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

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

[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?

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The great nature of the northeastern north, spanning Aomori, Akita, and Iwate, has been passed down from ancient times to mysterious legends. Among them is a grand folklore known as the "Legend of the Three Lakes." The setting is Hachirogata and Lake Tazawa in Akita Prefecture, and Lake Towada, which spans Aomori and Akita Prefectures. There is a story about the dragon gods who are said to live in these three lakes, meet, fight, and connect. Furthermore, in various parts of the northeastern north, which also involves Iwate Prefecture, there are side stories such as the tale of the Dragon God's Journey, making it a major legend that makes it difficult to grasp the full story. But this thing...

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In the first part, we introduced the main story of the Three Lakes legend and the considerations on the structure of the story, but in the second part, we will introduce various side stories that are slightly off the main story.

Hachirotaro traveled all over the country to meet Tatsuko, seeking a new land...

The main side story of the Three Lakes Legend is a detour story that depicts the journey to Lake Tazawa, where he is defeated by Minamisobo and reaches Hachirogata, and then to meet Tatsuko.

The 43 guardian gods, Hachirotaro and deer antler

Hachirotaro, defeated by Nansobo and chased from Lake Towada, arrives in Kakunodate Village (Kakunodate City, Akita Prefecture).

Looking down at the village, we believe that if we stop the confluence of the Kosaka River, Oyu River, and Yoneshiro River, we can make this a large lake a place where we live. So Hachirotaro put a rope on a nearby mountain and tried to stop the confluence of the river.

Seeing this, the 43 deer antler gods were in a panic. God gathered at the shrine of Oyu to discuss how to drive out Hachirotaro. He then had the blacksmith make hammers and other items, transported them with cows, and destroyed the dam built by Hachirotaro.

In this way, Hachirotaro, who had been hit by the gods and lost his home, went down again along the Yoneshiro River.

Hachirotaro and the Tenjin of the Seventh Cathedral

Hachirotaro, who has been chased from the deer antler, descends along the Yoneshiro River and reaches the area near Mt. Nanaza (Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture).

They then try to stop the meandering Yoneshiro River and create a lake and make it their home, but now they come along with the eight gods living in Nanazayama. The gods consult and propose to Hachirotaro to compare their strengths with the wisest Seven Tenjin.

The two of them compete in stone throwing, and alternately throw large stones. The stone that Hachirotaro threw fell to the middle of the Yoneshiro River, but Nanaza Tenjin easily threw a stone larger than Hachirotaro, and the stone crossed the Yoneshiro River.

Hachirotaro, who lost the match, hears from Nanaza Tenjin that there is a wider area towards the Amasegawa River, and honestly accepts that he is leaving this place.

The Seventh Zaku Tenjin then summons his own messenger, the White Rat, and drills a hole in the embankment. Hachirotaro began to move further downstream as he quickly moved in with the momentum of the water flowing through.

Hachirotaro and an elderly couple from the Amasegawa River

After descending the Yoneshiro River and reaching the Amase River (Mitsunamachi, Yamamoto District, Akita Prefecture), which Nanaza Tenjin asks, Hachirotaro walks around in search of a one-night stay. Then he met an elderly, kind-hearted couple, and was given the benefit of one meal at a lodging.

Hachirotaro then thanked the two and revealed his true identity as a dragon, and at the same time the chickens crowed in the morning dynasty, the earth would break into a flood and make this land a lake.

The elderly couple were surprised, but they believed Hachirotaro's story and packed their belongings in an effort to evacuate.

The next morning, the chickens echoed, and the water began to overflow with a roar, just like Hachirotaro said. The elderly couple have begun evacuation, but while the old woman is running away, she realizes she has forgotten something and hurriedly returns to get it and is kidnapped by water and drowns.

When Hachirotaro realizes this when he appears as a dragon, he uses his tail to repel the old man, but he makes the wrong direction and flies to the shore opposite the old man. This saved the elderly couple's lives, but they ended up living together.

The lake that was created at this time was Hachirogata, and it is said that Hachirotaro became the owner of this land.

Hachirotaro and the goddess of Ichinomegata

Hachirotaro was the master of Hachirogata, but he visits people who don't like the lake freeze in winter, and hears that there is a Ichinomegata (Oga City, Akita Prefecture) that does not freeze even in winter, so he decides to live in the winter.

The troubled goddess of the First Megata relies on Takeuchi Yagoro Masayasu, a master of bows. When Makoto asked the goddess where to aim to drive Hachirotaro away, the goddess replied that Hachirotaro appeared on top of Mt. Kangaze, riding on a black cloud, so you can just hit an arrow for it.

When Makoto carried a bow and arrow that was born in his ancestors, he hid his appearance on the pine pine tree in Mikasa on the banks of Ichinomegata, waiting for Hachirotaro to appear, and fired an arrow when the black clouds appeared.

The arrow hits a spectacular hit, but Hachirotaro says, "This grudge will always be in one eye until the seven generations of descendants," and throws the arrow that he has pulled back towards Mayasu.

The arrow was in Makoto's left eye, and as Hachirotaro said, it is said that even his descendants after the seven generations had difficulty in his left eye.

On his journey to meet Tatsuko, Hachirotaro searches for accommodations all over the place.

After hearing the rumors about Tatsuko from Lake Tazawa, Hachirotaro heads to Tatsuko in the form of a monk. On the way there, he was groomed at the wells of Ashiwari on the lagoon and headed to Lake Tazawa in search of accommodation in Oga, Kamiyodogawa, Saimyoji, Nakagawa, Jinguji, Tsuchikawa, Akita, and other places.

While there are good stories of people who gave the inn the medicine to be made as a thank you for staying at the inn, it is said that the inn, where people who broke the taboo of "Don't Look" and peered into Hachirotaro's sleeping appearance later became obsolete and destroyed.

There's more to it! Hachirotaro's legend

There seem to be many other legends in which Hachirotaro appears. Below are some of them.

• He tried to stop the Shimotaki River at Mt. Mitonohe and turn Mitonoe County in Aomori Prefecture into a lake, but was attacked by Kannon and Suwa Myojin in Hase and gave up.
• Hachirotaro came to the area near Takasui-dera Temple on the Kitakami River (Shiwa-cho, Iwate Prefecture) in search of a new land, but was stopped by Gongen and moved to Hanawa (Kakunodate City, Akita Prefecture).
• The place name was renamed by Hachirotaro in the Shimamori Basin, the upper reaches of the Araida River in Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture, where Hachirotaro carried the soil with a mokko (in the direction of Minamigo Oaza Shimamori Ippon, Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture) and Nimokko (unknown).
• There is a legend that Hamana was the place where he pulled Kaigami-dake (Kagami-cho, Minohe-gun, Aomori Prefecture) and turned it over while trying to create a home.
• He carried Mt. Minohe in Shiroyama between Akaishizawa and Ryu's mouth in the Mabuchi River (Nanbu-cho, Minohe-gun, Aomori Prefecture), but was stopped by the god of Suwa.
• It is said that Hanaremori in Kuraishi Village, Minohe County was a site where Hachirotaro carried it with a mokko while trying to stop the water from the Gonohe River and turn it into a swamp on his way to Lake Towada.

These are the main legends that Hachirotaro, who was defeated by Nansobo, did not descend west along the Yoneshiro River, but descended east from Lake Towada. It's also interesting that there is a legend in Shiba Town, Iwate Prefecture, which is down quite south.

summary

Normally, I thought that what is known as legends, legends, and folk tales would be read in just five minutes, but I realized that the Three Lakes Legend is an unconventional, magnificent folklore.

Considering that it is a story that continues to evolve, the content may become even deeper and deeper in the future. I will continue to watch the evolution of the Three Lakes legend!