The Centipede of Mount Mikami
A centipede so huge it wrapped seven and a half times around a mountain came down each night to drink from Lake Biwa. One archer was asked to stop it.
What was reported
In the legend, the warrior Fujiwara no Hidesato, known as Tawara Tōda, was crossing the Seta Bridge at the southern end of Lake Biwa when he met the daughter of the Dragon King of the lake. Her people were being devoured by a monstrous centipede, the ōmukade, which coiled seven and a half times around Mount Mikami.
That night, the centipede came down the mountain, its many eyes glowing like a line of torches. Hidesato's first two arrows bounced off it. Remembering that centipedes were said to be weakened by human saliva, he licked the tip of his last arrow and shot again, and the monster fell.
Explanations offered
The legend was told in picture scrolls and prints and became one of Japan's best-known hero tales. Japan has large, venomous centipedes, which may have inspired it, and the story also echoes older tales of heroes and dragons. Mount Mikami, often called the 'Fuji of Ōmi', has a shrine where the tale is remembered.
- When
- Told since the Middle Ages
- Where
- Mount Mikami, Yasu, Shiga, Japan
- Witnesses
- Japanese legend
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
More from Japan