Traveling in Tōno, Iwate: A Birthplace of Japanese Legends

The Yamaguchi waterwheel, one of the distinctive sights of Tōno, was once actually used for threshing and milling of grain.

Outside JR Tōno Station is the Kappa Pond, with four kappa statues positioned to welcome visitors.

The Mukashi-banashi-gura is a repurposed sake storehouse. (Courtesy of the Tōno Folktale Museum)

At the Mukashi-banashi-gura, visitors are treated to audio and video presentations of Japanese folktales. (Courtesy of the Tōno Folktale Museum)

The Tōno-za features recitations of Japanese folktales in various dialects.

An exhibit at the Yanagita Kunio pavilion. (Courtesy of the Tōno Folktale Museum)

A small structure on the Jōken Temple grounds near Kappa-buchi Pool. Fishing for kappa is best done using cucumber as bait.

The clear waters of Kappa-buchi Pool flow through tranquil pastoral surroundings.

A kappa hunting license, with the seven rules for hunting written on the back, is required if one is going fishing for Kappa.

A kappa koma-inu stands to the side as you pass through the temple gate into the grounds.

This bucolic atmosphere gives a sense of the way things used to be in Japan.

Red walls surrounding a goshinboku (sacred tree) are decorated entirely with images of household deities.

Wood-carved figurines are covered with prayers written on cloth.

Tōno Furusato Village reproduces the way Tōno looked in the Edo period (1603–1868). (Courtesy of the Tōno Furusato Village)