Japanese Folk Tale

Miscellaneous Stories between Folk Tales and Legends 311
Nagasaki: Shimabara 90, "The strong woman" (Onna no tairiki).
Further reference:
The samurai Hiemon of Takij6 washed his horse in a river and
destroyed a kappa at Kawamoto, Toyota-gun, Aki. He received the gift
of strength in return.
Konjaku monogatari, maki 27, No. 43, "Taira-no-Suetake met a
woman with a newborn child in Mino-no-kuni. This is like a genuine
ghost story. It is an old example.
333. The Human Sacrifice at Nagara Bridge
Kagoshima: Kikai 164, "If the pheasant did not cry" (Kiji mo nakazu
ba). When a bridge was being set up on an island, one of four or
five women who were looking on suggested that they take a
woman with a knot in the tie of her hair as a human sacrifice.
When they looked closely, that woman was seen to have such a
knot. She was used as the support. Her daughter went as a bride
to another island, but she would not speak a word. After a long
time, she was to be returned home. A pheasant's cry was heard as
she went through the hills on her way back. The girl sang, "The
reason the pheasant is killed is that it cries. Because my mother
spoke at Nagara Bridge, she was sacrificed." Her husband understood
for the first time why his wife had not spoken. He took her
back to his home.
Iwate, Hienuki-gun: K6sh6 11 1, "The human sacrifice at Nagara
Bridge" (Nagara no hito bashira). This is rather different from the
usual form. The wife of an official had a secret lover. She put a
patch on her husband's skirt and suggested he be sacrificed because
of it. His old mother told her granddaughter not to speak.
The girl's song was, "The pheasant sang, 'Keain, keain hototogisu.'
My father was the human support in the river'S current because of
my mother."
Could this be an error that appeared during generations of
narrators?
Further reference:
Chosen mintan shu 54, Keinan, Korea. "A bad wife for three
years." This is not about a human sacrifice. A wife did not speak for
three years because of her mother's instruction. She spoke for the
first time when she heard a pheasant's call.
Chosen mintan shu, App. 9. A quotation from a collection of
legends about mute wives.
"Wakan sansai zue. The original text is on 74.