The *Sakuyo-shi* (History of Mimasaka), a local topography from the early Edo period (1691), records this legend as an event that occurred about a century earlier [3]. Around the Bunroku era (circa 1593), a young man from Mukai-Yubara Village named Mitsui Hikoshiro volunteered to slay the giant *hanzaki* that was terrorizing the village. Hikoshiro tied a rope around his waist, had the villagers hold the other end, and intentionally let the *hanzaki* swallow him. Once inside, he sliced open its belly from the inside with his short sword and was pulled out to safety by the villagers. The giant *hanzaki* hauled ashore was a behemoth measuring some 10 meters long and over an arm's span in girth [3].

However, after the slaying, the sound of weeping echoed through Hikoshiro's house every night, and his family members fell ill one after another until the Mitsui family finally died out. As misfortunes continued to strike the village as well, the people feared the *hanzaki*'s curse. They built a shrine on the banks of Ryuzu no Fuchi, enshrining it as "Hanzaki Daimyojin," and comforted its spirit with sutra recitations and prayers [1]. This act of appeasement is said to be the origin of the "Hanzaki Festival" that continues to this day on August 8th, a unique Okayama festival where giant *hanzaki* floats and lion dances parade through the hot spring town [2]. The narrative of a slain beast transforming from an avenging curse-spirit into a guardian deity of the land is a precious example of typical *Goryo* (vengeful spirit) worship transmitted to the valleys of the Chugoku Mountains.