Otobou Falls - Otobou Falls

…These people played a major role in the spread of language and culture. Some of the stories in which fish are an essential component of folk tales and legends include "Fish Wife," in which a fish rescued by a person takes the form of a woman and becomes a wife, bestowing good fortune, and "Tail Fishing," in which an animal tries to catch a fish by its tail but is frozen in ice and loses its tail. Legends such as "Otobo Pool" and "Yonatama," in which strange things happen on the way back from catching a fish and people are revenged, show that there was a belief that fish are temporary forms of water spirits. Another story from this ancient belief is that when a traveling monk was given food to reprimand a poison-draining fish that was preparing to catch all the fish in a pool, the food appeared from the belly of a large fish that was caught, and the people who participated in the fishing were cursed ("Tale of the Fish King's Begging," "The Fish that Eats Things").

*Some of the terminology that refers to "Otobo Falls" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…これらの人々が言語，文化の伝播に果たした役割は大きい。魚が昔話や伝説の不可欠の構成要素とされているものに，助けた魚が女の姿となって女房になり幸運を与える〈魚女房〉，動物が尾で魚を釣ろうとして氷に閉じられしっぽを失う〈尻尾（しつぽ）の釣り〉などがあり，魚を捕らえて帰る途中で怪しいことが起こり復讐を受ける〈おとぼう淵〉〈よなたま〉などの伝説(〈物言う魚〉)は，魚が水の霊の仮の姿であるという信仰があったことを物語っている。淵の魚をとりつくす毒流し漁を準備しているとき，それを戒める旅僧に食物を与えたところ，獲物の大魚の腹からその食物が現れ，漁に参加した者がたたりを受けたという話(魚王行乞譚，〈物食う魚〉)もこの古い信仰の流れの末である。…

※「おとぼう淵」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報