There’s a pond deep in the mountains of Sado called Sankyo. There used to be practitioners of Shugendo who holed up there, ran around, prayed, and underwent heavy training. It’s said that they were the first to discover the Sado Gold Mine.

There’s a certain legend about the Sankyo Pond.

In the past, there was a monk known as Tanzei Shonin who built the Komiyo Butsuji temple and trained there. Around that time, there was a beautiful girl named Osen who lived in a nearby village.

One day when he was planting seeds in the rice paddies, Osen was working in a nearby pond. The sky suddenly darkened, and a lukewarm wind began to fiercely blow. Osen looked over at the pond in fear and saw a large dragon appear, making her faint.

A male dragon had been living in the pond. The truth was that during a visit to the Komiyo Butsuji temple, he’d caught sight of Osen and had fallen in love with her at first sight. The dragon was able to take the form of a young man and began visiting Osen’s house. The two became closer and one night, Osen went to the pond and he revealed the truth.

He told her that he was a dragon and wished for her to be his wife. She was surprised but was already so infatuated with him that she accepted her fate and disappeared with him into the pond.

Eventually, they were blessed with a child. However, he became jealous of the love their child got and took its life, sending Osen into a deep despair. She couldn’t bear to stay with him any longer and so she prayed to go to heaven.

While Tanzei Shonin was chanting a sutra, Osen appeared behind him in the form of a dragon while sobbing. She explained that she’d turned into a dragon due to the Guardian of the Pond in the mountain’s infatuation with her. He began to recite a sutra and helped her ascend to heaven.

To this day, the tragic tale of Osen and the dragon silently ripples across the surface of this pond.