Kiyohime

The so-called "Anchin-Kiyohime" legend Summary The "Anchin-Kiyohime" legend can be summarized as follows: The legend, connected with the founding of the Dōjō-ji temple in Kii Province (modern-day Wakayama Prefecture), relates how a priest named Anchin from Shirakawa in Ōshū province (present-day Shirakawa, Fukushima) making pilgrimage to the Kumano Shrine in southern Kii, lodged at the home of a (steward of a shōen manor) of , where the manor official's daughter Kiyohime fell in love with the young monk. In order to avoid her, he deceives her (with a false promise to return) and continues his journey. Kiyohime became furious by his rejection and pursued him in rage. At the edge of the , Anchin asked a ferryman to help him to cross the river, but told him not to let her cross with his boat. When Kiyohime saw that Anchin was escaping her, she jumped into the river and started to swim after him. While swimming in the torrent of the Hidaka river, she transformed into a serpent or dragon because of her rage. When Anchin saw her coming after him in her monstrous new form, he ran into the temple called Dōjō-ji. He asked the priests of Dōjō-ji for help and they hid him under the bonshō bell of the temple. However, the serpent smelled him hiding inside the bell and started to coil around it. She banged the bell loudly several times with her tail, then gave a great belch of fire so powerful that it melted the bell and killed Anchin. Variants , while in other versions Anchin resisted her attention from the start, and avoided her house on his return journey. Although Hidaka River is perhaps more famed in connection with the legend, and sometimes just the scene of this river has been performed (rather than the entire play), some versions employ the (which is further east and nearer the beginning of the journey) as the scene of the crossing. == Textual sources ==

Earliest sources The story originally appeared in two collections of setsuwa or tales, Dainihonkoku hokekyō kenki () and Konjaku Monogatarishū (). This old version Names of Anchin and Kiyohime Another setsuwa version is found in Genkō Shakusho , Some later versions also used different names for Anchin and Kiyohime. == Picture scroll versions ==

A monogatari version of the story is told in an emaki (picture scroll) from the Muromachi period titled Dōjōji engi emaki ("Illustrated legend of Dōjōji", ). In this version, the woman in the tale was the daughter-in-law of the owner of a home in Manago in the Muro district named Steward of Seiji or Shōji Kiyotsugu. Seiji () or Kiyotsugu are variant readings of the same characters, and while "Shōji" is construable as a surname, it is also the title/position of a steward of the shōen manor, as already discussed. ==Cultural references==

The tale of Anchin and Kiyohime forms the basis of a collection of plays termed Dōjōji mono (Dōjō-ji Temple plays), depicting an event some years after the temple bell was destroyed. These plays include the Noh play Dōjōji and the Kabuki dance drama Musume Dōjōji. ==Explanatory notes==