It’s 6 AM and my dog and I are watching the sun rise over Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, located in Shiga prefecture.
The light looks like a dying fire in the morning with its deep shades of red mixed with dark grey. Though beautiful, the legends surrounding this lake range from the heroic to the monstrous.
Did you know that it wasn’t the gods that made the lake? It was the daidarabotchi (???????????????). A giant Buddhist monk the size of a mountain with pitch-black skin and a tongue that hangs loosely out of its mouth. It dug out the basin with its hands.