Ogama

◆ The legend

A toad that lives for many, many years will one day gain strange powers. That's what old tales in many parts of Japan say. In one, a giant toad opens its mouth and breathes in, and insects and little birds drift helplessly toward it. Other stories tell of startlingly large toads living under the floors of old houses or at the bottom of ponds.

The link between toads and magic goes back to Chinese tales of immortal sages. The "toad sage," a hermit who keeps a toad as his companion, became a favorite subject of Japanese paintings and figurines too. In the Edo period, thieves and rebels who wielded toad sorcery appeared in plays and illustrated books, and audiences loved them. A hero riding in on a giant toad and vanishing in a puff of smoke is said to have been one of the great showpieces of the stage.