One-leaf reed - Katahanoashi

Due to the natural environment, such as the terrain and water currents, reeds only grow one leaf at a time. To explain the origin of this deformity, various legends have been born in various places. For example, one legend says that a high priest such as Kobo Daishi or a military commander such as Minamoto no Yoshitsune or Kumagai Naozane swept away the reeds with a walking stick or a military fan, resulting in a one-leaf reed. There are also occasional legends that say that the reeds were eaten by a hero's horse.

According to a legend from Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, a thief cut off one of the arms of the Kannon statue. The arm floated down the river, and all the reeds it touched turned into single leaves. The tree that grows near Sakami Shrine in Nakajima County, Aichi Prefecture, has the following legend: Once upon a time, there was a princess who fell in love with a young monk. However, when her love was rejected, she threw herself into a pond in grief. In resentment for her unrequited love, the surrounding reeds turned into single leaves.

In addition to the one-leaf reed, there are also one-leaf silver grass, one-leaf bamboo, and one-leaf pine trees, and legends such as "the guardian deity of the land rode down the river on a one-leaf silver grass and settled in this place" (Susukinomiya Shrine in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture) can be found all over the country. There is a theory that says that people in the past saw a mysticism in the way that a plant that should originally have two leaves lived bravely with only one leaf, and that this legend was born, but this is not clear.

[Shogo Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

地勢や水流など自然環境のいたずらで、片方の葉しか茂らぬ葦。その奇形の由来を説明するため、さまざまの伝説が各地で生まれた。たとえば、弘法(こうぼう)大師などの高僧もしくは源義経(よしつね)、熊谷直実(なおざね)など語物に伝えられる武将が、杖(つえ)または軍扇でなぎ払ったため片葉の葦となった、というたぐいである。英雄の乗った馬がそれを食らったため、とする伝承もときたまみられる。

　岩手県盛岡市の伝説によると、観音様の片方の腕を泥棒が切り落とした。その腕が川を流れ、これに触れた葦はみんな片葉となった。愛知県中島郡酒見神社付近に生えるそれは次のような伝説をもつ。昔、若い僧を恋した姫がいた。しかし、その愛を拒絶されたため、これを悲しみ池に身を投げたところ、片思いの怨(うら)みで、あたりの葦は片葉となった。

　片葉の葦のほかに、片葉のススキ、片葉の笹(ささ)、片葉の松などがあり「産土(うぶすな)神が片葉のススキに乗って川を降(くだ)り当地に鎮まった」（長野県松本市の薄宮(すすきのみや)神社）などの伝説を全国各地に散見する。本来両葉(もろは)であるべき植物が片葉で雄々しく生きるさまに昔の人は神秘をみた、そして伝説が生まれた、とする説もあるが、はっきりしていない。

［渡邊昭五］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例