"Sounds of the Koto from Lake Hakuryū" - A Yamagata Folktale

A long, long time ago, in the villages of Akayu in the plains of Okitama, droughts persisted, fields were parched, and crops withered. The troubled villagers prayed to the mountain and water gods. For days, they lit offering fires and prayed for rain. Alas, without a single raindrop, the sun continued to blaze down on them.

One village headsman visited a shrine maiden and asked her to act as an oracle for a god of water. The shrine maiden went to a small shrine for the water god at the shore of a dried lake and prayed. Before long, through her mouth came a voice that announced, “I am the dragon god that resides in this lake. I desire a wife. If you pick a maiden from your village and hold the wedding ritual within three days, I will make it rain for you.”

The villagers gathered with the village headsman to decide whose daughter to pick. However, not a single person was willing to offer their own daughter, and the meeting dithered without progress. Just when the villagers were at a loss, the village headsman’s own daughter stepped forward to volunteer. “If it’s for the sake of our village, I would gladly become the dragon god’s wife,” she offered.

There was very little time, so instead of the usual ceremonial relics, the headsman’s daughter merely carried her beloved koto, and was dressed in her finest white kimono. The villagers walked her to the lakeshore and wept as they sent her off. When they were walking back to the village afterwards, thunder rumbled and wind started to gust.

Suddenly, from the center of the lake burst forth a terrific column of water, and two dragons flew up into the heavens. One of the dragons was pure white, just like the clothes the headsman’s daughter had been wearing. Soon after the dragons had climbed up into the sky, huge drops of rain started to fall, and the village was saved. From then on, everyone called the lake “Hakuryūko”, which means “lake of the white dragon”. It’s said that on days when it drizzles, you can hear the beautiful sound of a koto from the lake.

Excerpt translated from: 庄内・最上・村山・置賜 山形の昔ばなし　第二集　ページ39−40