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What's the story of your town?

Do you know the story of the Japanese city, town or village in which you live? Do you know where its name came from? Is there a legend of 水上 (Minakami)? What's the story behind 前橋 (Maebashi)? What does the name 渋川 (Shibukawa) mean? And how did Shibukawa come to be called Shibukawa?

Find out what the story is behind your city, town or village and send it my way. I will publish the best selections in the next issue of Gunmania.

Below is the story of my town, 玉村　(Tamamura), for you to use as a guide.
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The legend of Tamaura town is very sad.

Once upon a time (about 936 to 946 AD), a beautiful damsel was summoned by the famous samurai, Taira no Masakado, so that they could be married. She did not want to be married to this powerful and rebellious daimyo and so her father helped her escape to the district which is now Tamamura, where her true love lived. However, Taira no Masakado pursued her. Not wanting to be captured and taken away by the samurai, she threw herself into the river now known as the Tone-gawa and drowned. Her lover followed her. Soon after, a villager saw two gems (balls: tama in Japanese) shining in the river. These gems were believed to be the dragon's energy. It was also believed that while she was alive, the beautiful damsel had really been the dragon's incarnation. The villagers enshrined the gems.

500 or 600 years ago, the dragon appeared again during a flood of the Tone river and took one gem away. The villagers put the remaining gem in a double box and enshrined it. However, floods frequently occurred afterwards. The villagers constructed a new village. Because the village had been made from the dragon's gem, it came to be called Tamamura (玉tama = gem: 村mura = village).

There is a double box with the gem in a temple (Manpukuju), near Tamamura chuugakko. It is said that one loses one's sight when one sees it. No one has seen it yet.
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Please send your stories and any other articles, essays or photos you would like to contribute by April 10th to gunmania.editor@gmail.com All submissions welcome. If you have an idea and want to run it by me, just send me an e-mail!

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