[Legend of the Three Lakes in Northeastern North: Part 1] Do you know about the magnificent folklore "Legend of the Three Lakes," which lies in the three prefectures?

The vast natural beauty of the northern Tohoku region, which spans Aomori, Akita, and Iwate, has been home to many mysterious legends that have been passed down since ancient times. Among these is a magnificent folk tale known as the "Three Lakes Legend."

The story takes place Lake Hachirogata and Lake Tazawa Lake Towada, which straddles Aomori and Akita prefectures . The dragon gods that are said to inhabit these three lakes meet, fight, and then become connected...that's the story.

Furthermore, there are side stories in various parts of northern Tohoku, including Iwate Prefecture, such as tales of detours on the dragon god's journey, making it such a large-scale folklore that it is difficult to grasp the whole story

However, this story was not originally one story about the "Three Lakes." It appears that legends that were originally told in different places were later integrated and completed into a complete story..

This time, I would like to try to unravel this "Three Lakes Legend" as much as possible.

Important points to understand the "Three Lakes Legend"

The "Legend of the Three Lakes" is a story of such volume that it is hard to believe it is local folklore. rather, it was a fusion of stories that had been passed down independently in various regions, and over time it has been further fleshed out, and is thought to be a story that continues to evolve today.

The more I researched, the more information I found, and the more confused I became... So, the Three Lakes Legend is based on folklore with no historical backing, and contains many contradictions . For example, these include the following:

• Originally it was an independent tradition that was passed down in various places
• There are also vague oral traditions
• Each reference has different details about the story and different names of characters
• Over the course of several hundred years, researchers of each era have accumulated their own unique insights and interpretations
• There is also a story that has been fleshed out by replacing characters from unrelated legends with characters from the Legend of the Three Lakes
• It was rewritten as a retold story during the Taisho and Showa periods
• Creation and expansion through tourism promotion and folk tale picture books

...These various events are intricately intertwined, so the true nature of the story remains unclear. This article is merely the author's own unique analysis based on his research and understanding

The legend of the three lakes is a story of the dragon god who lives in Lake Hachirogata, Lake Towada, and Lake Tazawa

the Three Lakes Legend is as follows:

Hachirotaro becomes the dragon god

Once upon a time, there was a strong young man named Hachirotaro, who was about 6 shaku (about 180 cm) tall

One day, Hachirotaro and his friends headed deep into the mountains of Towada to peel the bark of a tree called "Mada."

Hachirotaro, who was in charge of cooking, caught three trout and began to grill them on skewers, but he was so hungry that he finished his own first. The food was so delicious that he couldn't stop eating them, and he ended up eating all of the trout that were for the remaining crew

After a while, he begins to get thirsty, and drinking all the water he has in his hand is not enough, so he puts his face in the stream and starts gulping down. No matter how much he drinks, his thirst is not quenched, and feeling something strange, Hachirotaro looks at his reflection in the water

There he sees the figure of a dragon covered in scales, and realizes that Hachirotaro has turned into a dragon

His friends were surprised when he returned, but they could not return to the village together, so Hachirotaro tearfully said goodbye to them and went to live in Lake Towada, a lake created by damming a stream

Competing with Nansobo for the position of lord of Lake Towada

Shortly after Hachirotaro became the leader, a monk named Nansobo arrived at Lake Towada. This monk, originally from Nanbu (present-day Iwate Prefecture), had been training in Kumano, Kishu, when he received a revelation from a Gongen deity that he should wear iron straw sandals and a staff, and that he should travel around the country wearing these, and wherever his straw sandals break, he should make his home. Just as he had been told, when he visited this place, his iron straw sandals broke

Nansobo intended to make Lake Towada his permanent home, but Hachirotaro was already living there. The two men fought over the position of lord of the lake, and after a battle that lasted seven days and seven nights, Nansobo emerged victorious. With no place to live, Hachirotaro wandered west in search of a place to settle down

The winner, Nansobo, also drowned in Lake Towada, transformed into a dragon god, and became the master of the land

After his defeat, Hachirotaro wanders around various places and eventually arrives at Lake Hachirogata

As Hachirotaro travels west down the Yoneshiro River, he tries to stop in various places, but each time he is chased by the gods of the land he has lived in. Hearing that there is good land to the south, Hachirotaro then heads south

When he finally arrived at his destination and announced to the local people that he was going to create a lake, the earth split open, drawing in a flood of water and creating the lake in an instant. Lagoon Hachirogata was thus created, and Hachirotaro settled there as its lord

At Lake Tazawa, Tatsuko becomes the dragon god

At that time, a beautiful girl named Tatsuko lived near Lake Tazawa. Wishing to keep her youth and beauty forever, Tatsuko frequented the Kannon temple and prayed every night

Then, on the 100th day, when her wish was fulfilled, she received a prophecy that said, "If you drink the water from the spring beside Lake Tazawa, you will attain eternal beauty." When Tatsuko found the spring as instructed and drank the water, she was transformed into a dragon

Worried about Tatsuko not returning home for days, her mother eventually finds her transformed into a dragon on the shores of Lake Tazawa. However, unable to return home, Tatsuko tearfully leaves her mother and makes Lake Tazawa her home, becoming the master of the land

Hachirotaro hears rumors about Tatsuko and visits Lake Tazawa

Some time later, Hachirotaro hears rumors of Tatsuko at Lake Tazawa from a migratory bird that has come to Lagoon Hachirogata. He then visits Lake Tazawa to meet her, and she is delighted by his visit and accepts Hachirotaro's feelings

Since then, Hachirotaro visited Lake Tazawa every winter and lived with Tatsuko. As a result, Lake Hachirogata began to freeze over in the winter when its master was away, and Lake Tazawa, where the two dragon gods Hachirotaro and Princess Tatsuko lived, is said to have remained frozen even in winter and grown deeper

Is the Legend of the Three Lakes a story that combines originally separate traditions?

The above is the main story of the Three Lakes Legend, but originally

• A young man named Hachirotaro transformed into a dragon god and became the lord of Lake Hachirogata
• A monk named Nansobo drowned himself in Lake Towada after his training, and came to be enshrined as Towada Seiryu Gongen
• A beautiful woman named Tatsuko, who sought eternal beauty, transformed into a dragon god and became the lord of Lake Tazawa

It is possible that these independent folklore tales, passed down in each locality, were at some point fused and adapted to form a single story

In fact, the term "Three Lakes Legend" has not been found in any documents prior to the Edo period, and it is thought that the term first began to spread in local history, tourist materials, and children's literature from the late Showa period to the early Heisei period

There is a story from the Muromachi period that is thought to be the basis for the "Three Lakes Legend."

The collection of tales called "Sankokudenki," which is said to have been compiled by a man named Genmune during the Muromachi period, contains a story that is thought to be the basis for the Three Lakes Legend

In the mid-19th century, there was a Lotus Sutra holder named Shaku Nanzo near Mount Shosha in Banshu. He was an avid believer in Kumano Gongen, having already made 30 pilgrimages there. However, he wished to witness the birth of Maitreya while still alive, and spent three years in seclusion. On the night of the thousandth day, he had a revelation in a dream: "If I immediately go down to Kanto and live on Mount Kotodama, on the border between Hitachi and Dewa, I will be able to witness Maitreya's descent." He immediately went to the mountain, and at its peak was a circular, bottomless pond. As he recited the Lotus Sutra by the pond's banks, a woman around 18 or 19 years old would appear every day to listen. Nanzo wondered what was going on, and the woman said, "I would like you to come to my residence and recite the Lotus Sutra for all living beings." Nanzo refused, saying, "I am waiting here for the birth of Maitreya, so I cannot go anywhere else." The woman replied, "I am the dragon girl who owns this pond. Dragons are long-lived creatures, so they can witness the birth of a thousand Buddhas in their lifetime. Why don't you marry me and await Maitreya's rebirth?" Nanzo thought this through and decided to live in the pond with the woman. One day, the woman said, "I am the wife of a giant eight-headed serpent that lives in a pond in the mountains of Nakama, three ri west of this mountain. It lives in Nakama Pond on the 15th of the first month of January and comes to this pond on the 15th of the last month, so it is about time for it to arrive." Undaunted, Nanzo placed the eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra above his head. Nanzo then instantly transformed into a nine-headed dragon and fought with the eight-headed serpent for seven days and seven nights, after which the eight-headed serpent finally lost and tried to enter the ocean, but a large pine tree appeared and got in its way, causing it to lose its courage and become small, returning to its original state in Nakkan Pond. Even now, if you listen carefully near Kotoryo Pond, you can hear the sound of sutras being chanted beneath the waves

Source: Wikipedia "Legend of the Three Lakes"

Of course, there are many differences, but the words that appear in the story

• Shaku Nanzo > Nansobo
• Eight-headed Serpent > Hachirotaro
• Dragon Girl > Tatsuko
• A circular pond of unfathomable depth > Lake Towada or Lake Tazawa
• Nakkan Pond > Lake Hachirogata

If you replace it with this, you will see that the story is very similar

Other

• "Jikidan In'enshu" (1585): An anecdote with a similar structure in the commentary on the Lotus Sutra handed down at Nikko Rinnoji Temple
• "Tsugaru Ittoushi" (1727): A history book of the Tsugaru domain. Contains the record of Nanzobo "driving out the eight dragons and entering Lake Towada."

There are documents such as:

A study of the Edo period travel writer "Masumi Sugae"

The Edo period travel writer Sugae Masumi also wrote the following in his opinion:

In his "Ihate no Yama," Sugae Masumi records the legend of Nanso, a monk at Eifuku-ji Temple in Morioka, driving out Hachirōtarō and becoming his master. He then elaborates on this story from the "Sankokudenki." However, Masumi was also unable to accept the relative locations of the Kotoryō mountains. He rewrote them to state that they were located "on the border between Mutsu and Dewa provinces," and emphasized that he had misspelled Mutsu and Hitachi. He speculated that Kotoryō mountains were Lake Towada and Nuka was "Yatsukoda" (Hakkoda). Later, in his account of his actual visit to Lake Towada after traveling around Akita, Masumi deleted "Kotoryō" and rewrote "Nuka" as "Katsuta" (Akita). Consequently, by not naming the first lake, he clarified his belief that it was Lake Towada and the second lake was Lake Hachirōgata

Source: Wikipedia "Legend of the Three Lakes"

The description in Gento's collection of tales, "Sankokudenki," of "Mountain of Kotodoryo on the border between Hitachi and Dewa" does not actually exist, as the two countries do not share a border. Therefore, it is entirely possible that this tale was created by Gento, adding a certain amount of fiction to the knowledge he had.

However, Masumi Sugae then investigated the surrounding area, corrected what he thought were mistakes, and replaced them with other theories, leaving behind his own conclusions. He later made further corrections after actually visiting Lake Towada

It is highly likely that Sugae Masumi was involved in the "systematization" of the Three Lakes legend

In other words, it is possible that Sugae Masumi raised the issue of the connection between the "Sankokudenki" and this place, actually visited the place, and recorded his observations of the specific topography, and that someone from a later era " continued Sugae Masumi's observations ," fusing local folklore with the "Sankokudenki" and systematizing , which became the Legend of the Three Lakes.

summary

I was able to sort out in my mind what it might be, but in the end I was never able to get to the true nature of the "Legend of the Three Lakes."

But ultimately, I came to the conclusion that " it more important to simply enjoy the story as it evolves over time ?" After all, the story features a dragon.

In the second part, we will introduce various side stories that flesh out the "Three Lakes Legend" scattered throughout northern Tohoku!

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

[Legend of the Three Lakes of Northeastern North: Part 2] Side stories that are passed down in various places that flesh out the story

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/42081

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/42010 In the first part, we introduced the main story of the Legend of the Three Lakes and a consideration of the systematization of the story. In the second part, we will introduce various side stories that deviate slightly from the main story. Hachirotaro travels from place to place in search of new lands...to meet Tatsuko...The side stories of the Legend of the Three Lakes mainly involve his defeat by Nansobo and his arrival at Lake Hachirogata, and his detours on his journey to Lake Tazawa to meet Tatsuko. After being defeated by Nansobo and the 43 guardian deities of Kazuno, Hachirotaro is chased out of Lake Towada and arrives in Kazuno Village (Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture). Overlooking the village, he sees Kosaka...

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Aoiwa

Traveling around the Tohoku region, I enjoy drinking delicious sake and exploring the local history, traditions, and customs. I write articles based on my interests. I'm currently interested in folk performing arts, local toys, and folk beliefs.