Since the opportunity is here, I'll share an unusual and disturbing story related to Kobo Daishi. It's the legend of "Mackerel Daishi" from Innoshima in Hiroshima Prefecture.
On a hot summer day, a fishmonger was walking briskly down the street carrying a load of fish. His tub was packed with fresh mackerel. He was all fired up, ready to make a killing in sales.
Then, a shabby, filthy monk wearing tattered Buddhist robes approached him. In a faint voice, the monk begged, "I haven't eaten in days. Please, would you spare me a single fish?"
The fishmonger scowled and lied, "All these fish are rotten and unfit to eat." Without giving him anything, he hurried away.
However, when he opened the lid of his tub at the market, the mackerel had indeed all rotted and were crawling with maggots.
"Oh no. That must have been a great holy man." Terrified, the fishmonger turned back to apologize, but the monk was nowhere to be found. It is said that this monk was none other than Kobo Daishi himself.
There is another version of the legend where a shabby monk appears while people are celebrating a big catch at sea...
Even if he didn't get a fish shared with him, to rot away someone's livelihood like that... And first of all, is it even okay for a monk to be craving fish in the first place? That's been a question of mine for a long time.
There are countless stories about Kobo Daishi all over the country. Like how he created the "Iroha" poem, or so many other things where you think, "Wait, that was Kobo Daishi's work too?" (Though many are legends). He dug a lot of wells across the country (like tapping his staff on the ground and having spring water gush out...). Also, Kobo Daishi was such a handsome man that a woman reportedly committed suicide because he wouldn't turn around to look at her. (Is that even true?)
In Kagawa Prefecture, which gets very little rain, there is a large reservoir called Mannon Pond that Kobo Daishi is said to have built. It became a miraculous pond created while the people of Sanuki dug it while Kobo Daishi prayed for days on end.
Years ago during a dry summer, when Mannon Pond dried up and a murder victim's body was discovered from the shore, a rumor spread that the spirit of Kobo Daishi had withheld the rain just to reveal the corpse. The legends are still going on today.
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