185 



to the capital in order to take her to his place bf exile. When 

 the latter was on his way to Tosa with the lady, and they were 

 waiting for a propitious wind at Ama ga saki in Settsu province, 

 there was a samurai, Matsuura Groro by name, who fell in love 

 with the beautiful woman, stole her and after having taken her 

 on board his ship, set sail at once. No sooner had Takebumi 

 perceived this trick, than he called the vessel back with a loud 

 voice, but the only answer he received was an outrageous laughter, 

 and the vessel pursued its course. Then poor Takebumi, at his 

 wit's end, said: "To-day I will become a dragon-god at. the 

 bottom of the sea, and check that ship". With these words he 

 disemboweled himself and jumped into the sea. There is a well- 

 known whirlpool, called Uwa no Naruto, the "Sounding door 

 (i.e. eddy) of II wa", between Shikoku and Awaji, which was said 

 to be the Eastern Gate of the Dragon-palace. It was there that 

 Takebumi's revenge revealed itself in a terrible way, for the vessel, 

 caught by the eddy, was turned about for three days, and in 

 vain all kinds of precious things, as bows and swords and clothes, 

 were flung into the sea as offerings to the Dragon-god. Then 

 the crew . arrived at the conclusion that the dragon wanted the, 

 woman herself, and Matsuura was about to throw her into the 

 furious waves, when a Buddhist priest advised him not to arouse 

 the Dragon-god's anger by making to him a human offering 

 which he, the dragon, certa,inly disliked, being a pure being and 

 a believer in Buddha. It is better, said the priest, to recite 

 sutras and pray. So the whole crew prayed to Kwannon, and lo! 

 there appeared on the waves Takebumi's spirit, still beckoning 

 the vessel as he had done before his death, and preceded by 

 several retainers on horseback. Although there often happened 

 mysterious things on that spot, this lime it was certainly 

 Takebumi's angry soul which caused the calamity. Therefore they 

 placed the woman, together with one sailor, in a small boat, 

 hoping to satisfy the ghost in this way and to get rid of her 

 without causing her death. As soon as they had done this, the 

 ship was at once driven out of the whirlpool and disappeared 

 in a western direction ; it was never heard of again. As to the 

 lady, she safely arrived at an island, where she was kindly 

 received by the inhabitants, and where she remained for the rest 

 of her life, not daring to run the risk of being stolen again. 



In the Fuse lake in Etchu province, so tells us Hotta, the 

 author of the SanshU hidan and the Sanshu hidan kohen \ a 



1 Ch. VII, pp. 988 seqq. 



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