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A famous tale from the Lantern Hall in Koya-san's Okuno-in: a poor girl named Oteru sold her black hair to offer a single lantern, which shone more brightly than ten thousand lanterns offered by a wealthy man—a teaching about the value of sincere devotion.
In the Lantern Hall of Koyasan's Okunoin, there is a tale passed down through the centuries of "the poor girl's single lamp," said to have burned for nearly a thousand years. Long ago, in Izumi Province, there lived a poor girl named Oteru.
Oteru wished to offer a lantern to Koyasan to pray for the salvation of her deceased parents, but she had no money to purchase one. So Oteru made a sacrifice—she sold her long black hair, which was considered a woman's greatest treasure, and with that money, she offered a single small lantern.
On that very day, a wealthy merchant grandly dedicated ten thousand lanterns. However, as evening fell and a sudden wind blew through, all ten thousand of the merchant's lights were extinguished. Yet Oteru's small lamp alone remained unaffected, continuing to shine brightly.
Witnessing this miraculous event, the merchant came to understand the value of sincere devotion over material wealth, and he was deeply humbled. Together with the saying "one lamp from a pauper outshines ten thousand from the rich," this tale endures to this day, teaching us that the greatness of heart behind an offering matters far more than the magnitude of its monetary value.
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