This practice was known as hitobashira or da sheng zhuang.
Two rivers named Kitakawa and Mamuta kept flooding and causing all sorts of damage and loss of life.
Both Kowakubi and Koromono-ko were found and captured.
But Koromono-ko was clever.
On the day of his sacrifice, Koromono-ko brought two gourds with him and addressed the river god directly.
Of course, the gourds did not sink and Koromono-ko walked free.
TheYasutomi-ki, a diary from the 15th century, documents the famous tradition of Nagara-no Hitobashira.
The Maruoka Castle was constructed with a human sacrifice.
Photo:GFDL/Wikimedia Commons
The Matsue Ohashi Bridge according to legend also used a human sacrifice in its construction.
Then a flood carried half of it away.
As often as the bridge was repaired so often it was wrecked.
Then a human sacrifice was made to appease the vexed spirits of the flood.
Hitobashira traditions were also mentioned in connection with the crossing of the sea.
Then Ina-ihi-no-mikoto sacrificed his own body to the deity of the sea, so that the emperor could proceed.
The tradition of human sacrifices is also concerned with the building of large castles.
There was one vassal who suggested that they should make someone a hitobashira.
O-shizu demanded that one of her children be made a samurai as payment for sacrifice.
But Katsutoyo was transferred to another province and her son was not made a samurai.
They became rarer and rarer as the society matured.
References:# Tsuda, Noritake,Human Sacrifices in Japan,The Open Court
