Beyond this road is a five-ring pagoda, or grave, known as Kenkōdzuka. At present, however, there are no visitors, and the road is nearly indecipherable beneath an overgrowth of grass. There is no need to go further ahead. Instead, let’s stop here and discuss the forgotten story of Kenkō. ( Takatoshi Ono).

Kenkō’s wife Hanako was widely known for her beauty. One day, the lord of Matsu-jō Castle invited the two to a banquet, only to fall in love with Hanako at first sight. In order to fulfill his romantic intentions, the castle lord banished Kenkō by falsely accusing him of a crime. With Kenkō gone, the castle lord invited Hanako to his castle, but she repeatedly feigned sickness and refused to go.

Kenkō, now in exile in the Oki Archipelago, seethed in rage over the castle lord’s judgement. As his grudge grew deeper, he began to harness a strange power within him. One day, a falcon flew down near him. Wanting to write to his wife, he ripped a piece of his white clothing, drew blood from his finger to use as ink and wrote a letter that he entrusted to the falcon.

A few days passed before the falcon visited Hanako, who was pleased to find it carry a letter from her husband. She was teary as she thought about Kenkō, who was stranded on an island with neither a brush nor inkstone, and decided to send back the falcon with some stationary. However, the falcon would perish before reaching the Oki Archipelago. Upon finding the falcon’s bones, Kenkō fell into a deep despair that caused him to abstain from eating and live the rest of his life cursing the castle lord.

Thereafter, unfortunate events befell the castle lord one after another. Believing it may be a curse lain by Kenkō, the castle lord rushed to a shrine and conducted a memorial service in Kenkō’s memory. Hanako witnessed this service only to die soon after.

… And the story finishes here, having perhaps lost some important details in all the years that it has been passed down. This makes one wonder how many people will be there to pass down the story of Kenkōdzuka a hundred years from now. On the other hand, how many stories were there a hundred years ago that, like this one, were lost in the passage of time?