Legend of the Seven-Tailed Serpent

Local legends tell of a seven-tailed serpent residing in the Nanamata-Tsutsumi pond:

Nanamata-Tsutsumi pond

One day when water was being drawn from a pond on the pass between Asamachi and Wakamiya Town in Kurate-gun, a huge seven-tailed (“nanamata”) serpent appeared. The serpent later vanished, but as the pond itself had a similar shape it was later named the Nanamata-Tsutsumi. The pond has never dried up since.