The 1711 Honchō kwaidan koji 本朝怪談故事 contains the best-known version of this
Japanese myth about the warrior Fujiwara no Hidesato. There is a Shinto shrine
near the Seta Bridge at Lake Biwa where people worship Tawara Tōda 俵藤太 "Rice-bag Tōda" (a pun between
tawara "straw rice-bag; straw barrel" and the Japanese name Tawara 田原).
In olden times, when Fujiwara no Hidesato
(who lived in the first half of the tenth century) crossed the bridge, a big
serpent lay across it. The hero, however, was not at all afraid, and calmly
stepped over the monster which at once disappeared into the water and returned
in the shape of a beautiful woman. Two thousand years, she said, she had lived
under this bridge, but never had she seen such a brave man as he. For this reason
she requested him to destroy her enemy, Ōmukade, a giant venomous centipede
which had killed her sons and grandsons. Hidesato promised her to do so and,
armed with a bow and arrows, awaited the centipede on the bridge. There came
from the top of Mt. Mikami two enormous lights, as big as the light of two
hundred torches. These were Ōmukade's eyes, and Hidesato sent three arrows in
that direction, whereupon the lights were extinguished and the monster died.
The dragon woman, filled with joy and gratitude, took the hero with her to the
splendid Dragon-palace, where she regaled him with delicious dishes and
rewarded him with a piece of silk, a sword, an armour, a temple bell and a bag
(tawara) of rice. She said, that there would always be silk left as long as he
lived, however much he might cut from it; and the bag of rice would never be
empty.
Hidesato subsequently donated this bell to
Mii-dera temple at Mount Hiei but it was stolen by a priest from rival
Enryaku-ji temple. He threw it into a valley after it spoke to him, and when
the cracked bell was returned to Mii-dera, a small snake (the dragon) used its
tail to repair the damage. The 14th-century Taiheiki records an earlier version
of this legend about Hidesato, set during the Genpei War, but instead of the
dragon turning into a beautiful woman, it transforms into a "strange small
man" – the Dragon King himself.
According to Azuma Kagami, he was claimed
as an ancestor by Ashikaga Tadatsuna, under the name of Tawara Toda Hidesato,
from 10 generations ago.
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