2008-03-05 - 2:52 p.m.
Don't Judge a Book (or Story) By Its Cover (or Title and Pictures) PART II
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The One-Eyed Snakes of Miyo*
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Long ago, in Miyo Village (now the Miyo area of Hachinohe City) there lived a young newlywed couple who were very much in love.
The husband was a samurai.
One day, the samurai's wife was walking along the road beside Matsudate River and saw, ahead of her, a group of children all crowded together and very excited about something.
When the samurai's wife got a little closer she saw that the children had captured a white snake about one meter in length. The children had been beating the snake and it now appeared to be very weak.
"You rotten kids," the samurai's wife yelled. "How can you not sympathize with this creature? Bullying a living thing like this is a terrible thing to do!"
The samurai's wife gave the children a little money to leave the snake alone and, satisfied that the snake was now safe from harm, continued on her way.
Not long after this incident, the samurai was called away to war.
While her husband was gone, the samurai's wife went to Tannai Shrine everyday to pray to the gods for her husband's safe return.
"Somehow, please, let us win this war, and allow my husband to come home, safe and without injury," she would pray.
Rainy days, windy days, days that samurai's wife was busy. It didn't matter. The samurai's wife went to Tannai to pray everyday.
And yet, the war continued. And many, many samurais were killed. And many, many samurais were seriously injured.
Then, one day, the samurai's wife received word that her husband was on his way home, and she was beside herself with joy.
However, upon his return, the samurai's wife had a big surprise. For an arrow was sticking out of her husband's right eye. When he had been shot with the arrow it hadn't hurt and so he had waited to pull it out. Now, however, he was in agony and, though doctors were called in from places all over, no one could find a way to remove the arrow safely.
The samurai was home, but not without injury.
The samurai's wife was filled with sorrow. She tried many ways to help her husband, but nothing she did could ease his suffering. Still, though, she went to pray at Tannai everyday.
"I wished and prayed as hard as I could but, still, my husband was injured. Please help us to find some way to remove the arrow without causing greater injury or pain," she would pray.
Three, seven, and then 21 days passed since her husband's return. And then, on the evening of the 21st day, a god appeared standing upon the wife's pillow.
"Long ago now, in my snake form, I found myself in a dangerous situation. A group of children were sure to kill me. But, then, you saved me. You have a kind heart. And your prayers have been heard. Take your husband to Tannai, wash his eye with water from the spring there, and your prayers will be answered. Your husaband's eye will be healed."
That said, the god transformed into a long white snake and silently slithered away.
The next morning, at first light, the samurai and his wife went to Tannai. The water from the spring there was clean and very clear. The samurai carefully splashed water from this spring on his eye and, amazingly, the arrow that had been stuck there slid right out, easily and without pain.
The other villagers were amazed by the samurai's miraculous recovery. And they also noticed that, for a long time afterwards, all of the snakes living in the area around Tannai had injured right eyes.
Everyone agreed that the snakes had traded eyes with the samurai.
And, even now, a clear spring comes up from the ground at Tannai that many people believe to have healing powers, and have come from far, far away to get.
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* The only picture in this story was of an angry-looking woman on her way to some sort of shrine carrying a big stick. I wasn't too sure what to expect, but I kind of hoped that it would involve some linga-type fertility worship. Not so. The story itself wasn't that bad, but I still consider it to be a complete bust. One, because it had nothing to do with the one-eyed snakes that I'd been imagining. Two, because it was a samurai story and, thus, nearly impossible to make sense of. And three, because the shrine mentioned in the story turned out - when we went looking for it - to have been demolished sometime during the last five years.
