(A) Tsuruichi Shrine

There is a district called Sakatekuma in Aihara Village in the lower stream of Yamakuni River in Buzen Province. There are three large weirs in the river. The three channels are the source of drinking and agricultural water for dozens of villages under the weir. On the right bank of the upper river of this weir, you can see a shrine called Tsuruichi God, which is located in a forest of pines and cedars.

weir（名）堰

channel（名）水路、水道

During the reign of Emperor Sutoku*, the land of more than 1000 lands around Okidai Plateau was the territory of Usa Hachiman Shrine and was ruled by six estate jito (stewards) in addition to the head, Yuya Danjo Motonobu.

steward（名）管財人

The damage caused by water damage was so severe every year that they prayed at the shrine for seven days and seven nights, and finally looked for a human sacrifice to the god of water, but it was hard to find one. Yuya said, 'Let's throw our hakama into this river and determine the owner of the sunken one as a sacrifice,' so when they threw them in, his hakama sank. He became a sacrifice. Then, Tsuru, the daughter of his vassal Furuno Genbe Shigesada, and Ichitaro, her son, heard about it and insisted on taking his place, and both of them were sacrificed to these weirs. It was August 15, 1135, and Ichitaro was 13 years old.

Since then, the weirs have become strong and have not been damaged by flood damage until now, more than 770 years later. Of course, Tsuruichi Shrine is dedicated to this mother and son. (Koka Miyake in Ono Town, Fukui Prefecture)

(B) Gensuke Pier

When the Ohashi Bridge in Matsue, Izumo Province was made of clay, the bridge flowed out one day and no matter how many times it was rebuilt, the banks flowed quickly, and the progress of the construction was poor. Then, they naturally agreed that it would be better to sacrifice a human being, but no one was willing to sacrifice himself. At that time, a man named Gensuke suggested finding a person with horizontal stripes somewhere in his hakama and sacrificing him. They all said it was great, so they checked one by one and found that only Gensuke's had horizontal stripes patched.

horizontal stripes......横縞

Since he was sacrificed, the bridge was completed safely. His spirit protected the pier for a long time, and the name Gensuke pier still remains. (Hyozo Shimizu)

There is a large old pond called Sakata Pond in Otake Village, Inba County, Shimousa Province. There is a famous gourd-shaped marsh called Naganuma Marsh, which is a mile wide from east to west and 1000 meters wide from north to south in Nagata Village, about a mile to the east.

gourd（名）ヒョウタン

Each large serpent lives in this swamp, and they are geniuses. The one in the direction of Sakata Pond is a male, and the one in Naganuma Marsh is a female. In autumn, when the ears of rice began to turn yellow and droop, the male serpent in Sakata Pond went to Naganuma Marsh every night through the channels along the valleys of Yansa Valley, Korasa Valley, Harima Valley and Shakushi Valley. Perhaps because of his trampling, the bank of Sakata Pond always collapsed in autumn. Therefore, farmers who own rice fields near here are in great trouble and repair the bank every year, but no matter how many times they repair it, it always breaks again when the serpent passes through in autumn.

genius（名）主

ear（名）穂

droop（動）垂れる

trampling（名）踏みつけること

One year, during the rainy season of May, farmers gathered to repair the bank as usual, and a strange woman carrying a girl of two or three years old walked up from the other side. The girl she was carrying chewed on the unripe blue plum. She stopped and said to the farmers, "No matter how hard you repair this bank, it will not fail. So, you have to bury humans alive. Women are better. Please bury me here with my daughter. Then the bank will surely stop breaking." and did not move. The peasants thought her strange, but she didn't go away, so they felt sorry for her, but they had no choice but to bury her alive with her daughter, as she said. Because of the sacrifices they made, the bank became strong and didn't collapse or leak when autumn came.

Soon a plum tree grew on this bank. The villagers said the tree must have grown from the plum fruit her daughter had bitten into, and they cherished it as a memorial to the sacrifice. Strangely, however, this plum tree blooms but has only half the flesh. This plum has long been called Kataha (half) Plum by Sakata Pond. (Ringai Maeda)

Note: In the first volume of "The Collection of Folk Songs*," which I wrote, I published the lyrics of a folk song handed down in Otake Village called "The parents are old sake, the children are fresh water, and there are eight wells in three rock caves." At the time, I didn't understand the meaning of this, but when I went to Shimousa to record a folk song, I got off at Matsuzaki Station and stopped at Otake Village to ask the villagers about the rock cave. Surprisingly, 'Ko wa Shimizu' (children are fresh water) was a proper noun, and it was located near Sakata Pond, where a watershield is a specialty. This legend was heard there, but there is also a legend in 'Ko wa Shimizu.' (Ringai)

watershield（名）ジュンサイ

(D) Bizen Docho

When a muddy stream caused a new levee on the Fuji River, which flows near Kashima Village, Fuji County, Suruga Province, to burst on August 10, 1911, two levees, Mizugami no Mori and Bizen Docho, were suddenly in danger, having never been feared for 300 years. In the past, a huge rock was located in the center of the river and naturally moderated the water, so these two banks had never been in danger before. Still, during the construction of the new bank, the natural rock was removed and the water from the river came directly to the two banks. And when the new levee broke, as it did this time, the old tailor said with a knowing look, Bizen Docho was not to be counted on.

levee（名）土手

tailor（名）仕立て屋

He will be 75 ~ 76 years old this year. Being a local, he knows a lot about the old days. He seems to have never taken a train in his life and is a stubborn old man. According to him, Bizen Docho was created about 300 years ago. As the place equivalent to the present Bizen Docho was about to burst due to the great flood like this year, the lord of the time gathered chief retainers and held a meeting and said that he would offer a sacrifice. Because this was the opinion of the lord and it was for the good of all the people, all the chief retainers actively said that they wanted to be sacrificed. Then draw a lot, he said, and they drew a lot, and X, the chief retainer, who had long been very trusted by the lord, drew the lot. The lord wondered if anyone could take his place, but there was nothing he could do because it was an emergency. To preserve the pride of the samurai, he thought that he would save the people by sacrificing them cleanly, so he quickly made his preparations and rushed like a bird to Bizen Docho, where he entered a box prepared in advance. Shortly after he was about to be sacrificed, not knowing whether it had fallen from heaven or emerged from the ground, rokubu suddenly called to him in a loud voice several times.

stubborn（形）頑固な

equivalent（形）相当する

retainer（名）家臣

Rokubu took him by surprise and said to him: "How great is the grief of your wife and children if you do it bravely now? If you die on the battlefield, it may still be good, but the lord will also feel sorry for you. Fortunately, I have fallen and become a rokubu, my life is approaching autumn, and I have no relatives now, so I would rather die sacrificing myself for my country and people than endure my life and humiliating myself in the world. You must change your mind and sacrifice me as a scapegoat. I will pray with the sound of a gong in the ground. When you cannot hear the sound of a gong, consider it the time of my death, and place a grave on this bank. " In his place, with tears streaming down his face, rokubu was buried in the ground.

humiliate（動）恥をかかせる

scapegoat（名）身代わり

For the next 150 days, the sound of gongs was heard sadly from the ground every day. When the sound of the gong died down, the water strangely lost its momentum, and since then, Bizen Docho has become a strong embankment and has never been in danger until now, 300 years later. Later it was discovered that rokub's birthplace was Bizen. Locals respect Rokubu's tomb in the forest where the god of water is enshrined, calling it Bizen-sama. (Koshu Ohata in Motoichiba, Kashima Village, Fuji County, Shizuoka Prefecture)

(E) Junrei Hikan

Junlei Hikan (pilgrim's gutter) lies on the Gongendo River more than one kilometer from Satte Town, Kita-Katsushika County, Musashi Province.

gutter（名）樋

A long time ago, when this river burst and the water didn't stop, a pilgrim appeared from somewhere. He said that someone had to sacrifice. Those who listened to him and were present said that no one would sacrifice him, so they tried to sacrifice the man who taught them and forced him to do so. Since then, the bank has stopped breaking. Later, it was decided to make a gutter here, and it was named Junrei Hikan. (Heijo in Higashi Village, Kita-Saitama Count, Saitama Prefecture)

Note: Walking up the Satte Kaido Road in Kita-Katsushika County, Saitama Prefecture, you come to the Satte Bank, which is famous for its strength. Junrei Bank is located 500 to 600 meters east of here. It has a large gutter and is famous as a water inlet for several villages in Satte territory. In the past, long rains continued for three months, rainstorms continued day and night, the water of the Edo River rose, and more than 100 banks collapsed, the worst of which was here. Other places could be repaired, but this one didn't work. At last, earthen mounds were built on the left and right sides to stop water leakage, and when it started raining heavily again, it collapsed in one night. When the officials of the bank administration and local people were at their wits' end, rokubu who was making a pilgrimage across the country passed by and looked at the situation and said that since this was the curse of the dragon god, human sacrifices had to be made. When the official asked him who he should sacrifice, he said that he would be sacrificed. After he closed his eyes and recited the Buddhist invocation for a while, he prayed toward the river, jumped into the water and disappeared into the vortex. The water soon receded, and they were able to build a bank. It is said that villagers later erected a stone monument on the bank to enshrine the spirits of pilgrims, and the small shrine remains today. (Ryozo Tanaka in Tamiya, Kita-Katsushika County, Saitama Prefecture)

recite（動）唱える

Buddhist invocation......念仏

vortex（名）渦

recede（動）退く

(F) Hitokoto no Miya

Shizuka Gozen's grave is located near Kurihashi Station, Kitakatsushika-gun, Saitama Prefecture. There is a small shrine called Hitokoto no Miya near the tomb.

This station used to be the bank of the Tone River. Part of the bank remains. One year, when a flood broke the bank and the water wouldn't stop, and even if dozens of tatami mats were put in the cracks, there was no way for the locals to get in trouble, so a woman carrying a child walked by. Seeing this, someone said, 'Sacrifice her,' and everyone immediately agreed, and they seized her and threw her into the broken place. At that time, she seemed to say something like "please" or "help. ". The water mysteriously stopped in the shadow of her sacrifice. Later, people in the village felt pity for her and built a shrine to worship her in Hitokoto no Miya (one-word shrine). (Heijo in Higashi Village, Kita-Saitama Count, Saitama Prefecture)

(G) By Fumon-in Temple

Matsue Castle in Izumo Province used to be called Chitori Castle. When the Horio family built this castle, no matter how many stones they put in, the foundation would not be fixed, so they had to offer human sacrifices. At that time there was a girl who passed by the castle almost every night singing in a beautiful voice. When the story of the sacrifice began, it was not long before the song disappeared. Her soft body was buried under the base of the castle. It is said that even now, whenever she sings a song called Touboku* by the Fumon-in Temple, the girl comes out and cries. (Hyozo Shimizu)

(H) Longjue Village

Longjue Village, Gangxi County is located near Fanshuliao Street, Lohangoa Village, Akau Prefecture, Taiwan. In the center is a mountain range called Mt. Henshan which looks like a dragon is lying there.

In 1758, a man named Xiao X lived on the north side of the mountain. Because of this mountain range, rainwater overflows in this area, causing flood damage, so I asked for advice on how to open the mountain, but the local people didn't like it for some reason and refused to give me advice. So he took the bold plunge and began to open with his family. They worked hard all day, but when they went the next day, they saw that the ground where they had dug yesterday had been raised and was back to normal. Their moat was back again the next day, so they could not make any progress even after many days of work. Xiao thought that this must be something that the locals would not like to open and disturb, so he went there one night to watch, but no one came. In the morning, however, the remains of their moat were still raised and put back together. When he saw it, he thought of quitting the cutting, but it would be a pity to quit what he had once started, so this time they worked night and day without rest. Then an old man appeared, saying that he would have to bury the lime and saw to open it, and disappeared. So, he did as the old man said, and in an instant, the mountain began to move with a loud noise. The sound didn't stop, for a few days, but finally, it naturally split open and the flood damage, was gone since then.

lime（名）石灰

Mt. Henshan is inhabited by a dragon. It is said that the dragon was impressed by Xiao's patience and allowed him to open the village, so the village came to be called Longjue Village (the village that the dragon exploited). I don't know what it means to bury lime and a saw. This is a story told by a local. (Nyozan Koike)

(A)

*Emperor Sutoku: (1119 - 1164) The seventy-fifth Emperor. His reign was 1123 ~ 1142. After the death of the Cloistered Emperor Toba, he fought with Emperor Go-Shirakawa, was defeated in the Hogen War, and was exiled to Sanuki Island.

(B)

(C)

*The Collection of Folk Songs: It was published in 1907.

(D)

(E)

(F)

(G)

*Toboku: A song sung in the Noh program 'Toboku.' The story is that a monk is under a plum tree at Toboku-in Temple in Kyoto, and the ghost of Izumi Shikibu, a famous poet, appears, tells him that she loved the tree, disappears, and that night she appears again in his dream and dances gracefully.

(H)