Yasha ga ike, Japanese pond, Demon pond

 

On Oct.29th, I visited “Yasha ga ike” which is a Japanese pond and sometimes called “Amagoi no ike” (the pond of praying for rain). It is also called “Demon pond” in a play. This is a special tourist spot located on a mountain between Fukui and Gifu prefectures and it has a mysterious view. We took the road from Fukui side and walked about for 2hours to get there.
On our way to the pond, we enjoyed the colorful autumn leaves and nuts, river, and water fall.

 

As soon as we arrived there, we met two kind visitors from Gifu prefecture side who showed us where Yasha Gengoros (Japanese Yasha diving beetles) were. They also told us an interesting story about this pond.

 

According to them, a long time ago (A.D. 817 ), there was a drought in this area. A man with 3 daughters was sitting outside in deep thought, trying to figure out the solution for this drought. A snake appeared and then the man said to the snake, he’d anything if it ever rained here.

 

Soon after, it started raining and thundering and he was delightful enough to give a party for it. Then a handsome man came to his house and told him about the promise between the man and a snake. Apparently, the snake was the handsome man lived in the pond and let it rain. Now he wants a wife for it, one of the man’s daughters. Then the middle one (her name was Yasha Hime, Yasha princess) decided to become a wife of the snake which clearly meant to be a human sacrifice.

 

I said to myself, no wonder this place was just not beautiful but it had also solemn atmosphere.

 

T.F