Legend of the Lake Oni

   Once upon a time in feudal Japan there was a small village nestled between some mountains and a lake with three islands in its center. This village was small, but growing with prosperity. The daughter of the head man of the village was being courted by the son of a local lord.

 

   One evening during a festival at which the son of the local lord was to officially announce their engagement a giant Oni emerged from the lake and declared to the people of the village that a virgin maiden was to be sent out on a boat and sacrificed to him; he pointed out such a maiden from the crowd; the daughter of the head man. The head man tried to bargain with him; but the Oni declared her the most beautiful virgin maiden he had ever seen; the perfect thing to sate his apatite for he intended to eat her so she could marry his heart. The son of the lord threatened the Oni; who only laughed at him and said to go ahead; while he would punish the village if they did not send the girl by killing all the fish in the lake and spreading disease upon the land he would allow any man who wished to fight for the girl to challenge him. He boasted their deaths would amuse him. However he gave them only three days, on the third the daughter of the head man must be sent out in a boat in her wedding dress alone.

 

    The son of the lord sent out the next day a fleet of men; none returned alive. The second day was the same. On the third the son of the lord had given up hope, if his well trained men could not stop the Oni of the lake what hope could any warrior no matter how skilled have against the giant.

 

    In the village there was a boy who was also in love with the daughter of the head man; he had intended to propose to her, and knew she would accept. However he is but a humble fisherman’s son and proposed too late for the son of the lord of the land had seen her during a tax collecting visit and declared her to marry him. On the third day when the maiden was being sent out; he could not stand it no more. In an act of incredible courage; or a massive break in his sanity; he grabbed one of his row boats and headed out into the lake. The daughter of the head man was only slowly drifting, a magic current carrying her towards the islands; the fisherman’s son however rowed with all his might to get to the island ahead of her. Upon the island he pulled out a large troll line hook and a knife and called out for the Oni to fight him and prayed to the heavens for the strength to save the girl he loves even if she is to marry another man.

 

    As luck would have it this was all being observed by a strange spirit who heard his prayer and possessed his body to answer the prayer. The spirit made him fly, although not as easily as the spirit would have liked for the boy’s spiritual presence was too weak for the spirit to use its powers as their fullest. The spirit could easily tell where the Oni was in the lake, just past the other end of the islands where the daughter of the head man was headed and where the fisherman’s son had landed. It flew the boy over and challenged the Oni.

 

   The giant rose from the lake and boasted and laughed; even if the boy could pull a trick like flying he was still too weak to fight the Oni. The Oni could not sense the spirit as the spirit could sense him; the spirit took advantage of the boasting to perform a spell that removed the large round green heart of the Oni from its chest. The Oni dropped dead in the lake.

 

   The spirit still inside the boy flew back to the village dragging the giant Oni by the horn through the water with one hand and carrying the giant heart with the other hand, the daughter of the headman using the oars from the other boat returned to the village behind him.

 

   The spirit using the boy’s body dropped the giant Oni, sitting up against a cliff side in the forest outside the village; and in the village made the heart float in the air while manifesting a strange sword no one in the village had seen the likes of before; it had a straight thick blade, sharp on both sides and ended in a point like a spear. She stabbed the heart with the sword sealing it. They flew off again after saying that the sword must never be pulled from the heart and the heart should never be allowed to touch water. Manifesting a giant spear the spirit skewered the body, thrusting the spear down the mouth, out the chest, and back in through the gut before impaling the blade into the ground beneath the Oni. It declared upon return to the village that the body is sealed as well, but will not rot as it is not truly dead and the seal will keep anything from trying to eat it for their protection as the flesh of the Oni is pure poison.

 

   The head man decreed right on the spot that this amazing boy who slew the Oni and saved his daughter was to be declared a hero and marry his daughter. The spirit with in the boy explained that it was merely possessing the boy and using its own power through him to answer his prayer to save the girl and protect the land. The head man was even more elated by this news at the boy’s sacrifice and courage.

 

    The son of the lord of the land was not happy and demanded a duel with the boy with out the spirit’s aid and that he has sacrificed as well, the loss of his men and the town would suffer if he did not get was he was promised. The spirit bargained with him, the spirit told him if he would drop both issues, forget the duel and leave the town in peace, the spirit would honor his family with the duty of guarding over the sealed heart of the Oni. The son of the lord of the land accepted this honor and left with the giant heart. The spirit was happy in its trick in getting the heart away from the lake. The spirit told the people the boy could see and hear everything that has happened and would now depart back to its own realm.

 

    The fisherman’s son and the daughter of the head man married, and one never saw such a happy couple. The town continued to prosper and grow; soon right to the edge of the Oni’s body. The town buried the body sitting there in rocks; too this day where once was a cliff now is a cliff with a hill of loose rocks that the town forbids anyone to move; a sign warning that a monster is buried beneath them. The son of the lord of the land took the heart back to the city and was berated by his father for being tricked by a spirit into promising he would leave the town in peace, losing the girl, and being burdened with a duty to guard such an evil thing. A promise to a spirit is what it is however and the family sealed the heart inside a large lacquer box which Buddhist monks then placed seals on and have kept inside the temple raised above the floor. Too this day that remains; now on display amongst other relics; although the family refuses to allow anyone to open the box to see if the cursed heart is still inside.