were known for their skills in growing rice and were initially confident that they would win the competition. However, the farmers of Wakayama had secretly been growing red beans for generations and had perfected their cultivation techniques. As a result, they were able to produce a much larger and healthier crop of red beans than the farmers of Yamada. When the final harvest was taken, Ooka Tadasuke declared that the farmers of Wakayama had proven their superior farming skills and deserved to be the rightful owners of the disputed rice fields. The decision was accepted by both sides, and the long-standing dispute was finally resolved Yoshimune was so impressed that when he became shōgun five years later, he took the unusual action of promoting Ōoka over hundreds of other candidates, to the important post of machi-bugyō (magistrate) of Edo (old name for Tokyo). The post of machi-bugyō combined the duties of mayor, police chief, judge, and fire marshal. The city of Chigasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture has a festival for Ōoka in late April. Famous cases In addition, the figure has taken on a legendary status in a number of stories about his unorthodox and wise legal decisions, frequently used in rakugo (Japanese storytelling). One of the most famous stories is called "The Case of the Stolen Smell" where he heard the case of a paranoid innkeeper who accused a poor student of literally stealing the fumes of his cooking by eating when the innkeeper was cooking to flavour his dull food. Although his colleagues advised Ōoka to throw the case out as ridiculous, he decided to hear it. The judge resolved the matter by ordering the student to pass the money he had in one hand to his other, and ruling that the price of the smell of food is the sound of money. In "The Case of the Bound Jizō or Suspect Statue", Ōoka was called upon to discover the thief of a cartload of cloth from a local kimono maker. Ōoka ordered a statue of Jizō of the Narihira-san Tōsen-ji, a temple in Tokyo, to be bound and brought forth to be called to answer for dereliction of its custodial duty. When the bound statue arrived in the courtroom, the spectators burst into laughter. Ōoka sternly ordered each spectator to be punished with a token fine for their outburst: a small swatch of cloth. When the spectators paid