagonal（形）六角形の

This area was pioneered in the early period, and it was famous that rice fields were made and glutinous rice was produced well. A long time ago, when this area was a wetland, there was a greedy old man who sold buns in a dirty hut in front of the gate of the temple dedicated to Kannon of Adaka. One evening, a beggar monk, looking pretty, came to the shop and asked for a bun because he was hungry, but the overbearing old man refused to give it to him, saying that it was not to be eaten as a stone bun. Well, he said, then let's turn them into real stone buns and left. Then, strangely, all the buns became stone, and no matter how much the old man cooked them, they became stone, so he had no choice but to abandon the buns and close the shop. Even now, it is said that the buns that come out of the sand are the remnants of the buns at that time.

glutinous rice......もち米

beggar（名）乞食

overbearing（形）横柄な

There is still a statue of Kannon. Those who still visit there dig up the stone bun as a souvenir for their children and bring it back. The beggar monk was Kobo Daishi. (Keikichi Hishinuma in Sendagaya, Tokyo)

(A)

(B)

*stone buns of Adaka: A fossil sand dollar.

**monaka: A sweet made of red bean paste sandwiched between two thin crisp wafers made from rice cake.