Records in Shiga

Samebito

鮫人(さめびと)

In a story Lafcadio Hearn published in English in 1900, a man on the Long Bridge of Seta shelters a creature banished from the Dragon Palace — and is repaid in tears that harden into jewels, which only come when the grief behind them is real.

  • Pond · River · Sea
  • Helpful

Danger 1/5 Editorial rating Danger rating 1 out of 5. This is an editorial rating, not a folklore measurement.

  • 1900 Long Bridge of Seta, Lake Biwa Legend or tale

    Hearn: the exile from the Dragon Palace whose tears became rubies

Ōmukade

大百足(おおむかで)

A warrior who walked over a serpent lying across the Long Bridge of Seta was asked by the dragon clan for help — because a centipede large enough to wrap a mountain was killing them, and they could not stop it themselves.

  • Mountain · River
  • Harmful

Danger 5/5 Editorial rating Danger rating 5 out of 5. This is an editorial rating, not a folklore measurement.

  • undated Mt. Mikami and the Seta Bridge Legend or tale

    Tawara Tōda's third arrow, wetted with saliva

Shuten-dōji

酒呑童子(しゅてんどうじ)

The tale of Shuten-dōji appeared in the fourteenth century: an oni lord on Mt. Ōe who carried off the daughters of the capital, and the warriors who got in disguised as monks and defeated him with sake.

  • Mountain
  • Harmful

Danger 5/5 Editorial rating Danger rating 5 out of 5. This is an editorial rating, not a folklore measurement.

  • undated Mt. Ibuki Legend or tale

    Ibuki tradition of the same tale

Records Library: Shiga

Places to visit in Shiga

  • Seta no Karahashi 瀬田の唐橋 Site Ōtsu, Shiga — The bridge at the outlet of Lake Biwa where a hero shot the centipede of Mount Mikami and a shark-man wept rubies.
  • Mount Mikami 三上山 Site Yasu, Shiga — The conical mountain east of Lake Biwa that the great centipede wound itself around, climbed in forty minutes from the shrine at its foot.

Places to Visit