No.053
Kiyohime
THE SERPENT OF DOJOJI
"The Bell of Dojoji" from Konjaku Hyakki Shui
Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
◆ The legend
On his way to worship at the Kumano shrines, a young monk named Anchin stayed the night at a house, and the daughter of the house, Kiyohime, fell in love with him. Anchin left promising to stop by again on his way home, but he took a different road back and never returned. Realizing she had been deceived, Kiyohime went after him. When she reached the Hidaka River, it is said, she turned into a great serpent and crossed the water.
Anchin fled to Dojoji Temple, where the monks hid him under the temple bell, which they had lowered to the ground. But the serpent wound itself around the bell, breathed fire, and burned it, monk and all. That, at least, is how the story is told. An early form of the tale, about a nameless woman and a monk, was written down in collections such as the Konjaku Monogatari, and it later became widely known as the story of Anchin and Kiyohime. Dojoji Temple in Wakayama Prefecture still keeps picture scrolls that tell this story.