A long time ago, people called Kamimasago area in Suwa village Manako-no-sato, and a river there was called Namida-gawa (the river of tears). This story is a tragedy that descends from that area.
When Heike was beaten at the Dan-no-ura War, many people, including Emperor Antoku, died. The survivors of the war spread over and built their own villages, living in obscurity. Among those survivors, there was a man named Yorimori. His wife, Manako, heard that he got settled in a remote village in Echigo (Niigata), and came all the way to the village, looking for her husband. Yorimori and Manako had a baby. But on her way to the village, the baby was swallowed up by the turbulent waves in Oyashirazu Sea. Manako cried with grief over the death of her baby, but soon felt encouraged and got to Masago. She still suffered with the great sorrow and wrote two poems about her child.

One day in Showa 30, houses died like flies at Mr. Zenji Kobayashi, Masanobu Hattori, and Sadaji Hattori's houses. People in Tsuru-cho thought they needed the god's help and built a Kannon for houses called Batou-Kannon. Since then, no houses had died unnaturally. Those who lost their houses must have been very sad about the death of their houses. We, human beings, also die someday. We can learn from this story that life is very valuable.