Daidarabotchi

Daidarabotchi ( Japanese ダ イ ダ ラ ボ ッ チ ) is a giant from Japanese sagas who is responsible for various landscape phenomena such as ponds, lakes and mountains.

He is known by a variety of names and dialects, including Daidarabō ( ダイダラボウ , ダイダラ坊 ) Dēdarabotchi ( デエダラボッチ ), Deirabotchi / Dērabotchi ( デイラボッチ / デエラボッチ , デーラボッチ ) or Deirabotcha / Dērabotcha ( デイラボッチャ / デーラボッチャ ), u. v. a. m.

A giant with these characteristics is mentioned in Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki , an imperial record of the customs in Hitachi province, compiled in the early 8th century. The following passage can be found for the Naka district :

「平津 驛 家 西 一二 里 、 有 岡。 名曰 - 大 櫛。 上古 有人 、 體 極 長大 、 身居 丘 壟 壟 之上 、 手 摎 海濱 之 蜃 蜃。 大 蛤 也。 其所 食 貝 、 積聚 成 岡。 時 人、 取 大 朽 之 義 、 今 謂 大 櫛 之 岡。 其 踐 跡 、 長 卌 余步 、 廣 廿余 廿余 步。 尿 ​​穴 徑 可 廿余 步 計。 」

“12 ri west of the Hiratsu post office is a hill called Ōgushi. In olden times, a person of extremely tall stature lived here. He was sitting on a hill, collecting huge shells from the beach with his hands. The mussels that had been eaten piled up in a hill. At that time this hill was called Ōkuchi (roughly 'great refuse'), today Ōgushi. The giant's footprints were more than 40 bu long, more than 20 bu wide and the hole made by his urine was more than 20 bu in diameter . "

The Ōgushi Kaizuka ( 大 串 貝 塚 , 36 ° 20 ′ 0.7 ″  N , 140 ° 32 ′ 57.5 ″  E ) described is an approximately 5000 year old Køkkenmøddinger in Mito and has been a national historical site since May 11, 1960 .

In Ishioka there is a legend that the characteristic shape of the mountain Tsukuba with its two peaks can be attributed to Daidarabotchi, who accidentally dropped the former during a weight comparison with Fuji and then split.

The following tradition is known from Hamamatsu : Daidarabotchi moved earth from Ōmi to Suruga . When he changed his shoulder shoulder on the way near Hosoe (incorporated in Hamamatsu in 2005), some earth fell out of his basket, creating Mount Nemoto ( 根本 山 ). Later he took a break, sat on the Utsu ( 宇 津 山 ) and threw a "stone" into Lake Hamana , which became an island in it.

Similar stories can be found across Japan. Sometimes it is also seen as the opposite of the Issun-bōshi ( 一寸 法師 , dt. About: "one-inch boy"), the Japanese variant of the Thumbnail .

References and comments

1. ↑ だ い だ ら ぼ っ ち . In: 百科 事 典 マ イ ペ デ ィ ア / kotobank.jp. Hitachi Solutions, May 2010, accessed August 28, 2011 (Japanese). 
2. ↑ 全国 ： 「ダ イ ダ ラ ボ ッ チ」 に 似 た 呼 称 . In: 怪異 ・ 妖怪 伝 承 デ ー タ ベ ー ス . International Research Center for Japanese Studies , accessed August 28, 2011 (Japanese). 
3. ↑ ^{a b} 300 bu = 1 ri = 500–600 m
4. ↑ the character used is that for shen , a Chinese giant clam monster. In Japanese a giant hamaguri ( clam )
5. ↑ 衣袖 漬 常 陸 國 風土 記 香 島 郡 ／ 那 賀 郡 . In: 大 日本 真 秀 國 風土 記 . Retrieved August 28, 2011 (Japanese). 
6. ↑ 大 串 貝 塚 ふ れ あ い 公園 (埋 蔵 文化 財 セ ン タ ー) . (No longer available online.) In: 水 戸 市 ホ ー ム ペ ー ジ . Mito, archived from the original on April 19, 2012 ; Retrieved on August 28, 2011 (Japanese, the PDF brochure linked there shows a detailed map with the memorial stele, the coordinates of which were adopted.). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ ダ イ ダ ラ 坊 | ダ イ ダ ラ ボ ウ . In: 怪異 ・ 妖怪 伝 承 デ ー タ ベ ー ス . International Research Center for Japanese Studies, accessed August 28, 2011 (Japanese). 
8. ↑ ダ イ ダ ラ ボ ッ チ | ダ イ ダ ラ ボ ッ チ . In: 怪異 ・ 妖怪 伝 承 デ ー タ ベ ー ス . International Research Center for Japanese Studies, accessed August 28, 2011 (Japanese). 
9. ↑ ダ イ ダ ラ ボ ウ | ダ イ ダ ラ ボ ウ . In: 怪異 ・ 妖怪 伝 承 デ ー タ ベ ー ス . International Research Center for Japanese Studies, accessed August 28, 2011 (Japanese).