Legend of Tawara Tōda

The Taiheiki, Book Fifteen, records that the early Heian warrior Fujiwara no Hidesato (Tawara Tōda) crossed the Seta Bridge on Lake Biwa without flinching when he found a great serpent stretched across it. The serpent revealed itself as a dragon woman of Lake Biwa whose clan was suffering at the hands of a giant centipede dwelling on Mount Mikami. Hidesato climbed the mountain, coated his arrowhead in saliva, and slew the centipede on the third shot. From the dragon palace he received gifts including an inexhaustible bag of rice, a roll of silk that never ran out, and a temple bell. The bag of rice is the origin of the name Tawara Tōda, "Bale Tōda." The Konjaku Monogatari Shū, Book Twenty-Five, Tale One, places Hidesato also in the historical account of the suppression of Taira no Masakado.

The legend runs as the encounter with the serpent on Seta Bridge, the dragon woman's plea, the ascent of Mount Mikami, the slaying of the centipede with a saliva-coated arrow, the welcome at the dragon palace, the gifts, and the etymological note on Tawara.

Seta Bridge over the southern end of Lake Biwa, in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, is the principal stage. Mount Mikami in Yasu, Shiga Prefecture, known as "Ōmi Fuji," is the home of the centipede; the haiden of Mikami Jinja at its foot is an Important Cultural Property.

Taiheiki, Book Fifteen, "On the Mii-dera Battle, the Temple Bell, and Tawara Tōda" (Nanboku-cho period, 14th century). Konjaku Monogatari Shū, Book Twenty-Five, Tale One, "On Taira no Masakado's Rebellion and Punishment" (early 12th century). The Kōshō Konjaku Monogatari Shū edited by Haga Yaichi (Fuzanbō, 1921) provides a pre-1945 critical edition.