The town of Tono lies where rivers coming from the south and the north meet. In the old days it was said, "seven valleys, seventy ri": goods gathered from seventy ri deep in seven valleys, and on market days the town bustled with a thousand horses and a thousand people.
Of the surrounding mountains, the highest and most beautiful is Mount Hayachine, deep in Tsukimoushi to the north. To the east rises Mount Rokkoushi. Mount Ishigami stands between Tsukimoushi and Tassobe, lower than the other two.
In ancient times a goddess came to this highland with her three daughters.
On the night they stayed near what is now the Izu Gongen shrine in Rainai village, the mother goddess said:
"To the daughter who has the best dream tonight, I will give the best mountain."
Late in the night a wondrous flower fell from the heavens and came to rest on the eldest daughter's breast. But the youngest daughter woke, quietly took the flower and laid it on her own breast.
So the youngest won Hayachine, the most beautiful, and the elder sisters got Rokkoushi and Ishigami. The three goddesses still live on their mountains and rule over them.
That is why, they say, the women of Tono still do not go up those mountains for pleasure, for fear of the goddesses' jealousy.
* The ri meant here is the small ri of five or six cho, about 600 meters.
* Tassobe, too, is probably an Ainu word.
* Rainai is also Ainu: rai means death, nai a stream. Perhaps it was named for the stillness of its water.