Japanese heroic legend, Davis retelling
Inexhaustible Rice Bag
Hidesato's service to the Dragon King begins with a request to protect an endangered family. After the centipede is defeated, the grateful ruler gives him several precious gifts. Among them is a rice bag whose supply never runs out, bringing prosperity and a new name to the returning warrior.
Also known as Hidesato's rice-bag · Tawara Toda's rice bag
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In the sources
The service behind the reward
TraditionalThe Dragon King asks Hidesato to kill the centipede attacking its family, and the warrior accepts. The request supplies the narrative context for the gifts he later receives.
A gift that sustains a household
TraditionalDavis lists the rice bag with two bells, silk and a cooking-pot. The rice is inexhaustible, and the account connects Hidesato's prosperity with his new name Tawara Toda, or My Lord Bag of Rice.
Context & interpretation
This entry covers the rice bag in Davis's particular legend rather than a surviving sacred artefact or an established food-producing mechanism. Its miraculous supply belongs to the tale.
Original passages
Source 1
Myths and Legends of Japan
I beg that you will kill my bitter enemy.Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Chapter II, printed p. 62
Read directly from the active prepared scan; line breaks and spacing normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0072
- Original scan leaf
- 86
- Recorded leaf number
- 86
- Current Reader position
- 71
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Myths and Legends of Japan
The rice-bag was inexhaustibleOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Chapter II, printed p. 64
Read directly from the active prepared scan; line breaks and spacing normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0075
- Original scan leaf
- 90
- Recorded leaf number
- 90
- Current Reader position
- 74
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Dragon King of Lake Biwa
The ruler beneath Lake Biwa who seeks Hidesato's protection against a centipede in Davis's tale.
Shared source pageHidesato
The warrior portrayed in Davis's legend as the Dragon King of Lake Biwa's champion against a giant centipede.
Shared source pageMomotaro, the Peach Boy
A child found inside a peach gathers three animal companions and journeys to free an island’s captives in Davis’s retelling.