Tawara Toda Omukade-taiji

In the Tawara Toda Omukade-taiji legend, Fujiwara no Hidesato (Tawara no Toda) crosses the Seta-no-Karahashi bridge over the outlet of Lake Biwa and steps over a great serpent that blocks the bridge. The serpent reveals himself as the master of the Ryugu dragon palace and asks Toda's help against a giant centipede that torments Mount Mikami nearby. With a strong bow and an arrow tipped with saliva, Toda strikes the centipede between the brows and kills it. He is invited to Ryugu and given gifts that do not run out - a rice bale, a bolt of silk - and a bell, which he dedicates to Mii-dera (Onjo-ji). The cycle joins a monster-subjugation narrative to a Ryugu visit, with four parties - hero, monster, dragon-king helper and bestowed treasures - in standard medieval setsuwa form. The setting is the Seta-no-Karahashi bridge in Otsu and Mount Mikami in Yasu, both in Shiga; the Mii-dera bell is connected to Toda by temple tradition. The principal source is the Muromachi otogi-zoshi Tawara-toda Monogatari; Hidesato's historical record as a suppressor of the Johei-Tengyo rebellion appears in the Shomonki and volume 25 of the Konjaku Monogatarishu, with related serpent and centipede tales in the Kokon Chomonju.