Ama (The Woman Diver) : PhotoStory

The minister Fujiwara no Fusazaki is visiting the home village of his dead mother in Shido Bay, Sanuki Province. A woman diver tells him the story of how his father, Tankai-kō, took the sacred jewel from the Palace of the Dragon King.

To get the jewel back from the Dragon King's Palace, the minister's mother cut herself open under the breast and stuffed the jewel inside. She laid down her life for a promise from Tankai-kō that their child would be his successor.

Minister Fujiwara no Fusazaki is that child, and his mother is this woman diver. The weeping mother asks her child for a memorial service. She disappears into the dawn sea.

Drawn by the voices of the memorial service, the Dragon Lady appears. It is another incarnation of the minister's mother. She holds a sacred scroll as an offering and recites it clearly.

I entrust this blessed holy scroll to my child.

In gratitude, she offers her praises and dances eloquently.

Through the virtue of the Lotus Sutra, the Dragon Lady is reborn in the Pure Land of Innocence to the south and becomes a Buddha.

It is the sleeve of joy that flutters on the sacred ground nurtured by Buddhism.

Shido Bay was the stage of the woman diver. Does the Dragon King's Palace stand in its waters?