Japanese legends in F. Hadland Davis’s English retellings (1912)
Kiyo and the Temple Bell
Davis introduces Kiyo at a tea-house across the river from a Buddhist temple. A priest breaks his monastery’s rules to visit her, then tries to end their relationship. Kiyo seeks supernatural help and learns to take the form of a dragon-serpent. When the priest flees, he hides inside the temple’s great bell. She crosses the river, coils around the bell and heats it until the metal melts, destroying both of them. The chapter presents the catastrophe through the language of karma and uncontrolled passion. Its priest remains unnamed in this account, and its details should not be silently replaced by those of another version of the legend.
Loading your archive…
In the sources
A relationship across the river
DocumentedThe priest’s visits and eventual renunciation establish the conflict in Davis’s version.
The bell becomes a trap
DocumentedKiyo’s transformation, pursuit and coils bring about the destruction of the hiding place.
Context & interpretation
The entry concerns “A Bell and the Power of Karma,” printed pp. 145–148. The priest is not assigned a name absent from these pages; Davis’s moral framing is distinguished from Buddhist teaching as a whole. This entry follows Davis’s historical English retelling, rather than establishing a universal Japanese belief or an independently verified event.
Original passages
Source 1
Myths and Legends of Japan
A Bell and the Power of KarmaOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 145
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0163
- Original scan leaf
- 185
- Recorded leaf number
- 185
- Current Reader position
- 162
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Myths and Legends of Japan
His burning loveOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 146
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0164
- Original scan leaf
- 186
- Recorded leaf number
- 186
- Current Reader position
- 163
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 3
Myths and Legends of Japan
a dragon-serpentOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 147
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0166
- Original scan leaf
- 189
- Recorded leaf number
- 189
- Current Reader position
- 165
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 4
Myths and Legends of Japan
a pool of molten metalOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 148
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0167
- Original scan leaf
- 190
- Recorded leaf number
- 190
- Current Reader position
- 166
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed