Tekona (手児奈)

Tekona is the name of a woman who is believed to have lived in Mama, Katsushika, Shimosa Province (present-day Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture) before the Nara Period. Her name, Tekona (手児奈), can also be described as '手古奈' or '手児名'.

One legend says that Tekona was born as a daughter of the head of a local government during the era of Emperor Jomei and married into a family of a neighboring province. However, because a conflict occurred between the provincial office of her native Katsushika and the province of her husband's, Tekona, suffering unjustified resentment, returned to Mama after a lot of hardships. But ashamed of her broken marriage, Tekona lived quietly bringing her child up without returning to her parents' home. However, it is said that several men started to fight over her, which drove her to drown herself in a cove (which spread around the present Mama-gawa River) of Mama. This ancient story spread to the capital as a legend after the Kokufu (an ancient provincial office) was placed in the area, stirring up poets' imagination.

In Manyoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), there are several poems on this legend written by Mushimaro TAKAHASHI and YAMABE no Akahito.

In 737, Gyoki, having heard of the legend, built Guho-ji Temple (Ichikawa City) to console the spirit of Tekona. At present, she is enshrined in Tekona Reishindo (the shrine dedicated to Tekona). Also, in Kameiin Temple, there still exists a well from which Tekona reportedly drew water.

Asaji-ga-Yado' (A squalid house covered with cogon), a story in "Ugetsu monogatari" (Tale of Rainy Moon, tales of ghosts) written by Akinari UEDA, is set in Mama and based on the legend of Tekona.

[Original Japanese]