Denny in the News

Demon Island    A long time ago, there was a small temple on a little hill overlooking the sea. There were two novices at the temple being taught the strict teachings of Buddha. (Kin Kanonji Buddhist Temple in Kin Village: photo by John Ellis) The older of the two novices was bright, but, although first at learning the sutras, he was totally lazy at doing anything else. The younger novice was exceptionally diligent about following the priest’s orders and set himself firmly to learn Buddhism’s precious beliefs. Thus, it was a given that the older novice bore the brunt of the priest’s scoldings. It happened one day that the priest was away from the temple. “Ah, but I’m bored, really bored,” murmured the older novice as he gazed at the movements of a mountain pigeon. Then, as if he had hit on an idea, he set off briskly down to the village at the foot of the hill.  A little while later, the older novice came back with a chicken, its wings still fl...

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...