Spendor of Okinawa Bonus: A story from the Ryukyu Kingdom (5no23)
The Legend of the Madan (True Jewel) Bridge Human Sacrifice The bridge over the Kokuba River between Naha and Tomigusuku is called the Madan (True Jewel) Bridge. Originally it was a wooden bridge, but in 1707, during the reign of King Sho Tei, a stone bridge was built in its place. The current Madan Bridge was rebuilt after the destruction of the original during World War II. When Madan Bridge was made of wood, it used to get washed away in every flood. So, the royal government decided to replace it with a strong stone bridge. A huge number of laborers were rounded up and the work began. However, the bridge pillars, which had been built with great effort, would collapse whenever there was a heavy rain, so the work made no progress. What is worse, this happened again and again. So one day the public officials, whose heads literally depended on the project, called on a yuta (a fortune-teller) and asked her to divine the problem. “You must offer up a victim to the Water God,” she sa...